Panasonic Professional Video Products - Applications: HD Quanda

This summer the independent feature, "Somewhere," was shot using Panasonic's AJ-HDC27 VariCam™ HD Cinema camera. The three-and-a-half week shoot, which took place throughout Thailand and Malaysia, began in July with a crew of seven and two actors. "Somewhere" follows two American backpackers traveling in the wake of 9/11, who meet and fall in love in spite of their separate lives at home in America.

The feature was written and executive produced by Brian LaBelle, and directed by Thomas Whelan, with Amit Bhattacharya as Director of Photography. (LaBelle and Whelan both work for Fox's hit television show Malcolm in the Middle.) "Somewhere" has begun post-production in Orlando, FL. We recently spoke with Brian LaBelle about "Somewhere."

Question: You are the writer of "Somewhere." Where did you come up with the idea for the movie?

Brian LaBelle: The director, Tom Whelan, and I are old friends, who both love travel and the movies. We feel that the world is full of the most extraordinary "sets," so why not use them. Hence, our choice of Southeast Asia to shot the movie, where Tom had lived as a young man. The narrative, really a simple love story, was driven by my musings about travelers post 9/11 and, in fairly short order, I'd written a 96-page screenplay.

Question: What were the shooting conditions like in Thailand and Malaysia, and what special challenges did these conditions pose for your crew and camera?

Brian LaBelle: We shot in the middle of monsoon season, so I can't overstate the humidity levels. There was constant rain. Amit shot standing in mud. We mounted the camera by high-hat to a bamboo raft for a river sequence. We were shooting with a documentary-size crew, and every two days we were moving around, whether hiking two hours by foot to a village where the two characters first meet, or rappelling from cliffs on the islands. We backpacked the camera and monitor; the VariCam was easy for quick set-ups. Critically, the electronics never failed us. Apart from economics, film would have been too cumbersome and required extra crew.

Question: What format were you considering for "Somewhere" and why did you choose HD?

Brian LaBelle: We didn't have the budget for processing film. We originally planned to shoot with the Canon XL1 until Gary Hall, Director of Post Production at Fox Television, suggested shooting HD to be in the best position for a potential transfer to film. So many of Fox's shows are now shot in high definition, yet I hadn't seriously considered it until Gary mentioned the benefits in image quality and what it has done for Fox.

Question: How did shooting HD impact the project's budget?

Brian LaBelle: What I tell people is that we made a $500,000 film for $50,000. Shooting in Southeast Asia is inexpensive, but we also realized tremendous savings because production moves faster with HD--no extra crew, no film loading or long set-ups.

Question: How was the Panasonic VariCam selected as the camera for "Somewhere"?

Brian LaBelle: Industry colleagues who'd attended NAB 2002 told me the VariCam was the camera for the job. We needed something beyond film. We knew dealing with 35mm or Super 16mm would be complicated due to the nature of our production. We also needed the ability to capture exotic landscapes in a highly-resolved image quality and still have the luxury to overcrank and undercrank.

Question: What advantages did VariCam provide your crew on the demanding shoot?

Brian LaBelle: Beyond physical logistics, the images the VariCam produces are so close to film, it's jaw-dropping. Low-light performance was superb--we had no lighting kit and used available light, day and night. The camera picked up every detail, with vivid, clear colors. It was easy to stop the image down in harsh daylight. Even overexposed backgrounds had a film look--there was no video quality to it. Color handling was flawless. We felt like we could reach inside an image and grab anything we wanted. We achieved a fantastic display of color. The camera recorded the most amazing sunset I have ever seen--when I watch it on HD, it puts me right back in that moment. Unbeatable. What's more, Panasonic provides worldwide support for VariCam. We ran out of tapes in Malaysia, and had tapes delivered to our hotel right away.

Question: In HD cameras, VariCam offers unique variable frame rate shooting. How did you utilize these capabilities on the shoot?

Brian LaBelle: We recorded a fire dance on Pranang Cape at 40-fps for slow-motion. It looks wonderful. Shooting off-speed works just like 35mm, and produces a very natural look. We also took advantage of the camera's programmable time-lapse capabilities, recording the city lights of Kuala Lumpur coming to life, as well as a sunrise.

Question: How is the movie being edited?

Brian LaBelle: Right now we are in our offline stage., which we have down converted all our DVCPRO-HD tapes to digi-beta and are now editing using Final Cut Pro 3.0. Our offline master will be in a DV format and we will use this format to exhibit the rough cut on DVD for our financiers and to a focus group. By doing it this way, we can save some money and really nail things down for when we do our online. Just another example of saving money.

As for online, we are looking to stay with Final Cut Pro in conjuction with CineWave. This requires that we upgrade to HD standards in edititing. We will have all the capabilities to do that by November. There was always debate on why we didn't use Avid. My editor and I have descovered many of the same benifits in Final Cut Pro and have managed to save the money. It is an Emmy award winning program. Although in its enfancy, the program is widely used by proffesional filmmakers. Right now we are edititing garage-band-style. That is something we take pride in--Using our own resources. Transcontinental Records has given us that onvenience.

In the end we wil have our final cut in true HD and nobody will have known the difference. There's just so many ways to cheat and save money in post. We hope to have all this done by December.

Question: What are your plans to finish the project? And what are your distribution plans?

Brian LaBelle: We're aiming to have a rough cut by early October for submission to Sundance. We're undertaking the HD master, but have hopes that a distributor would ultimately finance the film transfer.

Question: Would you recommend Panasonic's VariCam to other producers? What would you tell them it can do for them?

Brian LaBelle: As an independent filmmaker, I can't imagine going back to film. HD production is easier, it beats film economically, and the results are equivalent to 35mm. Posting in HD keeps getting cheaper and technically simplified. VariCam features such as variable-frame rates and CineGamma extended dynamic range software increase its appeal to even the most hesitant DPs. I'll use the camera again, and I'll highly recommend it to my peers.