Emmy Award-winning DP Gene Samuels heads EFP Video Productions, Inc. (Franklin Lakes, NJ), a full-service video production company serving international broadcast and cable networks since 1990. Samuels purchased a VariCam® HD Cinema Camera last year, and has used the camera for assignments ranging from ESPN sports specials to national commercials. HD projects have included three major commercial shoots (Continental Airlines, Honda Automobile and Sharpie Pens), as well as Training Camp, a 10-episode series featuring major collegiate programs that is currently airing on College Sports Television (CSTV). For Major League Baseball Productions, Samuels shot a feature on Roger Clemens’ 300th victory, which aired on ESPN. EFP also rents out the VariCam; rental assignments have included the WNBA All-Star Game promotions (ESPN) and NBA semi-finals/finals (ESPN/ABC). Veteran Samuels has been involved in television production since 1977, when he graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in broadcasting. He began his career as a live sports cameraman with ABC Sports shooting Monday Night Baseball and Wide World of Sports. He then moved to WOR-TV in New York City, where he worked on New York Mets telecasts. Subsequently, he worked for MSG Network and Sportschannel, shooting all of the local New York sports teams and freelancing with CBS Sports and ESPN. In 1995, he received an Emmy Award for work on the first X-Games for ESPN, and was the cameraman who captured the attack on Olympic skater Nancy Kerrigan on tape. He also worked on numerous entertainment shows, including New Years Eve specials for CBS-TV at Disney World, concerts, theater presentations and award shows. At EFP, Samuels’ client roster features ESPN, CBS, FOX, SHOWTIME, MTV, and numerous television production companies. EFP recently completed the second season of ESPN’s The Season, and last season handled acquisition for the network’s Focus Group.

Question: How did your interest in HD acquisition evolve? Samuels: I have been following with great interest the growth and development of HD for years. During that time, I continued to have great success with field production using component analog. Suddenly, the market was oversaturated with inexpensive cameras using the Beta SP and DV format, and everybody was a camera operator. That, combined with my clients starting to express an interest in HD acquisition and the growing acceptance of the Panasonic Varicam, was enough to convince me to purchase this camera package. Since I am an owner/operator and not a large production company, my decision on which camera package to buy was critical-- if I made a mistake the results could be devastating. I also needed to purchase only the best operating accessories to complement the Varicam. Question: You’ve used the VariCam on diverse assignments. Tell us about them. Samuels: CSTV’s Training Camp was my training ground with the VariCam. Shooting began last fall and is ongoing. Each 30-minute episode entails a two-day shoot on campuses, where the nitty-gritty of coaches’ work with their players is explored in a cinema verite mode. Programs profiled to date have included University of North Carolina women’s soccer, Stanford University women’s volleyball, University of Miami football and University of Cincinnati men’s basketball. These shoots have presented me with every conceivable production environment—sunlight, heat, rain, low light. The VariCam is a really tough camera, with a strong body—it certainly travels well. I treat it like all my cameras, and don’t think twice when I run-and-gun, work up in towers and so on. I really like the gain controls, and I’ve pushed it up to 18dB with virtually no grain. The camera’s clarity and depth of field are amazing. Ninety percent of my work on the series is handheld, and the VariCam fits me like a glove. I have the camera outfitted with a Fujinon HD lens, Panavision matte box, and the larger-sized Anton Bauer battery pack—I can shoot for hours with this configuration. Question: What about your commercial work? Samuels: VariCam meets the “perfection” criteria that commercials demand. We’ve achieved phenomenal savings in terms of crew size and processing costs. And to my eye, the footage looks exactly like film for half the price. The 30-second spots we shot for Honda and Continental have aired nationally; the Sharpie spot was carried throughout the South and Southwest. The Continental spots, currently seen during every New York Knicks game on Madison Square Garden (MSG), feature Knicks players (an earlier spot was shot with New York Yankees players). The Sharpie spot was shot on location at the NASCAR Sharpie 500 in Bristol, TN, and featured driver Kurt Busch. The Honda assignment entailed a one-day shoot on a farm in southern Illinois. We had six hours of daylight, and we had to shoot two 30-second spots. As it turned out, when you need to do high-end work in the least amount of time, it’s ideal to use a piece of equipment like the VariCam. It’s portable and lightweight. You turn it on, and you see a picture. On location, the instant playback of color HD is one of the best things about the camera. You can run 2 or 3 monitors off it—as we did for Honda—and instantly see and hear the results. It’s very client-friendly in that regard. For Continental, we shot the Yankees at spring training. But we didn’t have access to the team’s Tampa stadium. Instead, we had to rent out a nearby pro football field. We had one day to make it look like the Bronx home stadium, set up and light, and shoot. We never had more than 30 minutes with an athlete.Similarly, with the Knicks we didn’t shoot at Madison Square Garden the first day, but rather at their training facility in Westchester. We had less than two hours to make the practice gym look like the Garden and set up seven locations on the premises. We walked in with the camera, and within an hour had perfectly matched all the locations. Again, we had the VariCam set up with an HD monitor, and could immediately see what we were getting. We had a maximum of ten minutes to work with a player. I don’t think we could have done a shoot on film under these conditions. The next day, we shot a second spot at Madison Square Garden itself, where we had three hours to set-up, shoot and strike. Again, the camera excelled under pressure. Question: What are your overall views concerning the camera’s performance? Samuels: The physical design of the Varicam made it very easy as an operator to make the transition from a Betacam. Unlike many other cameras, it was built with the operator in mind. The switches and dials are easily accessible even while the camera is on my shoulder. The thumbwheel menu function took some getting used to, but I made a fairly rapid adjustment. Many of the projects I work on require me to do a great deal of hand-held operation. This camera is perfectly balanced, even when I use a wide angle lens, the matte box and the large AB Hytron batteries. I prefer a heavier camera as long as it is balanced, as it allows me to be steadier and does not get blown away in weather situations. The viewfinder is fantastic with excellent contrast and nicely designed to go into many different operating angles. I like the information that can be fed into the viewfinder to monitor the various camera and VTR functions. Setting up the audio configuration is also very simple, and I like the way you can power mikes requiring 48 volts from any of the inputs. The color playback function without having to use a playback adapter or another VTR is very convenient during commercial shoots, and I can run many monitors off of the camera. The VariCam is built tough and I don’t have to think twice about exposing the camera to the adverse conditions that many of my shoots require. Question: Talk about the logistics and dynamics of the VariCam shoots. Samuels: My style of shooting has always been one of putting the camera in places that the viewer does not normally get to see. I acquired this style during my many years of being a live sports hand-held cameraman. This goal, combined with the challenge of being live and not being able to make a mistake, has translated into a real cinema verite style I use when I shoot documentaries. I cannot think about the logistics of the camera I am using while in this mode. I must be able to use and trust the preset white balance, I must be able to use the various gain controls and other camera settings and be able to switch between these instantly. I must trust the audio pick-up (though I have found the digital audio system to be extremely sensitive and less forgiving than analog audio acquisition). The VariCam satisfies all of these criteria and more. The camera has worked flawlessly in weather conditions ranging from 100 degrees to below zero, as well as in rain, snow and humidity. In the more formal commercial and feature mode, the camera easily accepts all of the necessary accessories and easily mounts onto various tripod heads, jib arms and other camera support systems. Question: What have you found to be different about shooting HD? Samuels: I prepared for and anticipated this transition for many years while shooting with the Betacam. During this time, I concentrated on changing my lighting style to more of a “film look” versus the video look. I also concentrated on depth of field and staging issues for interviews and B-Roll. HD can pick up absolutely every tiny flaw, not only in people but in everything else you see. I have discovered that the make-up artist has a whole new role on the shoot and must be worked with extensively. Lighting has to be softer on people, and placement of the subject within the 16:9 frame is critical. The composition and use of the surrounding area becomes more important, and allows additional creativity. The VariCam handles outdoor variable contrast shooting situations perfectly. and the convenient range of neutral density filters available in the camera is quite helpful. Question: Talk a little about the VariCam’s dynamic range and color rendition. Samuels: Fortunately, I have a colleague who gave me a wonderful film look setting for the VariCam. When I need additional settings I have him design these for me, or bring him on location. All of my shoots have been using the 24p mode, and the setting I have in the camera now is perfect. One of the main challenges I face now is to acquire the experience it takes to understand the complexities of the VariCam, and electronic digital cinema shooting in general. Becoming a film-style DP is no easy undertaking, and I have come to respect the wealth of knowledge film DPs possess in their craft. Question: How often do you shoot off-speed? Samuels: A great deal of my shooting is sports and action related. The Varicam has made it very easy to switch between frame rates. Most of my shooting is in the 24p setting, and I have had the camera set at the 60p rate to capture some beautiful slow motion. The high-definition video was crystal clear in the 30p rate on a recent outdoor segment I shot. I am looking forward to using this feature more to gain the best results. Question: In general, how are the projects you shoot on VariCam edited and finished? Samuels: Most of the projects I shoot now are transferred to Beta SP, edited with an Avid system and mastered to component digital and analog video. The CSTV documentaries are mastered and distributed on HD. The projects that are shot in 24P lose almost no quality and that is how the commercials are presented. Question: Can you make some generalizations about how shooting HD impacts budgets? Samuels: There is no question now that using HD acquisition has allowed clients to tremendously cut costs while maintaining the look and quality they require and demand. This is most evident in the area of commercial production and political ad shooting. In this tight economy, companies do not have the latitude they used to, and the days of extravagance are over. The commercials I shot are done for about 40% of the cost they would have been if they were shot on film. Question: What would you say to fellow filmmakers about the VariCam? Samuels: This is a wonderful new camera system that will allow you once again to be incredibly creative as well as enjoy a phenomenal business investment. . After many months of owning and using the VariCam, I am convinced I made the right decision. It has generated a nice income and commands a high daily rate. I have gained a new respect from existing as well as new clients and most of all, it has revived my creative juices.After 26 years of being involved with television production, many projects had become very routine and mundane. Now that I have this wonderful 16:9 format to work with, combined with the camera’s incredible clarity, resolution and the 24P look, it has rejuvenated my interest immensely. I feel that the VariCam has once again given me a competitive edge and has opened many new doors of opportunity.