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AG-DVX100-SHOT
SHORT, "BAGGAGE", WINS "48 HOUR FILM
OF THE YEAR"
SECAUCUS, NJ (March 19, 2004)
 – Earlier
this week, the six-minute fantasy short Baggage, shot
with Panasonic’s
AG-DVX100 Mini-DV 3-CCD camcorder, took top honors in
the 48 Hour Film Project, an international competition
promoting independent filmmaking. The short, a romantic
fantasy about a woman who keeps her ex-lovers in a suitcase
under her bed, was produced by Kent Nichols and Meghan
Dowd and directed by Nichols, with Ryan Sheridan serving
as Director of Photography.
The 48 Hour Film Project (www.48hourfilm.com) began in
Washington, D.C. in 2001, and last year visited 11 cities.
The premise is that filmmaking teams have just one weekend
to make a short film, 4 – 8 minutes in length.
All creativity--writing, shooting, editing and adding
a musical soundtrack--must occur in a 48-hour window
beginning Friday evening at 7 and ending Sunday at 7.
Each team must select the genre (comedy, horror, romance,
mystery, fantasy and so on) for its movie in a random
drawing 15 minutes before the start of the competition.
In addition, all teams are given a character, prop and
line of dialogue that must appear in each film.
Prior to winning the coveted “Best of 2003” award,
Baggage, shot over the course of a weekend last June,
had taken Best Film, Best Writing and an Audience Award
in its city of origin, Los Angeles. All “Best of
City” films then compete for the national title
of “48 Hour Film of the Year,” won this year
by Baggage. On March 15, the Best Films of 2003 screened
at the prestigious South by Southwest Film Festival in
Austin. Winners of the 11 city contests are also distributed
on a “Best Of” 48 Hour Film DVD.
The breakthrough AG-DVX100 is a unique Mini-DV 3-CCD
camcorder with exclusive CineSwitch™ technology
that supports 480i/60 (NTSC), cinema-style 480p/24fps
and 480p/30fps image capture. Panasonic is now delivering
an upgraded version of the AG-DVX100, the AG-DVX100A,
with more than 20 new features.
3DP Sheridan, an ICG Digital Imaging Technician
and veteran film and 24P shooter, works extensively with
current HD systems. Regarding Panasonic’s DV
24 offerings, he said, “The DVX100 was made for
projects like Baggage. Having to move quickly was the
backbone of our production. The camera’s small
size and flip-out screen saved us equipment costs and
moving time. I’m a big fan of selecting lenses
for their individual merits, and I didn’t feel
hampered at all by the built-in zoom lens on the camera.
The Leica optics are second to none in the mini DV
camera market. I was able to get every focal length
I needed quickly and without focus problems.”
Sheridan continued, “Having a camera that can
be run in multiple shooting modes was outstanding!
In our project, we chose to show the difference between
fantasy and reality not by color, contrast or perspective
changes but by temporal feel (frame rate). Having the
ability to switch back and forth between 60i and 24p
helped keep us on track. This way we didn’t have
to switch cameras, tapes or video formats. We got everything,
visually, in one camera.
“ Personally, my favorite attribute of the camera
is the ability to shoot in true 24p. Capturing progressive
images does two things for you. One, it reduces interline
jitter introduced by field-to-field interlace capture
and second, motion blur looks like motion blur. Progressive
capture leaves true, clean motion within the frame
and not a mess of striations and studdery blocks trailing
the action.”
Reflecting on Baggage’s highly-abbreviated production
schedule, Sheridan said, “When you simply don’t
have time to finesse your lighting setups, it’s
great to know that there are tools available in the
DVX100 that can help you out. To be able to select
different gamma tables really assisted me in some of
the more ‘contrast-y’ set-ups we had. Instead
of taking the extra time to add more fill light, I
selected the camera’s Low-Gamma setting as our
working base. This helped bring up my shadow side and
kept the contrast ratio of our movie consistent. Last,
the color adjustments available in the camera are the
top of its class. Once we set up our first shot, Kent
and I were able to quickly develop a personalized look
to our film in under three minutes. It’s these
types of things that kept us on schedule and still
allowed us to keep full creative control.”
Director Nichols said, “The AG-DVX100 was particularly
suited to our needs since we were able to use progressive
during all of the fantasy sequences and interlace during
all of the reality sequences. The reality sequences
were all locked off on tripods. But the fantasy interlude
was shot handheld. Ryan shot everyone in close-up 2-3
times, with each round of shooting becoming more fun
and dynamic.”
He added, “We did one phenomenal
dolly shot, with the DVX100 on a MOS slate.
We pushed it under the bed to shoot the suitcase for
the first time. The suitcase was filled with kino flos
and spray fog, and it was shaking, glowing and smoking.
It was the defining shot of the piece, and we couldn’t
have got it with a larger camera, nor would it have
looked so filmic if we hadn’t shot progressive.”
The edit was done at Dr. Rawstock on Final Cut Pro
3, with editor Dave Dayen. Editing began at 3 p.m.
Saturday, though some shooting continued until 1 a.m.
Sunday. By 5 a.m. Sunday, Nichols and Dayen had a rough
cut and had determined what shots were missing. The
group reconvened at 9 a.m. Sunday watched the rough
cut, then quickly staged about a dozen pick-up shots.
Final edits were performed, and an original score was
recorded into the XLR port of the DVX100, then added
to the tape. A safety copy was burned off, then a final
master that was (quickly) delivered to the competition’s
headquarters.
Nichols noted, “I plan to make ample use of Panasonic
24p DV camcorders. The digital work flow is easy and
well-established, the imagery is high quality, and
nothing is expensive. It’s an exceptional product
for DVD production, which is what I’m using the
camera for currently.”
DP Sheridan added, “I think the DVX100 is the
ultimate run-and-gun camera. It’s also the perfect
tool for those who have stories to tell and images
to convey that require the use of 24p, but are on a
tight budget. The DVX100 fills the cost gap between
professional story telling tools for the studios and
those afforded to the masses.”
The AG-DVX100A offers over 20 new user-requested features,
plus all the top-performing functions of its predecessor.
New features include enhanced 24p and 30p progressive
mode functions; improved color reproduction; new cine-like
gamma curves and enhanced image adjustments; a slow
shutter function for higher sensitivity and dramatic
motion effects; smoother zooming and focusing; a new
squeeze mode for 16:9 recording; and new auto focus
assist and interval recording modes for improved ease
and versatility. |
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