'SAMARITAN' CREW SHOOTS ON PANASONIC'S NEW HVX200
Issue: Cameras - March 2006

'SAMARITAN' CREW SHOOTS ON PANASONIC'S NEW HVX200

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA - Star Circle Pictures recently completed production on a mini-feature called Samaritan using Panasonic’s new, low-cost HVX200 hand-held camcorder. The HVX200 combines multiple high-definition and standard-definition formats, multiple recording modes and variable frames rates, and provides tapeless P2 solid state memory, recording in a rugged, compact design.

The DVCPRO format P2 camcorder offers full bandwidth HD with independent intra-frame encoding, 4:2:2 color sampling, and less compression, promising easier and faster editing. Panasonic says the camera offers the ability to better stand up to image compositing versus long GOP MPEG-2 systems.

Says producer Ethan Marten, “Originally, when we decided on HD for the project, we had settled on HDV. When we heard that the new Panasonic HVX200 (www.panasonic.com/hvx200) was nearing its debut, we shifted gears and altered the entire production flow overnight. We were determined to use this groundbreaking camera. With the camera secured for our use in the middle of January, the rental house [Zacuto Rentals, Chicago] told us we were the first crew in the world to use this camera for a motion picture.”
 
Reminiscent of classic Twilight Zone episodes, Samaritan tells the story of an armed robbery thwarted by a mysterious stranger. As a veteran detective investigates the case, he is left with more questions than answers, including the origins of an enigmatic, supernatural samaritan known only as Victor. The Samaritan production team includes producers Richard and Ethan Marten, Joshua Levy, Jonathan Guion, producer/director/screenwriter/editor Kimball Carr and director of photography Robert Pitman.

Director Carr says, “We shot in 720p/24 mode in addition to utilizing the variable frame rate of the camera and shooting select scenes in 60 frame/sec. rate to facilitate 'over-cranking' in post and getting a slow motion for final speed. Other than the four-gig P2 cards provided with the camera, we used an Apple PowerBook for straight capture from P2 to a notebook computer.”
 
Currently in post production, the feature entailed 81 set-ups over the course of only two evenings of location shooting. Carr is editing on an Apple Mac G5 quad-processor workstation using Final Cut Pro HD Studio. Star Circle (www.starcirclepictures.com/samaritan) plans to exhibit the approximately 30-minute short via high definition streaming media stations in theaters, as well as to take it on the festival circuit.