FRAMEBLENDER SHOOTING WITH PANASONIC AG-HVX200
Issue: HD - May 2006

FRAMEBLENDER SHOOTING WITH PANASONIC AG-HVX200

TORONTO - FrameBlender (www.frameblender.com) has been using its new Panasonic AG-HVX200 DVCPRO HD camcorder over the past two months on a series of projects.  The full-service production and post production company shot insert elements for broadcast design, greenscreen footage for the short feature Chip, Scrape and Throw, and, most notably, an orientation video and library material for Toronto’s University Health Network, one of the world’s largest medical research institutions. This summer FrameBlender will supply its HVX200 to the documentary Raising Valhalla about Toronto’s new opera center and its mounting of Wagner’s Ring cycle.

“We initially thought we’d use the HVX200 for in-house branding or experimental projects, some corporate work and low-end commercials,” says FrameBlender partner Tim Martin (pictured). But viewing footage, side-by-side, of the HVX200, Panasonic AJ-HDC27 VariCam and Sony F900 led Martin to think otherwise. “We were pleasantly surprised by the HVX200’s image quality,” he reports.  “And clients were extremely satisfied with the price-to-image ratio.  So the HVX200 has become our go-to camera for most projects.”
The HVX200 combines multiple high definition and standard definition formats, multiple recording modes and variable frames rates, along with the benefits of P2 solid-state memory recording.
For the University Health Network (UHN), Martin shot B roll of UHN interiors and 25 interviews at the 1080/24p frame rate, collecting 35-40 hours of material for what will ultimately be a 15-20 minute video. His footage will also enable UHN to create a library of generic images.


While Martin had prior experience shooting with all of Panasonic’s 24p cameras on a rental basis, the HVX200 marks FrameBlender’s first Panasonic investment - purchased from Abel Cine Tech in New York City.

“I’ve shot primarily with VariCam and the SDX900,” he says.  “I personally enjoy using Panasonic cameras because of their color response and how the chips show color. We had been thinking of biting the budget bullet when Panasonic announced the HVX200. It looked like it would fit our market and give us what we needed: similar color response, gamma curves and the flexibility we liked in Panasonic 24p cameras: multiple frame rates, the DVCPRO HD codec, and a post workflow we were used to.”


Martin emphasizes that “to shoot properly you don’t just need a camera, you need the whole package” which, for him, encompasses a Chrosziel 4x4 matte box, Chrosziel DV Studio Follow Focus and Cartoni Focus tripod.  He plans to acquire Focus Enhancements’ Firestore FS-100 portable DTE recorder shortly.
Martin currently has five 4GB P2 cards.  

His production workflow varies according to the shoot “depending on what makes sense,” he says. “Sometimes, when I’m interviewing, I may plug the camera into my 15-inch Macintosh PowerBook and capture on the fly into Final Cut Pro.  Sometimes, when I’m shooting B roll, I’ll fill the five cards, then take them to the laptop and offload. Or I’ll cycle the cards, popping out a full card, popping in a new one and having an assistant offload the full card.”  In all cases, the P2 cards are offloaded in the laptop to a FireWire drive.