High Definition Fact Sheet
by Sean Fairburn
Sean Fairburn … Besides being a Master Director of Photography, Sean Fairburn is a national hero. He’s been the only US Marine combat director and cinematographer positioned on the front line of the Iraqi War. Using a Sony’s CineAlta F-900 HD camera provided by Panavision, Fairburn was able to obtain incredibly clear and realistic footage that provides an inside look into war and offers a valuable historical archive. Sean’s master works have been featured on countless US and International publications. Please visit Sean Fairburn’s website for detailed information.
In an effort to aid production companies in making wise educated decisions I have compiled a fact sheet to share the truth and dispel some myths related to shooting High Definition 24P for Features and Television shows.
1) Shoot “23.98P” not “24P”. Reason is you will have difficulty downconverting and keeping sound in sync.
2) You don’t need to offline in HD. Downconvert your footage to DigiBeta or Beta SP and offline conventionally building a solid EDL for online in HD.
3) Running time of HD Tape is 50 minutes @ 23.98 even though the box will say 40 minutes (40 & 22 are available for field).
4) Average Cost of 1 HD Tape is $60.00 comes in case of 10.
5) Record the Master Sound on the HD camera tape in addition to external recording devices (which should be running at 29.97 NDF).
6) Editing of dissolves, CGI, slow motion effects and titling can all be done in the final HD Online session to create Final HD Master. Then perform a Digital Color correction and “Film out” or downconvert only the final show.
7) Shooting this way will save money by skipping Timing and Syncing of dailies. This step is replaced with Downconverting.
HD Camera Packages will generally be more expensive to rent than Film packages. Savings is in HD Tape vs. Rolls of Film purchase, Processing, and Transfer. 1 HD tape = 5,000 ft of film run time.
9) Transfer from HD to film only your final edited show. This step may cost around $60K for an entire feature. Not needed for Commercials or TV. 10) Money Savings is in the Production medium and Post, not in Personnel.
MYTH: You need less Crew to shoot HD.
FACT: The same number of crew in every department is necessary to do the level of quality you expect. Only the Camera Department has a loss of the Loader but the necessary gain of an HD Engineer or “DIT” Digital Imaging Technician at a pay rate between “A” Camera Operator and the DP.
MYTH: You need fewer lights to shoot HD.
FACT: I generally rate the HD Camera at 320 ASA for best performance and I need just as much light as if I was shooting 320 ASA Film. The same number and type of lights as in film.
For the Directors of Photography
1) HD exposes like color reversal (Slide film rather than negative).
2) HD has less latitude than Neg film. I call it 4 Under and 1.5 Over.
3) HD has much more bottom end in the blacks than top end in the highlights, better to under expose rather than over expose.
4) You can get in essence Timed dailies in Camera which I have found gives you more range than had you done nothing to the image. “Best way to get to a good image is to start with one”.
5) You can do a Digital color correction session after the picture is locked then again after it gets “Filmed out” transferred to Negative before it gets printed. Take every opportunity given.
6) HD is Tungsten base so ND and Color correction filters are built into the camera and are ND.6, ND1.2, ND1.8, also an 85B+81B.
7) Electronic Shutter set to ON @ 1/48th is equal to a 180′ shutter. Shutter OFF increases blur in motion equal to 24FPS @ 1/24th.
Like any new Film stock Test it to determine how your lighting style looks with this medium if adjustments should be made.
9) Insure your 1st AC’s and operators know how to properly set the Back Focus or your images will be soft. Use proper Back Focus chart.
10) Shoot Record run Timecode even if you do multiple cameras. Cameras do not need to match TC for post to sync it up. If you do shoot Free run Timecode you need 10 seconds of preroll before Action is called.
11) Slow Motion is possible with HD that will match look of 60 FPS in Film by shooting 59.97 interlace then converting back to 23.98 with slow-mo in Post.
Sound Department
1) Record Master sound on the HD Camera this will create a permanent synced source of CD quality sound for Downconverts and Offline. Also always record sound separately in addition to on Camera.
2) Be aware that to hear the sound coming from the HD Deck that you need a 5 pin XLR for discrete Ch-1 and Ch-2 return.
3) Whatever you choose to record on Nagra, DAT, DA88 or DEVA, use 29.97 NDF (Non Drop Frame) because 23.98 is a NDF speed.
4) Use of a Timecode slate is helpful with TC being YOURS not camera’s TC. In addition have 2nd AC’s Clap the sticks as always.
5) Also very helpful is feeding your TC into an available channel of Audio on the Camera with an SB2 from Deneke. It’s wireless and provides a permanent source of sync for the external sound recording device.
Resources Providing HD Services, not all inclusive.
HD Camera Rental houses (Southern California)
1) Plus-8-Video / Michael Toay @ 800-333-1000
2) Panavision / Dan Hammond @ 818-316-1000
3) Bexel / John Keesee or Michael Lai @ 818-841-5052
4) Fletcher Chicago / Kevin O’Conner @ 800-635-3824
5) Wexler Video / Paul Frocchi @ 818-846-9381
6) Clairmont Camera / Denny Clairmont @ 818-761-4440
HD Tape Stock & Expendables (Southern California)
1) Filmtools.com / Stan McClain @ 818-845-8066
HD Downconverts & HD Online & Color Timing (Southern California)
1) APS Victory Studios / HighDef.org @ 818-769-1776
2) C. C. I. Digital / Marianne Nassour @ 818-562-6300
3) Complete Post / Brad Powell @ 323-467-1244
4) The Post Group @ 323-462-2300
5) Westwind / Steve Drinkwater @ 818-972-9000
HD Transfer to Film “Film Out” (Southern California)
1) E-Film / David Hays @ 323-463-7041
The fact is the script and style of show will dictate whether it should be shot on Film or HD. HD is cheaper on the front end because of tape cost and more expensive on the back end during Film Out. But for TV the savings will be most noticeable and many shows are now taking advantage of it.
You must weigh the options and make the best decision for your show. Shows with lots of VFX, tight budgets and schedules are good candidates as well as direct to DVD movies. I hope this helps shed some light on High Definition Acquisition. Feel free to contact me if you have any specific questions.