Secaucus, NJ (May 16, 2006) – Considered one of the most innovative fixtures
of film education in the world, the New York Film Academy (NYFA), with
campuses in Manhattan, Universal Studios and St. Catherine’s College Oxford
University, recently purchased 12 Panasonic hand-held, production-quality
AG-HVX200 DVCPRO HD camcorders.
NYFA workshops offer an intensive, hands-on experience that gives students
the opportunity to develop their creative skills to the fullest extent
possible. In all filmmaking workshops, each student writes, produces,
directs, and edits his own films. In addition, they each assist other
members of the crew in the roles of director of photography and assistant
camera person, providing all with extensive set experience. NYFA is an
accredited post-secondary school, and all courses can be taken for college
credit.
Students check out their camera (HVX200, Panasonic AG-DVX100 Series or
Arriflex 16 mm) and lighting packages on Friday morning, and return them
Monday morning for their exercise films. For their final films, they
check-out cameras for 10 days. The editing room is open 24 hours a day in
most Film Academy locations; 200 Final Cut Pro editing stations are
available at various NYFA sites.
The HVX200 uniquely combines multiple high definition and standard
definition formats, multiple recording modes and variable frames rates, and
the vast benefits of P2 solid state memory recording in a rugged, compact
design. The DVCPRO HD P2 camcorder offers contribution-quality HD with
independent intra-frame encoding, 4:2:2 color sampling, and less
compression, making HD content easier and faster to edit and more able to
stand up to image compositing versus long GOP MPEG-2 systems.
“Above all, our students are storytellers, and the technologies we choose
must serve the art of narration,” said NYFA Provost/Director of Education
Michael Young. “Our students have been successfully using 100+ DVX100 series
cameras for years, and we selected them because they bore a relationship to
celluloid–their 24p image quality is filmic and conducive to telling a
story.”
He continued, “In evaluating a move to HD, we didn’t find HDV options
genuinely a different format from DV. The HVX200, on the other hand, is a
real production-quality HD camera, akin to the Panasonic VariCam(R) HD,
likewise with variable frame rate shooting. It seemed a logical camera at
our level, and makes it economically possible for us to expose students to
highly-portable, hand-held HD acquisition.”
Salvatore Interlandi is an instructor at NYFA who teaches subjects that
range from Cinematography, Camera Introduction (DV, 16mm), Lighting,
Production and Directing. He has been working with the HVX200 and using it
to teach HD acquisition to students since the equipment was delivered in
February. Student filmmakers in New York have already shot several
thesis-level narrative shorts with the cameras. Eight cameras have been
assigned to the New York campus, four to Los Angeles.
Interlandi said, “The HVX200 allows the new student filmmaker to work in the
HD world earlier–the camera makes it more accessible to reach a
higher-quality picture, and reduces the cost to achieve that image. And the
solid-state medium challenges the filmmaker to go back to a more decisive
and economical approach to shooting.”
He continued, “With the HVX200, a filmmaker who wants to shoot on HD no
longer has to pass through a transfer house to get his footage into data,
making him ultimately more efficient and independent. The camera advances a
technology that will finally put the cassette tape to rest.”
One of the NYFA student crews was headed up by director Antoine Manceaux and
Director of Photography Alex Kosutic, shooting a short called The Day All
Women Loved Me, with locations throughout New York City. According to
Manceaux, “The HVX200 is, without any doubt, a revolution. Concerning the
quality of the picture, the workflow rhythm, post-production possibilities,
the gain of time and money… filmmaking has just become a little easier.
Some elements and issues of filmmaking remain the same across the ages, but
when it comes to the technical achievement of the image itself, the
composition of the frame, the lighting or even the editing, the P2
technology allows the director, equipped simply with a PowerBook on set, to
immediately see how it looks, if the shots are matching with each other. No
more dailies–you might as well call them ‘minute-ies’ now, as that’s how
quickly you’re viewing images in full quality.”
He added, “The assistant cameraman who takes care of the P2 upload into the
computer becomes like an on-set editor. All the shots are going directly
into Final Cut Pro, and the editing starts on set! No more waiting for the
next day (like film), no more log and capture (like mini-DV), just P2 and
everything’s there, almost ready to screen.”
DP Kosutic noted, “Since the HVX200 hit the market, I’ve been hearing people
questioning the cost of P2 cards. This is what I have to say to them: when
shooting on to Mini DV, pros usually only use the tape once. Would you
rather buy 16,000 DV tapes or one 4GB P2 card? I choose P2.”
Students typically shoot in the 720 24pN mode, which uses the least amount
of card space. NYFA purchased 16 four GB cards for instruction, and many of
the student crews supplement these with their own purchase of P2 cards.
Typically, students will import P2 material through their PowerBooks’ PCI
slot and edit on FCP, either in the field or at the school’s edit rooms.
Present finishing techniques include downconverting to burn DVDs or output
to DV tape, though Interlandi indicated that some students were likely to do
tape-to-tape transfers onto the higher cassette formats – DVCPRO HD, HDCAM,
D1, e.g. “Color correction can be done from the drive, and then on to tape, or blown
up to a print if needed and if the money is there,” he noted.
Both Young and Interlandi pointed out that the availability of affordable
HD-DVDs will facilitate students’ distribution of HD. “Then they can output
something as good as what they shoot,” Young said.
Interlandi added, “What I tell students and colleagues about the HVX200 is
shoot, shoot some more, edit, and do tests, but be excited about the
potential that the camera gives a filmmaker… and the independence,
efficiency, and quality of image.”
The ultra-versatile HVX200 records in 1080i and 720p in production-proven
100 Mbps DVCPRO HD quality, with the ability to capture images in 21 record
modes. The DVCPRO HD format offers users cost-effective, intra-frame
compression, where each frame stands on its own for editing, and its full
4:2:2 color sampling allows the image to hold up under color correction.
The camera records video on a P2 card as IT-friendly MXF files in 1080/60i, 30p
and 24p; in 720/60p, 30p and 24p; in 50Mbps DVCPRO50 and in 25Mbps DVCPRO or
DV. The HVX200 can capture fast or slow action in 720p at various frame
rates–the first time this function is available in a hand-held camera. The
shooting frame rate in 720p native mode can be set for any of 11 steps
between 12fps and 60fps including 24fps and 30fps
