HV20 Cineform Neo HD feature film successful...almost
 

Hey just wanted to finally post some things here after completing my feature film. Half was shot in Korea and the other half was shot in the Chicago area with an HV20 and recording to a PC with Blackmagic/Cineform codec using Neo HD. This was the hardest film I have done yet, but not because of the tech. Vehicle problems, my HV20 LCD went out and I had to buy a replacement HV30 during the shoot. I will be posting the story and the process in detail on my website now that I have got close to finishing the cut. In short, HDMI capture worked great, dropped some frames on maybe 5% of the captures, but nothing that caused me any great trouble.

The Letus adapter I purchased had a way too intense vibration that when using the 24mm lens caused the picture to vibrate and blur. With longer heavier lenses I did not have this problem.

I am editing on Final Cut Studio 2 on a Macbook Pro, and there are problems editing CFHD codec on Final Cut. After extensive help from David and the good Cineform folk, I at least was able to edit a rough cut in CFHD. But for renders out and RT manipulation I convert the cut to Apple Pro Res 422HQ. I am jazzed to see a new Mac Neo, but a little skittish in the editing process to throw in something new. I will soon be bugging David on best codecs for outputting the final high resolution master files for FX and color grading.

If you would like to check out clips resized and in the H.264 codec, go to my website Home. Go to bottom of God Is D_ad page. I will be posting full rez H.264 clips this week.

My recording tech specs:

Canon HV20/30
Letus Extreme 35mm DOF adapter
Cavision RPMD90
HDMI cables 10 ft./15ft.
HDMI repeater
Zacuto follow focus (rental)
Nikon Nikkor lenses 24mm/50mm/35-100mm zoom
Bogen 510 tripod
Long Valley Equipment Seven Jib (modified)
Long Valley Skateboard dolly/track
Senheiser 416 12T mic
My old heavy boom pole
Sony DCT-8 DAT walkman
Miglia Harmony Audio Firewire interface

Blackmagic Intensity card
Asus ASUS P5B-VMB motherboard
2.6GHZ Intel Core 2 Duo processor
2GB RAM
750 GB Seagate SATA system drive
Windows XP SP2
Antec NSK1300 Micro ATX Computer Case w/300W
Lilliput 7" touchscreen monitor
Samsung 40" 1080p directors monitor (sometimes)

Well I hope to contribute all my trials and tribulations here. This site prepared me for the shoot and I got alot of invaluable information here. Special thanks to David for helping me out in the midst of shooting with some mac/pc workflow issues. I am working overseas right now in Seoul, Korea teaching at a university and editing the movie awaiting word from the festivals.