First Job with the JVC
 

This week I shot a commercial with my camera and the standard lens. I worked with a director who has only shot 35mm, and a producer who manages large budget projects. There were also three people from the agency there as well. The expectation and standards were about as high as you can get.

We shot three actresses talking to camera. Everything was lensed telephoto with the ND 1 filter, so that the iris was wide open. We wanted to reduce the depth of field as much as possible. The camera was about 25 feet from the talent, and add on another 25 for the background behind them. The lighting was very dramatic with strong backlight and a single litepanel led for the key.

No Split Screen.
Stunning film-like image.
Director Thrilled, and will work with me again.
Producer Thrilled.
Agency extremely happy.

Before I owned this camera. I could not have achieved this level image quality and aesthetics unless I shot with a CineAlta, Varicam or Film.

People should keep an open mind about the JVC. It is the best video camera that I have ever owned, and I have owned a lot of them.

-Dave Dessel

Thanks for that very positve feedback. It is really nice to hear stories like this where the camera rocks in a real world working shooting environment.

Congrats on the great shoot and good luck in your future shoots.

Thanks David - very heartening. The camera can produce amazing images in the right hands!

Rob

Congratulations for job well done David!

Congrats! Is there any chance we can see the commercial online? Very curious about it!

Is it possible for you to post some of the fottage? I'm getting mine next week and I am VERY happy to read your post...

Terrific news. I second Terry's request. A screen grab if you get a minute.

Footage
 

Thank you all for the kind words. All of the footage was given to the Agency at the end of the day. The good news is that I was able to spool off some material inbetween takes on my own tape. I will try to post something next week.

Best,

Dave Dessel

Thank you David for the valuable information. And, I'd like to formally welcome you to DV-INFO.NET. We're glad you found us to share your experience with. Could you possibly add your location into the profile. This is especially helpful for reports from the field with respect to the new JVC camera and the SSE issue.

regards,

-gb-

Does the agency actually have a way of playing the tapes? If you shot 24p then there are only two devices on the planet right now that will play those tapes. The HD100 camera and the new JVC deck. The older decks only play 30p.

Be advised that while the HD1, HD10, and C1U(?) won't play the HD100's 24p tapes, they can be used to digitize from. They'll pass the transport stream out the firewire, they just won't play the analog output.

Standard Definition
 

The commercial was shot 16X9 Standard Def. In my opinion, the end result far exceeds what is possible with a Pany DVX-100. When properly adjusted the JVC records a much wider dynamic range.

My context is an artistic one. I am of course interested in the High Def capabilities of the camera. But my main focus is on the aesthetic nature of how the image feels on the screen. Today I received a call from the director telling me how pleased and excited she was after sitting in on the edit. Prior to the JVC, the look I captured could only have been created with the Varicam or Cinealta downconverted to SD. (Film too, of course).

This camera will allow you to express your abilities as a digital cinematographer because of the way it interpretes light and the many menu-based possibilities it offers.

The JVC is a big leap forward in getting closer to a film look and feel, which is all I am interested in.

-Dave Dessel

Sounds like you know what you are doing with this camera. Considering the limited information on the settings in the menu, I am sure there would be a lot of interest if you were able to put together a web page, with sample images, showing what the settings do and how to get the most out of the camera.

As much technical knowledge as I have, it doesn't help me much when it comes to setting a camera up with all those adjustments in the menus.

Dave, where are you located?

Settings
 

I'm located in NYC. Guy I appreciate your suggestion with regards to setting up a web site. Right now I wouldn't have the time to do that. I will share the settings with you sometime next week when I get the chance. I'll also try to post a still from the commercial's set-up which I was able to spool off on HDV.

But what I did with the menus was basically this:

I hooked the camera up to a high def monitor and played with all of the settings until the picture looked the way I wanted it to. I suggest taking notes on settings that you like while clicking through the menus. This took about 2 hours with the camera locked off on the same set-up. In doing this, you will learn where the camera is strong and weak in its interpretation of light and color. Once you know your palette, you can make choices. What's exciting is there is still much more to explore with all the settings on this rig.

-Dave Dessel