First trip down HD lane...need advice
 

I am about to embark on an HD project. It is talking heads interview style. I was wondering if there is anything I need to know about before starting this shoot. I have a DOP with lights and I will be shooting on either the FX1 or the HC1 from Sony because I think those are the ones that use the mini DV tape (I believe the new Pana is memory stick only, right?). ANyways, tips and tricks would be appreciate for shooting and editing on HD. Thanks

FX1 will give you simpler easier to use adjustments, as well as better control between the two Sonys. Tape is easy to record, and hard to lose. Go tapeless your first time out, and something might get lost.

Shoot everything on manual. Don't use autofocus.

LCD screen give a nice look at your shot, but for critical focus, and scene set up, you would best be served with a decent field monitor.

You'll might want to consider a soft box or two in your lighting kit. Lighting needs to be set up to give depth to your subject and surroundings. Shoulder/hair light almost mandatory.

Sound is important. Good mic needed and maybe you'll want separate sound recording through a board with sound being monitored separately. Alternatively, use an XLR adapter on the FX1 with best mic you can get and be sure you are monitoring sound at all times with ear phones.

Just my thoughts from limited experience with talking head interviews.

Thanks. Can you think of anything else that is HD specific I should look out for? The monitor is a good call - I will probably run it through my laptop instead.

Yes. Three things. Focus, focus and focus. HD will highlight poor focus. It sounds like you are more experienced than I originally read into the first post, so I am guessing that the lighting techniques and exposure issue are something you can deal with. So failure to critically focus is probably the biggest issue with HD in my mind.

Thanks again Chris.

Just out of curiosity, which is a better HD cam the Sony or the Panasonic?

Can't hazard a guess. I got the Sony. I do have a small Panosonic 3 chipper. I bought FX1 because I felt it was best value for the dollar, considering many factors. I also felt Sony seemed to be ahead of the game in power preservation/consumption issues, and since the FX1 uses the same batteries as my VX2000, that was a major consideration. Overall, I felt good about the research I had done regarding the various available cameras and format, and that Sony ranked good in most important areas.

I assume you are referring to HVX200. That camera has a lot of features. To me, one big negative is lack of tape for HD. Whatever you think of tapeless capture, you still need to store your raw footage. Do you start buying hard drives by the case ? Maybe Blue Ray Disk ?? I saw one thread where guys with the camera are trying to figure out if they can use DV tape drives to store the video ??