Jonathan Ames
June 18th, 2006, 10:49 PM
I wanted to take a minute and thank everyone from DVInfo.net who worked on-set for “2nd Unit” Saturday. As most know, the show debuts Wednesday, June 21st at www.2nd-Unit.tv and Saturday the crew was at Lite Panels’ factory where their amazing LED technology lit the way for three (3) JVC100HDs shooting Part 1 of cinematographer George Spiro Dibie's 2-part interview on lighting and cinematography.
For the first show, Paolo Ciccone drove 5-hours from Santa Cruz to balance the 100s for him to pilot along with cameramen and DVInfo members Scott C. Chambers and Jeff Sheldon while another board member Tip McPartland wired the sound. While the cameras rolled, producers and directors tracked the action through a trio of incredible HD Panasonic LH1700W provided by Abel Cine Tech. Abel also provided the 50" Panasonic Plasma display that George uss to illustrate his techniques after an idiot producer (OK it was me) knocked over and broke the new 42” monitor we just purchased for the show. In fact, there was such interest in the production that Abel Cine’s own General Manager Ron Ayers had ambled over on a Saturday to watch things unfold and with the crash, it was a good thing he did.
Why take the time to post this? Because it was one of those rare days when everything came together to support a belief that this board’s knowledgeable independent filmmakers can combine with today's "prosumer" equipment to produce incredible results that benefit everyone who sees the results. On an imperfect set being white-walled in background and black-to-dark gray in setting with actors dressed in dark to black wardrobe, the cameras and the crew had every opportunity to fall short… but they didn’t. The JVC’s latitudes, working hand-in-hand with LitePanel’s lighting, achieved results that were nothing short of terrific as blacks held true through a long range of gray-to-black transitions instead of crushing and whites held texture without blowing out; all this while writing 4:2:0 to tape and not 4:2:2 out the back. Stopped anywhere from 4 to 5.6 but opening as wide as 1.4, the JVCs had the range to work with the lighting proving that million-dollar results don’t need million-dollar budgets.
Do we hope you tune into the site each week for the education, humor and insight of our guests like Geroge, Rob Kositchek, Rodney Chaters and other notables and then return to DVInfo to discuss the shows? Absolutely. But we also hope you tune in to see how to make equipment like the JVCs and others sing in the hands of DVInfo board members. Remember, "2nd Unit" doesn’t get paid by sponsors to say nice things. Pictures don’t lie and after week one, we think you’ll admit after seeing the show, we picked a trio of winners in George Spiro Dibie, JVC and Lite Panels… and another winner as far as we're concerned and one completely out of the blue in Abel Cine Tech. I mean, a 50” plasma HD monitor on a Saturday without even asking if we’d like their help gratis after a catastrophe? Now that’s customer service!
For the first show, Paolo Ciccone drove 5-hours from Santa Cruz to balance the 100s for him to pilot along with cameramen and DVInfo members Scott C. Chambers and Jeff Sheldon while another board member Tip McPartland wired the sound. While the cameras rolled, producers and directors tracked the action through a trio of incredible HD Panasonic LH1700W provided by Abel Cine Tech. Abel also provided the 50" Panasonic Plasma display that George uss to illustrate his techniques after an idiot producer (OK it was me) knocked over and broke the new 42” monitor we just purchased for the show. In fact, there was such interest in the production that Abel Cine’s own General Manager Ron Ayers had ambled over on a Saturday to watch things unfold and with the crash, it was a good thing he did.
Why take the time to post this? Because it was one of those rare days when everything came together to support a belief that this board’s knowledgeable independent filmmakers can combine with today's "prosumer" equipment to produce incredible results that benefit everyone who sees the results. On an imperfect set being white-walled in background and black-to-dark gray in setting with actors dressed in dark to black wardrobe, the cameras and the crew had every opportunity to fall short… but they didn’t. The JVC’s latitudes, working hand-in-hand with LitePanel’s lighting, achieved results that were nothing short of terrific as blacks held true through a long range of gray-to-black transitions instead of crushing and whites held texture without blowing out; all this while writing 4:2:0 to tape and not 4:2:2 out the back. Stopped anywhere from 4 to 5.6 but opening as wide as 1.4, the JVCs had the range to work with the lighting proving that million-dollar results don’t need million-dollar budgets.
Do we hope you tune into the site each week for the education, humor and insight of our guests like Geroge, Rob Kositchek, Rodney Chaters and other notables and then return to DVInfo to discuss the shows? Absolutely. But we also hope you tune in to see how to make equipment like the JVCs and others sing in the hands of DVInfo board members. Remember, "2nd Unit" doesn’t get paid by sponsors to say nice things. Pictures don’t lie and after week one, we think you’ll admit after seeing the show, we picked a trio of winners in George Spiro Dibie, JVC and Lite Panels… and another winner as far as we're concerned and one completely out of the blue in Abel Cine Tech. I mean, a 50” plasma HD monitor on a Saturday without even asking if we’d like their help gratis after a catastrophe? Now that’s customer service!