"Crank 2" shot on XH-A1
 

A friend forwarded this bit of news A1 shooters might find interesting:

Lions Gate and Lakeshore Entertainment's second installment of the "Crank" series, "Crank 2: High Voltage," starring Jason Statham and Amy Smart, set for release in 2009, is to be filmed on prosumer level HDV cameras, namely the Canon XH-A1 and HF10.

Here is the website & trailer: Crank 2: High Voltage - APRIL 17, 2009 - Trailer, Pictures, News

More on the production:

Crank 2: High Voltage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://jackcabbage.blogspot.com/2008...r-crank-2.html

Never saw the first one... Not a huge fan. But I'm curious to see their results on the big screen. Trailer looks promising re: look.

Anyone have insight into their workflow? I hear its all bare cams, no adapters.

-K

Yep it was posted a few months ago. Still wondering if anyone has inside info on the presets used. I saw the interview where they said they used -3db and did some wild stuff in-camera, but no other details. Anyone know?

Yeah,
This 720p trailer looks amazing:
Apple - Movie Trailers - Crank 2

I don't know how they are getting that quality!? When I export at 6Mbps, H.264 at 1280x720 it doesn't look nearly that good! I wish someone could figure out how they process the footage and export.

-Steve

I saw the trailer at the cinema, it looked great.
The "quality" of the footage didn't look any different from what I can typically get
using manual controls and some post color correction. 6M h.2 is further compressed and nearly 1/3 of the bitrate of native. of course it would lose quality.

to maintain quality i edit m2ts and export to m2t.. then either send the master back to the tape or go to blu-ray for viewing. i use sony vegas for all of that..including color correction with its tools or magic bullet. for sd, i use an hv20 to downconvert on the fly to the drive. it does a great job.

The April issue of HDvideoPro has a 5 page article on the use of Canon XH-A1 for Crank 2.

HD Video Equipment - HD Video Tips - HD Video Technique | HDVideoPro.com

Is this issue part of the email newsletter they offer? Or is the issues only in hard copy?

Brian

Probably hard copy only... .the link just shows the latest cover with the director rollerblading while holding an XH-A1 in one hand and holding the back of a motorcycle with his other hand...

Just watched the trailer on the Apple site. Very nice. However, I noticed several shots on very wide angles, any suggestions on how they were achieved?

Currently borrowing an XHG1 for a short while, so madly reading everything I can about XH Canons...

Neill W

I would love to read that article - anyone know how to get hold of a copy in the UK(London)?

Cheers,

Paul

Just ran across this...nice behind the scenes footage. Didn't see any XH-A1's though...

Video: The Digital Cameras of CRANK High Voltage

oh man what a horrible movie...
oh man what a great looking movie!

Seriously, it looked good.

I don't think "good" is the way I'd describe the look of Crank 2. I'd say "unique". DP Brandon Trost stated that he was going for a really gritty look, and that is pretty much what he got. Personally, I don't think gritty looks good, but it certainly suits the film.

They used the XH A1's as their "big" cameras and a bunch of the Canon HF single chip cams that they stuck in various places, under tables, on top of light poles, etc. There was one photo in one of the articles showing the cameraman skating backwards on roller blades with about or 8 of the little cameras mounted on a U-shaped arrangement of PVC tubing, while the actor ran directly at him, so the actor was almost totally surrounded by cameras. A portable "bullet time" arrangement. Some very clever stuff in the film, I've read.

I liked the look of the trailers but I doubt I could sit through another Crank movie. Maybe I'll watch some of it after Netflix gets it.

What video do you mean? The video I found at the link you gave is all XH-A1 (the first part and the last part) and the middle secion, the small cameras, are the Canon HF10.

What's funny is that the moment I commented on this thread Brandon Trost (the cinematographer of Crank: High Voltage) messaged me on Facebook and gave me his number, evidently he wants to have a talk.