Multimedia
Blogs
Forum
Affordable HD
Whitepapers
Newsletters
Events
Advertisers
DCP Directory
MillimeterSlamdance's HD Fix
Dec 11, 2007 2:07 PM, Craig Erpelding
Tao Ruspoli, a filmmaker who has done many documentaries based out of a 1985 Bluebird school bus turned production studio, recently created the Slamdance-selected movie, Fix, on his first attempt at narrative storytelling. Slamdance, a movie showcase held concurrently with the popular Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, is even more highly selective than Sundance—this year accepting only 29 movies for competition out of nearly 2,500 submissions—giving Ruspoli a sense of gratification and assurance of his hand-held HD narrative style.
Fix is one of 10 films in the Narrative Competition at Slamdance, a festival that has premiered films such as American Fork, Weirdsville, and 2007's documentary phenom, The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. Ruspoli's Fix is shot first person by the actors as they embark on an odyssey through various Los Angeles enclaves on a mission to garner cash—so they can admit a character into a rehab clinic by 8pm and skirt a three-year jail sentence. Because the actors were the cinematographers, as well, camera selection was important. Ruspoli and his co-director of photography Christopher Gallo decided hand held was the best option.
"Fix was an unconventional, ambitious shoot, with the objective of taking the viewer on a real-life journey through extraordinary circumstances while meeting people who make events so real the effect is surreal. For this film, [anything but hand held] shots would have been inappropriate," Ruspoli says. "Fix is supposed to feel like a document of a day as it is actually happening." And, this style was a familiar fit for the director.
Ruspoli opted to use the Panasonic AG-HVX200 camcorder based upon his previous familiarity with Panasonic's similar hand held SD cam, the DVX100. The camera proved a fitting solution for Fix's style, as many shots were taken in tight situations—including in-car shots.
An additional tool Ruspoli found useful was the Fig Rig stabilization system from Manfrotto, which is helpful for HD filmmakers using camcorder-sized high-def systems such as the HVX200.
The Fig Rig is a lightweight, hand held stabilization system created by acclaimed director Mike Figgis (Leaving Las Vegas). Set up pretty much like a camera floating inside a steering wheel, the Fig Rig 595B also works with a slew of accessories including mic, light, and monitor supports, as well as a finger-controlled remote control—all attached to the circular frame. Creating this type of fully-loaded cine-rig was perfect for one extended walking shot of the characters moving down the Venice Boardwalk.
"The Fig Rig was very compatible with the HVX200," Ruspoli says. "During the long, Venice Boardwalk shot, it got a bit heavy, but gave us that smooth, but still hand held feeling—and gave us the opportunity to keep that hand held aesthetic while not making the shots too erratic."
The HVX200 gave the film a cinematic look via in-camera settings, which Ruspoli desired over a more documentary or video look. But, the director also knows it takes more than just settings to create cinema, noting a valuable meeting with director Terry Mallick (Badlands, Days of Heaven) in which Mallick said, "It won't seem like video if you don't shoot it like video."
Ruspoli has taken this to heart and worked hard to manicure the style and color schemes of Fix—the HVX200's 720pN mode even allowed him to shoot some off-speed scenes at 12fps and 48fps for B roll footage. All of the material was edited on Apple Final Cut Pro, up-rezzed to 1080p, and then color corrected on a Nitris.
Ruspoli's team offloaded four 8GB and several borrowed 16GB P2 cards on site to an Apple PowerBook G4 laptop (which was later stolen at gunpoint from Ruspoli's crew in Watts, Calif.). The P2 cards were then marked with orange tape and returned to the production team for reuse, while the offloaded files were immediately backed up onto two LaCie 1TB Rugged Hard Drives.
