Hand Held Films

Director of Photography Chuck Moss Sets His Shot with Hand Held's Panasonic Varicam-H on a Losmandy Porta Jib.

When Writer/Director Hugo Perez won the HBO/New York International Latino Film Festival Short Film Competition award he was both overjoyed and overwhelmed. The selection of his script gave him the opportunity to produce his film, but the schedule and the budget was tight. HBO gave him only 4 weeks from the time of his selection to finish the film. Producer Ali Sargent turned to Hand Held Films.

Hugo decided to go digital HD for the short, "Our schedule was tight. I wanted to edit and shoot at the same time, so film wasn't an option." Working with long-time collaborator Chuck Moss as Director of Photography, they put together a package that would allow them to meet the time and budgetary constraints without sacrificing the look they wanted. To achieve this they took a Panasonic Varicam H model, a P+S Technik Pro 35 adapter, and a set of Arri Zeiss Super Speed lenses.

Director of Photography Chuck Moss Adujsts Focus While Shooting "Betty La Flaca"

The Varicam H model allowed them to capture a superior HD quality picture and gave them the option of varying frame rates. The variable frame rate feature helped them to emphasize comic moments in the script. The Pro 35 adapter and Zeiss lenses allowed them to maintain a film style look by using regimented focal lengths and maintaining depth of field characteristics.

Hand Held Films was able to provide a complete production package including camera, jib, lighting, grip, and even a Panasonic HD deck for editing. By bundling the entire package, Hand Held was able to offer a discount that brought the price within range for the low budget production. It also streamlined the process for a production which needed things done efficiently. "It was really a team effort to complete the film in the time we had. I don't know if we could have pulled it off without the support of Hand Held" said Hugo.

"Betty la Flaca" will screen before each program at the New York International Latino Film Festival July 25-30th. www.nylatinofilm.com

Alex Nepomniaschy, ASC Educates Charlie Banks

Alex Nepomniaschy, ASC frames a shot with the Moviecam Compact MKII.

The newest advance from Moviecam, since merging with Arriflex in 2000, is the Moviecam Compact MkII. This sync-sound 35mm camera features the unltra-bright Arricam Viewing System and possible 3-perf movement. A Compact MkII, provided by Hand Held Films, was recently used by director of photography Alex Nepomniaschy, ASC (Narc, Safe) for principal photography of Fred Durst's feature film directorial debut, The Education of Charlie Banks. Response to the camera was extremely positive by Nepomniaschy and the rest of the crew, including operator Gábor Kövér and 1st AC Lee Vickery, especially the brighter Arricam Viewing System and IVS. "It's much better than the old system--much easier to use," said Nepomniaschy about the modification.

First AC Lee Vickery pulls focus for operator Gábor Kövér

For B-camera and steadicam work, the smaller Moviecam SL was used. With simple adapters, the Compact Viewing System and magazines can be used on this camera for easier compatability and switching between setups.

Merging new camera technology with an older aesthetic, Nepomniaschy chose to shoot the film with rehoused Cooke SpeedPancro Primes, the standard in the late 1970's in which the film is set. To supplement the limited focal lengths in this set, Hand Held Films provided the Cooke 25-250 and Cooke 18-100 zooms.

For support in studio mode, and for tracking shots, the production utilized Hand Held Films' Fisher 10 dolly. Larger and more steady than the Fisher 11, this dolly can support a medium sized jib arm on the hydraulic boom unaided.

2nd AC Jason Brignola prepares the Moviecam Compact for a shot

Alex Nepomniaschy, ASC and dolly grip Jenn Evans shooting with the Moviecam Compact MKII,
positioned on a Fisher 10 with an
Arri Head MKII gear head.

Hand Held Helps Fast Food Nation to Cannes

Director of Photography Lee Daniel and First AC PK Munson with our XTR Prod.

Richard Linklater's latest film, Fast Food Nation, showed at the Cannes Film Festival. Director of Photography, Lee Daniel with First AC PK Munson, used two Aaton XTR Prods with 800' magazines,a complete set of Cooke S4s, including the 9.5 and 12 mm SK4 from Hand Held Films for the seven week shoot in Texas, Colorado and Mexico. The adaptation of Eric Schlosser's bestselling book follows a fast-food executive through the unseen world of immigrant-staffed slaughterhouses, overcrowded feedlots and fast-food chains

Lee Daniel also used our Angenieux 7-81 mm Zoom and a variety of Canon Zooms. These lenses exhibit different levels of color rendition, particularly in the flares and would normally cause problems in post. However, the final result was greatly enhanced by going to a digital intermediate at Technicolor in New York City.

Panasonic HVX-200 Makes Digital Filmaking Easy

Hand Held's HVX200 with our BTLH900 LCD on board monitor.

The HVX-200 is the smallest DVCPRO HD camera ever! It has been nicknamed the Mini-Vari, for it's similarity to it's predecessor, the full sized state of the art, Varicam. But, it is a third of the weight and can record without tapes. It records HD onto solid state P2 cards at 100Mbps in 720p or 1080i resolution at 24p, 30p, or 60i. In 720p the camera handles a range of frame rates from 12-60 fps. The camera can loop record in any range with two P2 cards (4 or 8 GB), treating 1GB as 1 minute of recording. The information can be transfered streaming/file transfer via firewire (IEEE 1394) or file transfer via USB 2.0 to a hard drive, powerbook, or iPod.

HVX-200 wowed the crowds and won Top Innovation Award at NAB! The award was presented in recognition of outstanding achievement in the advancement of the art and science of video technology.

In April 2006, cinematographer Arthur Jafa (Crooklyn, Eyes Wide Shut) shot a spot for Sesame Street on our HVX-200. He found that the camera handled well and the image quality was great, but being able to shoot fast meant the five 4GB P2 cards were full every twenty minutes of run time. This will improve when Panasonic offers a P2 card in the 32GB range. Meanwhile the editor may have to bring his laptop on-set and retrieve the information by streaming from the looped cards.

A great compliment to the HVX-200 is the Panasonic BTLH-1700 lcd monitor. This 17" flat-panel not only provides extremely sharp pictures and rich color reproduction, but serves as a vectorscope and features a split-screen feature, allowing for better filter and camera setting comparisons than ever before.

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