By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com
Zodiac tech: taking a shot
From Paramount’s “handbook of production information,” director of photography Harris Savides describes in simple tech-speak how the technology used to shoot the vivid, visceral Zodiac works: “The Viper is a high-definition (HD) video camera that captures data raw—meaning the camera outputs the image data off the sensor chips without modification. HD sensor chips generate tremendous amounts of data. Initially, HD cameras recorded to tape—a medium that cannot support HD’s high data rate. Camera manufacturers decided to address this drawback by compressing the data and reducing the data rate that the tape mechanism can handle. When the data is compressed, decisions about color balance, contrast, brightness, etc., must be made during the compression process. Once these decisions are made and the results compressed, any subsequent modifications degrades image quality. In effect, the filmmakers must live with what is recorded to tape. The Viper represents a drastic departure from this paradigm. Rather than making image processing decisions and then compressing the data, Viper only captures the data and outputs the unmodified, unprocessed data. Without an onboard recording device, the Viper depends on an external recording device. Filmmakers can opt to record to a tape recorder, like the Sony HDCAM tape system. In this instance, image decisions would be made and the data would be compressed. However, with the availability of S Two digital field recorders and Thomson’s Venom data recorders, filmmakers can modify the image as much as they wish without degrading the image.
Plus, filmmakers have access to the full range of image controls available from postproduction tools rather than be limited by the in-camera image controls.”
Specs:
HD to film out; 2 Thomson Viper Filmstream cameras; Each camera records into two S Two D.Mag digital field recorder; 2 x Back Focusers; 2 x Astro HD 6″ on-board monitors; and 8 x 29volt 18amp lithium batteries. Basic support: clip-on matted boxes/follow focus/baby/standard tripods/hi/low hats; 2 x O’Connor Ultimate 2575 Fluid Heads; 1 x Lambda Head. Basic filter pack: NDs/Polas/optical FLAs/Tiff Diffusions/Diopters. Lenses are all Zeiss digital primes: 5mm t1.9; 7mm t1.6; 10mm t1.6; 14mm t1.6; 28mm t1.6; 40mm t1/6; 70mm t1.6 close focus; and 2 x Zeiss 6-24mm zoom t1.9.