Owen Wilson, Robert Musgrave and Luke Wilson on the set of the cult classic Bottle Rocket.

by Brian Cali

Cinematographer Barry Braverman, the Director of Photography for the original, 13-minute black-and-white Bottle Rocket short that was the basis for filmmaker Wes Anderson’s 1996 cult classic, recently shot The Making of Bottle Rocket for the Blu-ray release (Criterion Collection) of the feature with the Panasonic VariCam 2700 P2 HD VariCam. The original behind-the-scenes documentary features interviews with Anderson, producer James L. Brooks, actors James Caan and Luke and Owen Wilson, among others, and revisits the Texas locations where the film was shot.

Bottle Rocket is a lovingly detailed, visually witty and warm portrait of three young misfits, best friends Anthony (Luke Wilson), Dignan (Owen Wilson), and Bob (Robert Musgrave). The trio stage a wildly complex, mildly successful robbery of a small bookstore, then go “on the lam,” where they befriend a real thief, Mr. Henry (Caan). Martin Scorsese has called Bottle Rocket, the film that put Anderson (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums) and the Wilson brothers on the map, “a picture without a trace of cynicism, that obviously grew out of its directorís affection for his characters in particular and for people in general… a rarity.”

Braverman, who had previously worked with the AJ-HPX2700 VariCam on wildlife shoots and indie projects, calls it the “ultimate non-fiction camera.” “I never considered anything but a top-end camera for this project,” Braverman said. “I was dealing with A-list talent who had no time for do-overs. It makes sense to have a camera like HPX2700 when you’re working at this level. Essentially, you’re paying for peace of mind and the confidence that the camera can handle and survive an unpredicted event.”

The gang in yellow jump suits executes the imperfect robbery inside Hinckley Cold Storage.

And The Making of Bottle Rocket was not without sudden changes of plans. “I was shooting the Jim Brooks’ (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Broadcast News, The Simpsons) interview on the Fox lot, and had 90 minutes scheduled with him,” Braverman recounted. “I had a ground-level office rigged out with full-bore HMI lighting. The famously reticent Brooks walked in and asked me to turn off the lights and start shooting in five minutes.”

“I had to wing it with available daylight through a window, and a hodge-podge of messy office lighting, but the HPX2700 could pull it out,” he continued. “The HPX2700 is clearly a craft-driven and performance-oriented tool that can excel when things change at the last second. It’s not about some potential resolution numbers. The P2 VariCam offers resolution appropriate for professionals earning a living: it’s not about imagers the size of a battleship.”

“The HPX2700 produces very flattering images when working with talent, courtesy of the VariCam cinematic look and the camcorderís 10-bit capture,” Braverman noted. “Flesh tones appear organic with well-modulated shadow details. The image processing is extremely sophisticated for capturing the skin tones of celebrities, who are understandably focused on every nook and cranny of theircomplexions. This was especially true in this case, given the Blu-ray release.”

“The HPX2700 creates a distinguished look that can’t be reproduced in a lowerclass of camera,” he added. “I don’t confuse increased resolution with superior images. There are times you donít necessarily want to see maximum resolution; with portraits and close-ups, for instance, you actually want less resolution, not more. The VariCam 2700, in short, is effective as a tool for a working filmmaker at a level far beyond the number of pixels in the imager. After all, I canít remember the last production I worked on about a test chart!”

Designed as a premium-quality, workhorse HD cinematography camcorder, the VariCam 2700 combines VariCamís renowned filmic look with key functions including variable frame rates, wide dynamic range and advanced master-quality, 10-bit 4:2:2 AVCIntra recording.

Braverman said he makes judicious use of the HPX2700’s full range of variable frame rates (from 1 fps to 60 fps in 720p mode). “I tend to use off-speed in ways that are subtle,” he noted. “Shooting at 25 or 26fps can lend a certain gravitas to actors’ reactions, especially if you’re working with non-professionals on an indie project. And when I’m shooting with a long lens on a wildlife doc, you have to shoot overcranked. The HPX2700 does off-speed with the most versatility and most robust colormatrix of any camera out there.”

“I grew up with film cameras, and I used to feel that I was attached at the hip to my Arri,” the DP said. “I never had that kind of visceral attachment to any digital camera prior to working with the HPX2700.”

“I consider it Panasonic’s best camera,” Braverman added. “I do a lot of wildlife work, and you can slap the HPX2700 up to your eye, and shoot quickly and efficiently. Itís wellbalanced, and you can walk up trails with the camcorder shoved under your arm. It’s not a power hog. It has excellent metadata support, and the workflow is really, really good.”

Actor James Caan recalls his role as the flamboyant con man Mr. Henry.

Braverman shot the 20-minute The Making of Bottle Rocket in 720/24p in AVCIntra 100, using 32GB cards. He had the HPX2700 fully loaded with five cards, but offloaded only once a week, never using up more than three cards.

“AVC-Intra 100 was a huge advantage as I could be assured of smooth gradients in thefacial shadows of the various featured celebs and movie stars,” Braverman said. “The 10-bit workflow also allowed precise color correction in post, another source of confidence when working with image-conscious talent.

“The 10-bit AVC-Intra workflow adds no additional data load or storage requirement compared to shooting 8-bit DVCPRO HD or XDCAM HD/EX, further reinforcing the efficiency of AVC-Intra recording, especially in higher-end applications.”

Braverman outfitted the HPX2700 with the Fujinon HA23×7.6BE HDTV ENG-style lens with 23X magnification. He edited the behind-the-scenes doc in Final Cut Pro, and Criterion finished the piece.

“Criterion couldn’t believe how good it looked,” he said.

Braverman has also used the HPX2700 for time-lapse, night shooting in Los Angeles. “This is a very serious camera,” he said. “On the one hand, it achieves very subtle shadows and flesh tones. On the other, it’s terrific for very low light, effects-type shooting. With the HPX2700, you get reliability, absolute precision, 10-bit captureóa combination of features that really makes sense for professional filmmakers.”

The Criterion two-disc Blu-ray issue of Bottle Rocket is a restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by Anderson and director of photography Robert Yeoman. The many extras include the The Making of documentary as well as Murita Cycles, a 1978 short film by Braverman that Anderson credits as an inspiration for The Royal Tenenbaums.  

Barry Braverman is a veteran cinematographer and digital media expert with over thirty years experience in television documentaries and feature films. Credits include long-form programs for National Geographic, ABC News, HBO, Discovery and The History Channel. Recent projects include A One Track Mind: The Darjeeling Limited (2008), Café Lebowitz (2007) and music videos for Tangerine Dream, Stevie Wonder and Yanni. Braverman writes regularly on camera and craft-related issues. His latest book Video Shooter 2nd Edition (2009) from Focal Press explores the art of visual storytelling with the latest-generation HD cameras.

Director of Photography and filmmaker Tom Curran likes to create an intimate relationship between the subject and his camera. Whether he’s shooting a scene on TLC’s hit reality series Little People, Big World or a sensitive and powerful interview with the victim of a pedophile deacon on a remote island in Alaska, Curran believes his camera should serve as another character in the story he’s telling.

To achieve this verité/reality style in HD, Curran employs a variety of techniques—shooting in 24p to give his images a more cinematic and timeless feel, primarily relying on handheld to obtain unique angles, and preferring a viewfinder to LCD screens to better control and compose his frame. Curran’s camera of choice is JVC.

Now in its fifth season, TLC’s Little People, Big World chronicles the lives of Matt and Amy Roloff and their four children—Jeremy and Zach (twins), Molly and Jacob. Matt, Amy and Zach are all little people (or dwarfs) and the series often highlights how they face the day-to-day challenges of being small in an average-sized world. Produced by Gay Rosenthal Productions, the popular series switched to HD after two seasons in SD, when Curran and his crew brought cameras from Sony, Panasonic, Canon, and JVC to the Roloffs’ 34-acre farm in Oregon where they performed rigorous tests. After reviewing the footage, the choice was clear and the show went into production on its third season with two JVC GY-HD250 and two GY-HD200 cameras.

“What JVC brought to the table with the 200 series was a beautiful image with very deep rich blacks and the ability to handle high-contrast well,” says Curran. “But what really set JVC apart for me was that you could put an incredible piece of glass in front of the camera and the form factor. We use the Fujinon 13x wide angle lens, which is very sharp and suits this camera beautifully. Ergonomically, the camera fits so comfortably on your shoulder and feels like the type of cameras I’ve been working with for years. You don’t have to search for little iris rings or focus knobs, you have a standard camera to operate with. It also helps that you’re not toting around a twenty-four pound camera. By the time this camera’s rigged out with a battery and a FireStore drive, you’re looking at about fourteen pounds. That ten pound difference is significant when you’re shooting twelve hour days.”

With a demanding shooting schedule that sometimes runs ten months out of the year, Little People, Big World, is no small undertaking and the intimate world created by Curran’s lensing has played a significant role in the show’s success. “Some of the principles on the show are around four feet tall, some are six feet tall, but we often try to shoot from a perspective of a little person. So I spend a lot of time shooting on stools or on my knees. I’m not sure you could do that all day with a heavier camera.”

The cameras also proved to be very rugged. “When we’re shooting up in Portland in the summer, there’s a lot of dust and it’s a tough environment. But these cameras have seen a lot of miles, too. We’ve been to the Bahamas, to the British Virgin Islands, to Hawaii, and this year we’ll be travelling extensively through Europe.”

“For the style of the show, it really is important for us to have the camera become, in effect, a family member,” says Curran. “We really try to be respectful of the family’s space but at the same time think, well, if I was one of the brothers sitting in on this scene, where would I sit? I want the camera to have that view of what’s happening between people, that relationship. A camera like JVC’s in combination with the Fujinon lens gives us a smaller profile that lets us get intimately involved with a scene. It’s a really special thing to be able to watch a family, in a sense, figure life out.”

As for workflow on Little People, Big World, Curran and his crew are doing dual acquisition to tape and to FireStore drives. “We use the tape originals as our main acquisition and the FireStore drives as back up, and they really give you a sense of confidence that you know you’ve got it. We have six of them on the show and we have a fulltime loader who basically handles the media and checks the tapes. The FireStore drives have worked out really well for us.”

Recently, Curran took JVC’s new GY-HM700 compact shoulder mount camera to St. Michael, Alaska. Together with co-director and co-producer Michael Bovee, Curran got a first-hand look at how the HM-700 performs in extreme environments. Just 200 miles south of the Arctic Circle, Curran encountered blizzard conditions and five below zero temperatures even though it was April, and both he and the HM700 performed well (although Curran may have had the edge, having shot seven Iditarods previously).

Curran also took a liking to the LCOS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) viewfinder on the HM700, which has five times the resolution of typical color viewfinders. “It’s an enormous improvement. You have a much, much higher resolution, and again, I use the viewfinder almost exclusively. When you’re composing shots, you really define your world by what you’re shooting through that viewfinder. The closer that you can get to what you’re actually going to see in its finished form, really helps you. It helps you to compose, it helps you to understand what your color is, what your exposure is, and perhaps most critically, what your focus is. And when you’re working in HD, focus becomes really critical, and with some viewfinders, it’s really hard to find focus.”

Curran also experienced recording to SDHC memory. “I hadn’t worked SDHC cards before. We had four 16GB SDHC cards with us that held about an hour of footage each, and for me what was pretty remarkable was how fast they downloaded, how quickly we could manage the media with just a small two-person crew. Because the cost is so low, you could start to treat those cards as tape.”

Although Curran couldn’t be more pleased with the HD250 and HD200 cameras on Little People, Big World, he does see the networks are beginning to feel more comfortable with tapeless acquisition. “In terms of verité shooting and documentary shooting, JVC cameras have so many strengths that they’re a real contender, especially the HM700 because it has so many advantages for this format and it’s so easy to take care of and manage those SDHC cards.”  

They first met in Fiji, re-acquainted in Denver, rendezvoused in London, backpacked across Africa, married in Italy, moved to New Zealand, relocated to Denver, and settled in Seattle. That’s how Valerie and Simon Griffith, both avid travelers, became husband and wife and currently the producers of two separate PBS world travel series, Art Wolfe’s Travels to the Edge and Rick Steves’ Europe. David Thompson, Editor of HighDef Magazine interviewed them during a brief break in their schedule.

Tell me about your company.

V – (Valerie): You are looking at Blue Moon Productions as it consists of Simon and me. We are a very small video and television production company here in Seattle, Washington. Most recently we’ve been employed by Edge of the Earth Productions for Art Wolfe’s Travels to the Edge, now in its second season. It’s an HD travel adventure photography program.

S – (Simon): It is just the two of us and we’re both freelance producers. I also have a pretty regular gig with Rick Steves doing a European travel series. I’ve been involved with eighty some-odd shows and still going strong. I do other freelance work as well and I also help on the Art Wolfe series. I help assist Val with some of the technical stuff.

V: We are a very small team. I have a producer role in the pre-production and post production. The only thing that I don’t do is go out into the field with the crew. I hired the crew and, with Simon’s assistance, put together a great team of people. I help set up all the shoots and figure out the complicated travel arrangements. There is a lot of permitting to do along with visas. I am greatly assisted by Chris Eckhoff who is Art Wolfe’s Business Manager. On the series she’s the Executive Producer, wearing lots of hats working directly with Art. We work very closely together on the pre-production stuff. On post, I work with three different editors who edit all of the shows remotely at their homes. We go to various post facilities to finalize each episode. I don’t go on location other than vicariously, partially because our producing season is so short based on budgetary constraints.

S: I’m a freelance series producer for Rick Steves’ Europe and have been with him since 1999. I got my start with Rick when he asked me to go to an area that he was not familiar with which was Egypt and Israel. After that experience Rick wanted to know if I would like to do more shows. I’ve been with him ever since. It’s been a very interesting process because he’s very consistent and probably one of Public Television’s favorite personalities. He produces 13 new shows every two years like clockwork. It’s the same tiny little team including the cameraman, Rick and myself. Rick knows where he wants to go and he knows what he wants to do. In our case it is quite different from the Art Wolfe series. We go out with pre-written scripts or at least very good guidelines that we shoot from. We will often drop elements or add elements, but it is pretty organized. Because of the way Rick is and how he runs his business, we are extraordinarily efficient. We have a very low shooting ratio because we know what we’re after.

With such a tiny crew, I tend to do everything and our roles overlap. We all know what we’re looking for. I carry a ton of gear as well. Part of Rick’s travel philosophy is to teach his travelers to travel light, something he has us emulate. Considering that we are shooting in HD and HDCam with minimal lighting equipment, we are probably one of the lightest weight crews out there.

What are the similarities and differences in your freelance jobs?

V: The pre-production process for both of us is not too dissimilar and the post is very similar. Simon works from a fairly tidy script and the edit kind of falls into place. For Travels we take between 25 to 30 hours of footage and watch it all. Then it’s up to us to find some kind of rhythm and develop a story by pulling out all the best sound bites. We use music in a very innovative way. Then there are Art’s still images which we incorporate into our shows. We have this organic process that just sort of happens in the edit. That’s the part of it that I love the most. It’s all a surprise. Because I haven’t been in the field, I don’t know what we’re going to see. Sometimes it’s challenging and sometimes it is an embarrassment of riches. It just depends upon the location. Sometimes the weather has not cooperated. We shot a show up in Northern Australia in the Kimberly which is very rugged and it consists of beautiful deep gorges and red rock, but the light is only good for about an hour on each side of the day. The crew was traveling everywhere trying to shoot a show in two or three hours.

S: Rick Steves’ Europe is more of a formula show. One show that was a bit of an exception was a one hour special we did on Iran. That was the one case where it was closer to the manner in which Val produces. Usually Rick is a walking encyclopedia because he knows a place and has been there before. None of us knew what was around the corner. We were writing as we went, structuring it in the field. We ultimately put together a great show with extraordinary positive response.

V: The other thing that Simon does with Rick that’s interesting is something they call “scrubbing their script”. They’ll shoot and then they will be driving and they will be refining the script based on what they shot that day, based on what’s going on in Rick’s and Simon’s brain. It’s a constant process of polishing.

S: We also include the camera guy. There is never a down moment for the three of us. You are constantly revising the script. So when we come home we have a script that we can start editing to. When Val’s tapes come home it is just the beginning. Neither Art nor Rick participate in the editing process. They will both view rough cuts and make minor suggestions, but generally entrust the post process to others.

Has Art Wolfe’s Travels to the Edge always been produced in HD?

V: From the get-go it has been produced in HDV with Canon H1 cameras. They are small, light, rugged and durable which is the reason we use them. We use an interchangeable wide angle lens along with a regular lens. The first season we edited native so we stayed in HDV. The second season we reduced render times by using a small converter box to edit in DVCPro HD.

How about the Rick Steves’ Europe series?

S: I was able to convince Rick to change to HD about three years ago. We shoot in HDCam. We have over 40 half-hour shows shot in HD and a huge archive of wonderful HD footage of Europe. Our workflow is different than Val’s. We shoot HDCam, down convert to BetaSP, offline in BetaSp, and reconform in HD, doing color correction as we output to HDCam. It works really well for us and we’re very happy with the final product and the look.

On the Art Wolfe series, at the beginning I was concerned how the HDV would hold up. What we discovered is that if a scene is fairly well lit and well shot, and you are not pushing HDV in terms of wanting to do lots of effects or composites, it does very well. The colorist we use at Victory Studios, Seattle is John Davidson and he has been very impressed with the consistent quality of the HDV footage. With his help, we’ve achieved the gorgeous images that the Art Wolfe series demands.

What are the pluses of using Highdef?

S: When you see a close up of a flower or other things in nature, the imagery is stunning, and wide shots hold up so much better than in standard definition.

V: It’s really important when your show is about a photographer and his images. The video has to look as good as the stills. We use a lot of stills in each episode, somewhere between 35 and 40 images. When you are dissolving off a still to moving footage you want it to be as seamless and beautiful as possible and with HD it does.

What does the future hold for both shows?

V: There are no guarantees, but Travels has been very well received and we’re looking forward to jumping back into production for season three in January 2010.

S: Rick Steves’ just keeps on going and going. He has this extraordinary synergistic relationship between his books, his TV show, his tours and it just all works together. We’re going to Eastern Europe later this spring to do three shows and then on to several Scandinavian countries and the Baltic States after that.  

by Hank Gerber and Josh Marrazzo

Knight Rider, broadcast in HD by NBC, is an update of the cult-classic 1980s series, reimagined by showrunner Gary Scott Thompson, Executive Producers Glen A. Larson, Doug Liman and Dave Bartis (of the Bourne movies). Though the action and setting are modernized, the premise remains faithful to the original: follow the world-saving adventures of Michael Knight (Justin Bruening) and his Ford Mustang cyber-car-with-an-attitude KITT (voiced by Val Kilmer).

Knight might be the action hero saving the day, but KITT does even more: speeding through explosions, transforming into other vehicles (one favorite: a souped-up pickup), offering an arsenal of weapons to escape dangerous situations, and displaying hologram visual info at a finger’s touch. The re-vamped, super-stylized show offers an interesting challenge to the producers: create 200-300 effects per weekly episode.

Enter Master Key Visual Effects.

The company was founded by Elan Dassani, who had several years of experience supplying playback VFX on other projects, and his brother Rajeev, a USC graduate and Student Academy Award winner. The Dassanis supplied graphics for Knight Rider’s pilot, so they were already familiar with the visual effects challenges they would be encountering as the series moved into fast-forward.

Their first step was to hire Stephan Fleet, another USC grad, who had just finished producing two seasons of effects-heavy, TV Guide Award-winning webisodes of Ghost Whisperer. Fleet, with a background in custom- creating workflows, would be a vital tool in producing Knight Rider’s weekly VFX.

Originally Master Key was brought in only to design and create effects for the hologramlike displays that appear on KITT’s windshield . Once producers saw Master Key’s speed in creating imaginative, high-quality effects, it wasn’t long before they found themselves responsible for the entire allotment of each episode’s VFX.

To accomplish this, they expanded into offices on the Santa Clarita Studios lot, and their staff grew to thirty. Most of the employees are hands-on effects artists, several have extensive production credits, all are fans of effects-driven stories, action and animé, and Master Key can count at least one comic book writer among its diverse little family.

First unit live-action is shot on a Sony F23 with no LUT colorspaces, fed directly to HDCAM SR at 1080p 444. crash-cams and B-cameras use Iconix and Sony EX1 cameras. During the first days of production Master Key did not have budget or access to that equipment, so Rajeev Dassani and Stephan Fleet grabbed up a Panasonic HVX200 for original tests on KITT’s transformations. Those tests were impressive enough to be used intact last summer for NBC’s Knight Rider theatrical trailers and Olympics-timed advertising.

Their “fan-based commitment to the story,” as one fan-blogger wrote, is what drives Master Key’s approach to the practical aspects of maintaining a high standard, deadline-driven workflow. Working from storyboard sketches provided by Knight Rider’s art department, veterans of Star Wars: Episode One and the like, Master Key divides up the work into three stages. First step: Create the concept for the effects, in black & white Photoshop images. Next: Modeling, primarily using 3D Studio Max with the V-Ray Rendering engine. Finally: Composite the 3D renderings onto layered 2D mattes for insertion back into the edited 1080p HDCAM 444 10-bit master of the entire show, using Adobe After effects CS3 with the Key Correct plug-in suite, plus a few other boutique plug-ins.

This is done barely one step behind the live action shoot. To deal with the time crunch, there is a lot of anticipation of how the actual action will be edited. “But that’s one advantage of working on a series,” says Fleet. “Unlike a movie where everything is new and generally one-time, we’ve become an ‘actor’ in this process, so we build upon past weeks ‘character’ work and can fairly accurately guess what KITT will do in any given situation.” The creative process in the Master Key effects suites reflects this approach, with humanizing phrases like “they touch almost affectionately” used to describe KITT’s actions and interactions.

To achieve character continuity and solve deadline issues, Fleet, a director himself and former child actor, developed several effects templates during the first weeks of the series. Those templates are now as much a part of KITT’s “character” as Val Kilmer’s voice — including a “thinking matrix” dashboard hologram effect that “seems to be used by everybody else in television now, but we had to make it up first.”

With the emphasis on character in KITT’s effects, the way to achieving that end is Master Key’s devil-in-the-details approach to designing the actual executions of the VFX desired. “We pay a lot of attention to the live action camera work and try to emulate it with our own backplate shots (using the HVX200) and 3D modeling to create matching grain, lens effects, and movement, like the slight shake of a handheld shot, or whip zooms for dramatic impact.”

A recent example of this approach: developing KITT’s cyber-car nemesis from the original series, KARR. The creative process started with Elan Dassani and Fleet sitting down with showrunner Thompson and asking what he wanted.

“This was a big deal,” says Dassani, “because we have hardcore fans of the original series and they have definite ideas about KARR — but we also have new fans who want the current standard in action. And we have Gary Scott Thompson, who wrote The Fast and The Furious, who definitely has his ideas and stamp on this show.” Adds Fleet: “So we listened, did a lot of research into old shows and new movies where machines are characters, then we went crazy with our creative ideas – some of it looked goofy at first – until we zoned in on KARR’s key qualities.”

One of the key qualities: KARR is as much a character as KITT. Most important physical attribute: KARR transforms from a car to a wheel-legged robot. “When KARR transforms, we want him to feel it in his belly,” one effects artist explained.

Meanwhile, as another visual prompt, the Master Key team decided that KARR’s “skin” would be reflective of his surroundings. “We’re shooting for HD presentation,” says Rajeev Dassani, who heads the 3D modeling team. “A lot of the detail we add may not show up on standard def, but for those watching on hi-def, KARR is an awesome creature. You can see the people KARR sees reflected in his chest, overhead lights glisten on his ‘arm’ muscles, and so on.” To achieve that end, Master Key went to the live action set and shot their own POVs of the actors, who were interacting with an invisible KARR. The result was a seamless HD-driven crossflow of live action and animation.

While Knight Rider is wrapping up production for the current television season, Master Key is ramping up for other projects. Those projects span a range from “dream sequence” backgrounds for Player, an HVX200-shot feature, to their own sci-fi TV pilot, Terminal Case. Meanwhile, Master Key is working with other television productions while staying on-call for Knight Rider’s hopedfor second season.  

John Inwood came onboard to shoot the first season of Scrubs after Dick Quinlan, ASC, filmed the pilot episode in 2001. Situation comedies were traditionally produced with four video cameras on sound stages in front of live audiences. Scrubs was produced with a single Super 16 film camera, mainly on sets built in a defunct Los Angeles hospital that was damaged in an 1994 earthquake. About 10 percent of each episode was filmed at practical locations.

The Touchstone Television series aired on NBC Television in standard definition format. Inwood used his own Aaton XTR prod camera and Canon zoom lenses. He composed images in 4:3 format, while protecting for 16:9 aspect ratio so episodes could be aired in HD format when the market evolved.

The series revolves around seven main characters in an urban hospital. Zack Braff portrays a naïve intern-turned-doctor who is surrounded by an ensemble cast of regular characters and weekly role players. Threads of comedy, drama and fantasy are weaved into the fabric of each episode.

Inwood established a cinema-like visual grammar on the television comedy series by using light, darkness, contrast and colors to punctuate the sense of place and time while amplifying emotional tones of stories. “There is comedy in drama and drama in comedy,” he says.

Inwood has subsequently shot approximately 150 episodes of Scrubs and he has directed seven others. He earned an Emmy nomination for My Princess, the last episode of the 2008 season and NBC network finale, which was also directed by Braff. About half of that episode unfolds at the hospital in contemporary times. The other half happens in a fantasy world with different characters in medieval times. Inwood took a non-traditional painterly approach to creating nuanced looks for the different worlds. His basic tools were the same Aaton camera and Canon zoom lenses that he has used from the beginning. He varied his choice of media, while creating more contrasty lighting and manipulating images in postproduction. “I usually light for a natural look, but I felt that this episode called for extremely contrasty lighting,” he says. “I shot the fantasy elements with color reversal film (KODAK EKTACHROME 100D 7285) using a warm filter on the camera lens and a stocking behind it to soften the look a bit. We punch up the colors in telecine.”

Contemporary scenes, as well as the majority of the series, were filmed on KODAK VISION2 250D 7205, 50D 7201, and 200T 7217 color negative films. Inwood and telecine colorist Larry Fields at Level 3 in Burbank, California, collaborated to desaturate colors in telecine. “It’s a nuanced difference that we wanted the audience to sense more on a subconscious level than having it jump off the screen,” Inwood says.

Inwood has worked with Fields from the beginning. They have developed a shorthand for communicating. Inwood chalks notes on gray scale charts filmed before each scene and longer written messages describing his intentions in addition to verbal communications. He also watches timed programs and provides input for Fields whenever possible.

Inwood is currently shooting the ninth season of Scrubs. It is airing in HD format on the ABC Television network. Fields is timing the episodes on a Spirit DataCine. “When we started producing this series some people were claiming that the picture quality that you render on film in Super 16 format wasn’t sufficient to air in HD format,” Inwood recalls. “Larry Fields and I tested the show in HD and found it not only held up, but it looked terrific. Many believed it had been shot on 35 mm. I believe that older episodes will continue to air long into the future on HD television.”  

When audiences viewed the landmark series, Planet Earth, they were wowed by the richness of the visual experience and especially by the astonishing aerial sequences. It was a series that really delivered on the promise of HD.

Now an ambitious new project is underway to film America on a scale and from a perspective that has never been achieved before. Using the same camera rigging as Planet Earth, an elite camera and helicopter team will criss-cross America over the next nine months, filming every state from the air. Their goal: to capture the wonders of the continent – both natural and man-made – in extraordinary detail and to tell the story of America from a bird’s eye view.

The Smithsonian Network’s 50 part series, entitled Aerial America is already underway, and the results from shooting California and Hawaii are stunning. Director Eric Cochran is an L.A. cameraman who has directed and shot everything from life on board an aircraft carrier for Smithsonian to Extreme Makeover Home Edition for ABC to crocodiles in Costa Rica for National Geographic. “For this show we used the Cineflex to get the rock solid focal lengths in order to get sequences, close ups, mediums etc.”

Sudden changes in weather always make aerial cinematography tricky. Yet Eric says that wasn’t the most difficult hurdle: “The biggest challenge with aerials and HD is simply keeping the lens clean from bugs and ocean spray!”

Like all good directors, Eric knows that planning and preparation is key to success. But then you need a little luck as well…such as a volcano erupting. “The live volcano shots on the big island are extraordinary. And we were right on top of it and nearly in it.”

In just five days, Eric and his team flew over five of the Hawaiian islands, filming everything from big wave surfers to pineapple pickers, from cascading waterfalls to the solemnity of Pearl Harbor. “Shooting in HD,” says Smithsonian field producer Greta Pittard, “allowed us to fly longer distances and shoot longer sequences without constantly having to reload the mags, which would have been nigh impossible, given the few flat surfaces and the remoteness of the islands of Hawaii.”

The next stage of this epic journey will start in Arkansas and move northeast in time to capture the fall foliage in New England. British aerial director and cinematographer Richard Mervyn will be leading this part of the expedition. He is one of the most experienced aerial filmmakers in the world. “My first flight was with Marc Wooff, an American pilot who had flown in Vietnam. As soon as I went into the air, I knew that was what I wanted to do.”

Mervyn says that he disagrees with people who say it’s harder to work with HD. Although he says that HD allows no tolerance for soft focus, he likes the latitude it allows for exposure. “I had a shot of a sunset on Vesuvius. All Vesuvius was black. I said to the editor ‘it’s kind of black but the sky looks great.’ He just raised the chroma and there it was. In SD, you’d have so much gain in it.”

Mervyn’s company, Skyworks, has shot HD aerials all over the world. But he says the opportunity to shoot the Smithsonian Networks’ series across America is a dream he’s had for thirty years. “Flying is much easier in this country. It’s just wonderful. It’s a society that welcomes helicopters. People wave at you here, whereas they make rude remarks elsewhere. The challenge is the enormity, to really find what makes each state tick. We’re going to offer people views they’ve never seen before.”  

April celebrated the sixth anniversary of when I tied my life to High Definition cinematography by starting FootageBank HD, the first footage licensing company dedicated to HD native content. It’s been a fantastic ride with a bullet-like speed that I do not think will slow.

Broadcasters around the world are demanding all their top productions in high definition. To service this growth industry, the need for high definition footage continues to grow exponentially. Each month the number of feature films shot in HD grows, and all network as well as most cable productions are finishing in HD. It does not matter if clients are making a trade show, point of purchase video (now using vertical and horizontal content), or a spot for Nike that will air on the Internet as well as in theaters and television. They are all finishing in a high definition format.

We are more than twenty years into HD’s technological development and the public has learned to “speak HD.” We at FootageBank HD are no longer explaining to our clients the difference between interlaced and progressive formats, or whether or not HD is “here to stay.”

Our current clients prefer footage captured in native 1920 x 1080 format at a progressive frame rate (rather than interlaced). This, at times, has created a problem for the end user of footage. The thirty frames per second interlaced format has been chosen by many of our documentary shooters as it allows them to capture a real life feel in scenes with motion, speed, and content from the natural world.

With 90% of our clients ordering in 24p (really 23.98PsF), progressive frame rate content is dominating this particular “format war”. When I have a choice I tell our DP’s to shoot progressive. Many of them are now re-shooting footage in 24p that they had previously submitted to FootageBank HD in 1080i. This does not mean we do not accept footage shot in the interlaced format. We do, but find it currently sells less frequently when clients have a choice to source a shot from a progressive rather than interlaced master.

FootageBank HD was founded with the mission to represent producers and cinematographers who live on the outer edge of cinematic exploration. They tend to be futurists such as Barry Clark, President of Telenova Productions, and James Mathers, Cinematographer and President of the Digital Cinema Society. These men and dozens more people like them such as Randall Dark and Dave Stump have worked on the frontier of high definition technology always looking to the next horizon of even higher resolution digital cinematography. They are pioneers who help forge potential opportunities such as creating content (whether clips, short films or full scale productions), for digital delivery and multicasting to platforms large and small.

Webisode, mobisode, minisode, broadband, podcast, webcast, mobicast: these words are flooding the newswires, blogs, websites and trade publications that cover business trends and development in the media, entertainment and communication sectors. More and more producers of content are accessing their media in an electronic environment and short form programming is being created specifically to inform, entertain, and market to what is now called the “web centered” viewer.

Television is no longer the first medium that viewers under 30 go to for news and entertainment. In addition, television is no longer the first medium that marketers look to sell their products. Product marketing has changed from a “push” to a “ pull” model; away from pushing your product to the viewers to “pulling the viewers” to the product by creating media viewers want to see.

Programming targeting the web-centered viewing market is expected to explode in the next 12-24 months, and I believe the pace has been quickened by the recent WGA strike. Network producers are now creating webisodes as well as episodes of their television programs. Major commercial brands from Ford, to Hershey’s Chocolate, to Norelco are developing short form programming directed at selected demographics of those consumers who access their media in smaller bits and bytes from a mobile platform. This creates opportunity for shooters.

More and more cinematographers are contacting me asking if we will accept footage created with the new smaller HD cameras such as the Panasonic P2 and Sony XD-Cams.

As of yet our clients are hesitant to accept footage from most of these cameras because most use an interframe compression. However, footage shot with the smaller HDV and HD digital cameras is ideal for web content producers creating product for mobile media be it cell phones, hand held video players or computer screens. FootageBank HD is currently developing a product line specifically targeted to the web and mobile media buyer. Our royalty free 16 x 9 e-commerce website called footagehead will launch in June. We are building the site with the web media producer in mind. footagehead will offer a whole new line of downloadable footage shot by the professionals we represent using these small versatile cameras.

These smaller cameras are allowing our DP’s to bring to the table footage not usually accessible to us like the most extreme sports, hard to reach locations, and other extreme content such as documentation of war and conflict around the world. We are converting this content from digital files shot on the P2 to HD D5. It will take the next several months to see if our clients such as shows like Weeds, 24, Men in Trees and Ugly Betty are receptive to this specific image workflow. I expect the acceptance of converted footage will grow as viewers become acclimated to seeing images with varying pixel ratios while watching footage on their computers thereby increasing their tolerance for mixed pixel ratios in their television viewing.

FootageBank HD also offers reduced rates for web media projects that are finishing in HD and need HD master content.

While we test converting HD digital files captured by P2 cameras, we are simultaneously preparing to offer our HD clients footage shot with the new “large format” cameras such as the RED ONE Camera. FootageBank HD formed the Red Camera Collective in collaboration with the Digital Cinema Society (DCS), a nonprofit corporation dedicated to educating and informing the entertainment industry about digital motion picture production, post, delivery, and exhibition. FootageBank HD is representing DCS RED ONE shooters for stock licensing and will be donating 5% of our earnings to the Digital Cinema Society. Already we are working with RED ONE owners to build a portfolio of content so we will be ready for the emerging client base wanting content in 2K and 4K native files.

As you can see, the landscape of opportunities is expanding with what seems like the speed of light.

Q. What specific role did you fill during the production of Speed Racer?

As the cinematographer I’m responsible for all things photographic at the principal photography stage of production. It’s a long list of responsibilities, but chiefly the look of the movie through lighting and photography. Once principal photography is finished then the baton is passed to Visual Effects. For Speed Racer our Visual Effects Supervisors are John Gaeta and Dan Glass (The Matrix series and many others). They inherited our foundation and then they and about 500 other digital artists composite and polish the background layers. This is very much a layered look, with a lot of green screen photography, mostly on stage. I think we did all but two days outside on location. 95% was shot on the stages at Studio Babelsberg in Berlin. Now it’s in post and I am in Vancouver, Canada working on The Day the Earth Stood Still. Because it is such a heavy visual effects production, the brothers (Larry and Andy Wachowski), John Gaeta and Dan Glass are nursing Speed Racer through its incredibly complicated post phase.

Q. Prior to Speed Racer what experience had you had with High Definition?

This was my fourth outing. I was involved early on in HD and cinema with the F-900 camera on Star Wars, Episode II and then again on Episode III with the 950. A couple years ago I got to use the Panavision Genesis system for a movie called Next. This is my fourth different system on a different movie and quite a different sort of set up. I really only have good things to say about HD.

Q. How and why was the decision made to produce Speed Racer in High Definition?

Did you have a part in that? I did, yes I was brought on fairly early in the pre-production stage. Larry and Andy Wachowski were looking for something new and different, as usual. They march to their own drum and they have this kind of “sink or fly” daring when it comes to the photographic look and the aesthetic choice. They wanted to do something different to what they had done before and what everyone else was doing at the time. They wanted to go in the direction of a very sharp, super saturated, new glossy look, with deep, deep focus. You’ve got a fighting chance of getting it with HD, especially the way in which we ended up shooting it, by layering foreground, midground and background elements separately against blue and green screens. After a test it became apparent that was the way to go.

Q. What did Andy and Larry think of their experience with Highdef?

After the initial trepidation they definitely warmed to the process. With every new show they are trying something new and different. Eventually any trepidation went away and they became very enthusiastic about it. What’s not to like about full rez, 50 inch monitors on the set and instant full rez playback and all the other “pros” that come along with the pipeline.

Q. Describe the production flow.

We recorded on to SR decks as well as a Codex drive. Recording directly onto the hard drive offers all sorts of advantages, principally a compression free negative, instant HD playback and the ability to grab stills at full resolution while shooting. We created a huge library of reference stills that all departments could use easily. It is possible to finely tune the color timing of a scene on the Codex, a huge advantage for me! After just a little bit of set up time at the beginning of the day with gray scale and Macbeth charts camera settings could be locked and I was free to operate the camera, checking light values with an on-board 5” wave form monitor. It wasn’t necessary for me to sit with the engineer as I had on previous HD shoots. It was great to be back on the floor, close to the action, close to the directors and the actors and being able to judge the lighting more clearly.

Q. What cameras were utilized and how did they perform?

We used Sony F-23 cameras with Zeiss digiprimes. We had two parallel units, with each having two cameras. We had an additional F-23 that was “shared” between the two par- allel units, as needed. We tested many cameras prior to selecting the F-23. The cameras came to us from PACE, as he bought them specifically for this show. They were the first five F-23 cameras that Sony made. The cameras performed beautifully. I can only think of one limitation and that has to do with shooting at a high frame rate. The limit is 60 frames per second and for extreme high speed we had to switch to scientific cameras. We used the Phantom camera that can shoot up to 1,000 frames per second in HD. This limitation did not really affect us on this production. The look is noteworthy. It’s a strong, graphic, comic book look with extreme super saturated color mixes accentuated with deep focus.

Q. What was unique about the production of Speed Racer?

It’s a very kinetic show. A lot of mobile camera work, including whip pans, crash tracks and trombone zooms. It’s a pretty lively show. This new idea that John and Dan came up with for creating plate backgrounds was accomplished by tiling thousands of digital still shots of existing beautiful locations. Then running the finished digital files through a series of photoshop filters to accentuate and exaggerate colors and hues. We had a stills unit that traveled the world and they shot the most beautiful palaces, hotel foyers, post modern architecture interiors, and anything that was visually interesting or unusual in terms of space and light with a special camera that tiled a 360 degree view of each space. It was nicknamed “the bubble unit.” These images were tiled together to create a virtual 3D bubble where you could put the camera anywhere in that space and shoot pretty much any focal length and still retain a sharp, vivid background plate. The production challenge was to get that part of the show completed before principal photography started. We had all of the bubbles in place so that once we did start shooting with the actors we had a very good idea of what the backgrounds were going to be when we were shooting on green screens. Once the show is all polished and dry and all of the backgrounds and the layers have been added, it should be pretty extraordinary.

Q. What advantages did you have by utilizing Highdef, not only during production, but as an end result?

Most of the advantages will be experienced through the visual effects and compositing process during editorial. Our editors, Roger Barton and Zach Staenberg, are editing on full rez HD Avids. They had a projector which could project to 12’ across in the edit space to give them a better idea of how the movie will look. This provided an advantage for judging the pacing of the action and examining the fine details. Usually it is a bit of a surprise once you finally go to film and you get to see the large image. You also get surprises due to focus and pacing.

Q. What did you like about using HD overall?

It was totally appropriate for us and the look that Larry and Andy were aiming for. The 2/3” chip digiprime lenses naturally create a deeper focus than shooting on 35, plus the HD aesthetic being smoother and grain-free was tremendous. We actually shot at minus 3 db gain to heighten the sharpness. It was the right choice.

Q. Any dislikes or any areas for improvement with HD?

I think the format is definitely “there” for some types of movies. The format is strongest with stage bound shows and shows with an emphasis on, or large percentage of visual effects work. It would be more difficult to shoot something like Vertical Limit. It was a film I did several years ago in New Zealand and mostly we were shooting over 10,000 feet elevation in blizzard conditions with lightweight handheld 35 mm cameras. That was the right choice for that type of film. I have difficulty imagining dragging the engineering tent and monitor assembly through those kinds of extreme location and weather conditions. I shoot both 35 mm film and HD and I am comfortable with both, and I also see the advantages and disadvantages of both systems.  

Time and time again I find myself involved in conversations that center around the history of 3D. Some can be quite colorful with descriptions of huge camera systems and large lighting trusses while others can be dull and boring as they dwell on the mathematics. Most people are quick to point out my impatience or lack of interest in the conversation as a form of disrespect. That’s unfortunate and no disrespect intended. In fact I couldn’t be more excited about the subject of stereo. I love that the entertainment community is embarking on a whole new form of visual experience, one that can bring a viewer closer to the realism of both the story and the action. Trust me, It’s a road that I’ve been going down for seven years.

With the introduction of high definition as a foundation for stereo imaging we are now in the middle of a revolution driving 3D through creative interpretation rather than mathematics. To me the most important part of those conversations about the history is why the medium almost died on the vine some 30 years ago. Now that the industry is buzzing about the resurgence of 3D and it’s potential impact on the box office, it’s good to know these pitfalls so that we don’t make the same mistakes twice. We could continue to have these conversations about the screen plane with mathematics and stick diagrams like we’ve done in years past but in the world of 3DHD, it is all about the image on the screen and the new theory is centered around: If you like it; do more. If not, stop and change it.

Where did it start? For me it was seven years ago on a dive trip with James Cameron. He wanted to explore the status of HD with Sony’s introduction of Cine Alta and I was happy to oblige, especially if it meant being on a live-aboard in Truk Lagoon wreck diving and shooting. It was reviewing our footage one night in the boat salon where Jim started to describe his interest in a “holy grail” camera: One that could be high resolution enough to capture solid theatrical 2D images and small and compact enough so when built as a 3D camera, it would not impact production due to its size and weight. As he outlined the idea on paper, I was hooked and the reason was simple. In my career I had been fortunate to work with some of the best experts in the field of underwater traveling to places I had only dreamed about. I remember sharing these experiences with my family and friends through stories and photographs and how I would always say, “you really had to be there” as my go-to answer when their reactions lacked the enthusiasm I thought the tales deserved. With the technology Jim was describing, this was a way to bridge the gap and give life to the visuals, literally a way for me to tell my stories with depth and dimension. I knew instantly that this was an opportunity worth exploring so I jumped at it.

At the time, seven years ago, conversations about 3D were met with very little interest by major corporations and even less interest by the entertainment community. Even with Cameron at the helm, the frustration level was high as people immediately categorized it as a gimmick that had been done before. Some did listen, and some of the some acted.

Not to dwell on the hardware: Sony was the first to step in with a commitment to build a remote optical block in a small, compact, and narrow size. Chuck Lee at Fujinon was the next to step up to the plate and help out with HD zoom lenses custom designed for the narrow interocular requirement. But we needed a field recorder and the current HDW250 from Sony at the time would only record 60i. After explaining the problem to Joe Cirincione at Evertz, he came back with this drawing of how they could record the 24 frame signal on the 60i recorder and then extract it to create a 24 frame master. Half the hardware on the flow chart did not exist, but could.

Although we were all talking about hypothetical solutions, each and every player at the table was ready to stand behind their statements and deliver hardware that would make the project possible. Cameron and I agreed to design and develop the 3D camera system under the umbrella of my company, PACE.

In the Spring of 2001, all of the vendors had delivered working pieces of the puzzle. Working with Cameron, PACE had designed and built the first system called the Reality Camera.

Since we now had the working compo- nents, it was time to for a field test. I should have known having worked with Cameron on the The Abyss that whenever he’s behind the camera a test is treated like a full-blown feature. Our little camera test involved a trip to Marysville, California where he had enlisted some WWII aircraft as talent. We had a B17, B24, a P-51 Mustang and an Airstar Helicopter as our camera platform. He also enlisted Bill Wisher, his friend and co-writer from T2 to act, dressed in period attire, and operate a 50 caliber machine gun as we simulated dog fights at roughly 10,000’. Not exactly what I had in mind but as it turns out this was the beginning of long history of Cameron pushing the envelope. If there’s one thing that I’ve learned working with Jim is that you need to constantly be evolving and upgrading to keep up with his expectations. He’s never been satisfied with the tool set currently at his disposal. Together we’ve taken the systems as deep as 2.5 miles below the ocean surface to photograph the Titanic, the Bismarck and a series of underwater volcanoes along the floor of the Atlantic, Pacific and the Sea of Cortez for projects like Ghosts of the Abyss and Aliens of the Deep.

Cut to:

Seven years later I’m surrounded by over ten million dollars worth of hardware, 40+ HD cameras and last but not least some of the most talented and creative people in the industry. As the years go by and technology advances we’re constantly evolving to meet the current demands. There is no such thing as one size fits all in 3D and there’s not one director on the planet who doesn’t love the idea of innovating new creative looks. We’ve designed rigs of every size and shape with the ability to work within current Hollywood structure of techno cranes, steadi-cams and high speed mounts. We’re shooting features, documentaries, concerts and live events all in 3D. Inadvertently, PACE’s involvement in the 2D business is growing with more and more production wanting turn key solutions on set. The technology is changing in light speed proportions and the future excites me.

Two years ago, when we shot U2 in concert in Argentina, I led a team of fifteen professionals shooting five of the PACE/Cameron Fusion systems. I was blown away with the possibilities of bringing that experience to a feature based audience. Now, we’re shooting sports and entertainment and delivering it live to packed arenas with zero post production. The idea of going to your local theater and seeing a sold out performance in New York or London or Tokyo are closer then you think. The infrastructure is in place and the technology already exists. We shot game # 2 of the NBA finals last year in San Antonio and broadcast the signal live to a capacity crowd of 14,000 in Cleveland where the fans watched on four, 40’ screens set up like a boxing ring at the Quicken Loans Arena. Although the challenge of shooting 3D for live distribution is not easy, the fact is we are doing it and the audience is loving it. Recently we shot the hottest ticket in town, Hannah Montana for a Disney feature film. Tickets for the live concert were selling in the hundreds if not thousands of dollars which blocked out many from the experience. With ten short weeks for post Disney will continue to extend the experience and the box office distributing the 3D version to theaters. For the project, PACE built the first ever 3D Mobile Unit with a seven camera capacity. The ability to shoot live events and craft theatrical or live 3D presentations is here and now. In very little time, PACE can roll a complete production unit to shoot the next major concert or sports event.

Now with all the buzz I find myself waking up in the middle of the night with ideas of mo cap rigs and post work flows like a kid who wants to get up early to ride his new bike. The idea of shooting more sports, live events and documentaries is so exciting to me personally because instead of hearing the old saying “oh that’s been done,” we’re hearing at PACE: I want to be the “first to shoot (fill in the blank) everyday and it’s up to me and my team to figure out how to make it happen.

It’s no secret that Cameron is working on Avatar, his first theatrical production since Titanic. In fact he wrote the script over 13 years ago but the technology didn’t exist to bring it to the big screen in a way that was considered acceptable to Jim. Now with the help of our current systems Avatar is in production set to release to thousands of theaters in ’09.

For me, the process of being creative in our business of entertainment is at a new and exciting stage, one where we can blur the line between a personal experience and a visual experience. With all the complexity of the systems and technical innovations, we are now at a stage where the technology can be transparent and creativity, not mathematics, dictates the experience. That was then, this is now.  

It seems that high-definition is infiltrating more into the cellulose domain of the entertainment industry than ever before. For the makeup artist the soft veil of film has given way to the uncompromising clarity of highdef. Images so sharp that even the most beautiful or handsome talent can have subtle imperfections visible for all to see. And with more of the viewing public buying highdef televisions they get resolution that is six times that of a normal set.

With a growing number of productions adopting the high-definition digital medium, makeup artists and hairdressers have had to do a lot experimenting to learn what works and doesn’t. Of course this isn’t unlike the process that artisans went through when Technicolor was first introduced in film or color to television.

As the old adage goes, “Less is more,” and this is quite true when applying makeup for this medium. Traditionally, a makeup artist will apply concealer to the dark areas under the eyes. The challenge is to use only enough to conceal the defect and still not be detectable on HD. This can be quite challenging considering that many manufacturers of under eye concealers can have a higher percentage of pigment in their product that can appear to be dense on camera unless properly blended down.

Traditional crème foundations will appear rather painterly and obvious on HD. Brush strokes and use of sponges can leave edges that can be detected to the unflinching HD cameras. This is precisely why the use of the airbrush has become a more common tool in the makeup artist’s bag of tricks. Even the sheer liquid foundations found in department stores have replaced many of the more traditional opaque crème foundations once a staple for every working makeup artist.

Let me take you through a standard beauty makeup application for HD. The following photos are taken from a DVD shoot which was created for the company, Zazzo, manufacturer of a complete line of stencils for the makeup artist. It should also be noted that the DVD was shot using high-def cameras. First is a before shot of our model, Menina Fortunato. (Photo 1) Her face was first cleaned using a facial soap and then followed by an alcohol free astringent. Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer was blended onto the face using a latex sponge.

A crème corrector was blended under the eyes using a filbert brush. It’s very important when using crème correctors to thoroughly blend off the edge of the product so that there is no visible line of demarcation. Translucent face powder is then lightly patted over this so as to “set” the makeup before continuing.

Several drops of an airbrush makeup (Graftobian’s Glamaire airbrush foundation was used for the demonstration) were then squeezed into the color cup of an Iwata Hi-Line double action airbrush. (Photo 2) Believe it or not, it only takes between 4 and 6 drops to do the entire face!

Beginning on the forehead, the foundation is lightly sprayed on using only approximately 4 psi! (Photo 3) Excess product is sprayed into an Iwata Cleaning Station. Contour, highlight and blush are additionally added to the face using the airbrush. To airbrush the eyelids, a Zazzo shield is lightly placed over Menina’s eyes before spraying them. (Photo 4) While the airbrush can be used safely in many areas of application of cosmetics, there are still some that should be done using standard makeup techniques. Eyeliner is defiantly one of those that should never be attempted using an airbrush! Bobby Brown Gel Eyeliner in black is applied using an extra fine point brush. Before the eyeliner has time to set, a cotton swab is used to soften out the liner. (Photo 5 on page 10) This same process is repeated on the other eye. Mascara is then applied using a fan brush to Menina’s lashes. A second coat is added to make the lashes fuller.

Lipstick is the last thing to be applied. A very natural color is added to the lips. (Photo 6 on page 10) Excess lipstick color is carefully blotted off using a facial tissue.

And there you have it. Here is Menina in her after photo. (Photo 7 on page 10)

Because an HD camera is more sensitive to reds than standard film and video equipment, many makeup artists are finding that warmer or more neutral colors read more natural. For example, coral lipsticks and blushers tend to photograph more lifelike, whereas cooler lipstick colors become more “neonish” and could look more like Rocky Horror lips!

While working on the fourth season of Star Trek Enterprise, we discovered that if an actor had any facial hair or peach fuzz next to an appliance edge, the HD cameras would mistakenly read that as a line, where none existed to the naked eye! Once I was studying the Dr. Phlox makeup that I routinely applied on one of the HD monitors and was horrified to spot the complete line to the edge of the appliance around the actor’s left eye. I raced onto the set to examine the problem closer. I soon discovered that the edge hadn’t lifted at all, but that my actor had a little peach fuzz left on his cheek that the HD camera was reading as an edge. The problem was remedied quickly by running a personal hair trimmer over the spot.

Also on the topic of facial hair, in high-definition down on a woman’s face can also become an issue needing to be addressed, as it will be quite visible on camera. Most actresses object to trimming and will use the excuse that facial hair that is either shaved or waxed comes back darker and thicker. There has never been any medical proof of that opinion. In the past film cameras were not as discerning, so makeup artists would simply flatten down the offending facial hair with an application of crème makeup. Or the actresses would try bleaching the hair. Neither of these techniques will work in highdef. So women will have to get used to the routine that men have had to endure all these years.

So the next time you think to yourself those immortal words spoken by Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard, “I’m ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille!,” check the HD monitor first to make sure your actor looks like Gloria Swanson and not Phyllis Diller.