Projects
XDCAM to the rescue
EMERGENCY ANIMAL RESCUE Why the PDW-EX3 was the right choice for Middle Child’s first major commission for Sky1
Executive producer Richard Sumnall focused on two key factors when deciding how to shoot Emergency Animal Rescue, Middle Child Productions’ 20 part series for Sky1. First the show, which profiles the work of RSPCA teams up and down the country, had to be shot in HD in order to maximise its international potential. Plus the cameras had to be compact enough to fit into a shoulder bag and operated by a single shooting producer/director. For Sumnall, a long standing fan of Sony cameras such as the PD150, HVR-Z1 and HVR- Z7, the choice was simple. Sony PMW-EX3 provided the idea combination of quality and portability. Middle Child bought three PMW-EX3s kitted out
with 32GB SxS Pro Memory cards, but as Sumnall explains, the most expensive items were the laptops for reviewing rushes and offloading to drives. “We bought each of our three shooting producer/directors a
MacBook Pro and duped the rushes onto G-Tech G- RAID drives, which were handed over for editing.” “I can’t speak highly enough of the camera,” says Sumnall at the end of the shoot. “Over the entire six months we didn’t lose a single frame.” Part of the benefit of the PMW-EX3 was that the layout is familiar to users of other Sony professional cameras. Another big plus was that operating the EX3s with single shooters had minimum impact on the work of the RSPCA inspectors, who drive their own cars so there’s only room for one in the passenger seat. “The inspectors have worked with bigger crews using shoulder mounts and much prefer working with our guys, who just turn up with a camera bag – and get better results,” declares Sumnall. “Some inspectors asked head office if they could always work with us – and that’s down to the choice of camera.”
Autumn 2010 theproducer 23
Camera systems such as the PDW-700 and PDW- F800 are fulfilling the need for high quality file- based production at acquisition rates of 50Mb/s while models such as the PMW-EX1 (and the updated model, the EX1R) and EX3 offer a more compact solution, shooting to SxS Pro memory cards. Here we profile four productions that have used cameras from the XDCAM range to good effect. In the case of Emergency Animal Rescue, producer/directors were able to shoot on the EX3 using a single kit bag, while the PDW-700 and F800’s dual-layer disc recording provided instant access to footage and a ready-made storage solution on a wide range of shows from ITV1’s TheX Factor to C&I Network’s Crimes That Shook Britain.
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XDCAM
From action-packed self-shooting to glossy corporate work and ITV entertainment blockbusters, the XDCAM range has the answer
DCAM has become an increasingly popular solution for producers tasked with bringing quality to the screen on a budget.
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