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Brian Melton (www.bmelton.com) received the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) John Alonzo Heritage Award for Cinematography in 2007, and has worked on numerous commercials and films such as the Oscar-nominated Junebug, Red Autumn, and Great World of Sound, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. He recently lensed a new feature film, The Christians (http://www.conearts.com/thechristians.html).

It was around 4am on a closed-set in a tiny first-floor apartment in Chicago when I realized nearly every production I was on so far this year was shooting HD. From health insurance commercials to indie-pop music videos � HVX to VariCam � everybody was doing it.

There are countless reasons why, the most obvious being small or fixed production budgets. But there�s also another reason � one that often surprises people when they hear it: HD can look really good. I�ve found myself nodding heads in agreement with budget-crunching line producers and DIY directors that HD is the best choice for our shoots. However, this consensus usually comes after we�ve discussed why saving money with HD does not translate to tiny crews and bite-sized equipment packages.

Achieving a good-looking HD image is most likely to happen when a DP combines the merits of the HD format with a shooting process that aspires to that of shooting film. Productions should look to save money in lower prices for camera rentals and shooting stock as well as fewer shooting days and significantly lower post-production costs.

Take, for instance, the Panasonic HVX200, an extremely popular and relatively inexpensive camcorder that can shoot DVCPRO HD at 720p or 1080i/24p. Although the HVX has some drawbacks, such as a fixed lens, the camera has shooting modes that mimic the latitude of film as well as fully manual operation controls.

Keeping these attributes in mind, I�ll offer some basic tips to a good-looking HD image, particularly with the HVX:

Exposure
Use a light meter. In CINE-LIKE D gamma mode at 24p, the HVX, for instance, rates at about ASA 250. During production of Stephen Cone�s The Christians, an independent HD feature I shot in Chicago in August �07 with the HVX, we rated the camera at ASA 200 to maintain some wiggle room when grading highlights in post.

With all types of video, highlights that are too hot cause detail in the overexposed areas to be forever lost. Unless it�s an honest stylistic choice, one of the worst things that can happen on an HD shoot is overexposure. This is especially true for day exteriors. Avoid this by utilizing a spot meter in conjunction with the camera�s zebra settings. Whenever possible, I try to use a high-def waveform monitor. Waveform gives exact IRE values and takes a lot of the guesswork out of exposing HD video.

Lighting
Don�t skimp. A quality HD image typically requires quality light and a generous amount of it. A lot of people ask me what camera settings I use to make HD look good. That isn�t an irrelevant question (see the next tip) except for that camera settings don�t matter much until we have a good lighting package and some thoughtful lighting ideas. Depending on the scope of the shoot, there may be no difference in the lighting package for a production shooting with the HVX and a production shooting on Super 16mm.

A lot of our lighting set-ups for The Christians were relatively moody night interiors. Still, gaffer Cody Jacobs and I wrapped 4� x 4-bank Kinos with Gridcloth or pushed a 2K into curved bounces for wraparound, lamp-like key lights.

Camera Settings
I almost always use gamma settings such as CINE-LIKE D for the HVX that reduce the harshness of highlights and offer the broadest latitude. Depending on the exhibition format of the project, I usually prefer to shoot with slightly reduced detail levels and color saturation (Chroma level).

White balance is also important. Even if we�re going for an off-color look, I still prefer a clean white balance. Other than some minor color-temp or color-phase adjustments, leaving the bulk of color grading for post prevents any drastic or unwanted color shifts.

Lens & Focus

Focus is absolutely critical. Regardless of your choice of camera, be sure to find a good 1AC and use a follow-focus system. In many ways, HD enables productions to run-and-gun, but it�s crucial to never do so at the expense of sharply pulled focus. With the HVX in particular, zoom in fully and use the focus-assist to determine marks. Flip-out LCDs are generally terrible in direct sunlight, so if it�s in the budget, double-check focus with a shaded HD field monitor when shooting day exteriors.

One final thing is that I also like to forget there�s a zoom lens on my HVX. Of course, if a zoom is required, we zoom. But, one thing that really distinguishes film camera set-ups from HD camera set-ups is how much lens selection plays a part. When shooting The Christians, I frequently used the same lens values over and over � ones that we decided would correspond to wide, medium, long, etc. � and matched lens values and focus distances when turning around for coverage. Approaching HD production like a film shoot reduces the chances of common cinematography mistakes and ensures a DP�s ability to achieve the best possible HD image.

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Check out this article in the December 2007 print edition of StudentFilmmakers magazine, page 12.