Cameras: News and Updates

"Clear Blue Tuesday" Post-9/11 Dramatic Feature Punctuated with Song, is Shot with Panasonic AG-HPX500 P2 HD Camcorders

By Staff
posted Oct 26, 2009, 13:54

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With a 50-page script outline in hand, Lucas initiated a 19-day shoot in October 2007, with locations ranging from an entire top floor of the new 7 World Trade Center to law offices in Rockefeller Center...

(Secaucus, NJ) Clear Blue Tuesday, a highly original cinematic response to the events of September 11, 2001, blends heightened narrative and original music to follow the lives of a group of New Yorkers over seven Septembers as they relearn their city and themselves. The full-length feature, which had its world premiere last month at the New York Musical Theatre Festival, was shot with two Panasonic AG-HPX500 P2 HD camcorders.

Pictured: Chapin Hall, DP Raoul Germain, Kristopher Lee, Director, Elizabeth Lucas, Eve Rametta. Photo credit: Ryan Mueller.
Pictured: Chapin Hall, DP Raoul Germain, Kristopher Lee, Director, Elizabeth Lucas, Eve Rametta. Photo credit: Ryan Mueller.

Director Elizabeth Lucas and an ensemble of 11 actor/singer/songwriters from the indie rock scene, comedy clubs and Broadway theatre used personal material and improvisation to create their fictional Clear Blue Tuesday counterparts and write the eclectic songs they sing. With a 50-page script outline in hand, Lucas initiated a 19-day shoot in October 2007, with locations ranging from an entire top floor of the new 7 World Trade Center to law offices in Rockefeller Center to various restaurants and apartments recruited from the ranks of the cast and friends of the production. The Director of Photography was Raoul Germain.

Pictured: Diane Phelan, Rebecca Weiner, Jesse Johnson, Emily van Fleet, Jill Gorie, Scott Denney, Kristopher Lowe, DP Raoul Germain. Photo credit: Ryan Mueller.
Pictured: Diane Phelan, Rebecca Weiner, Jesse Johnson, Emily van Fleet, Jill Gorie, Scott Denney, Kristopher Lowe, DP Raoul Germain. Photo credit: Ryan Mueller.

"We discussed many different cameras, but there were several deciding factors in our choice of the HPX500," said DP Germain. "First, we were looking for a camera with a 2/3-in. chip, and HD was a must. We briefly considered shooting with the HVX200, but I wanted the control of a full manual lens and the depth of field of a larger chip."

Pictured: Director Elizabeth Lucas, DP Raoul Germain, Chapin Hall (back), Kristopher Lee (front). Photo credit: Ryan Mueller.
Pictured: Director Elizabeth Lucas, DP Raoul Germain, Chapin Hall (back), Kristopher Lee (front). Photo credit: Ryan Mueller.

"As Clear Blue Tuesday was to be pretty much 100% handheld driven by the improvisational nature of the shoot, the camera also had to be light and not at all cumbersome," he continued. "The ability to download our footage at the end of the day with the P2 cards and have it edit ready was a huge plus and negated the need to rent a deck during editing, which would have been a big-ticket item for us. None of the other cameras could offer the kind of turnaround of image for the cost."

The production rented two AG-HPX500s from Isis Rental (New York, NY); Germain used both camcorders in almost every scene for either double or cross coverage.

"Anybody who has shot on location in New York City can tell you that you are in for an uphill battle," he said. "Most locations were walk-ups, without any elevator service. Consider the fact that most New York apartments are just big enough for two grown people to turn around in, and you will understand the challenge of shooting a motion picture in one. I tried to use as much natural light as possible, exploiting window light whenever possible. Many of our locations were older buildings that still used glass fuses. We didn't have the budget for a generator and had to pull house power. Consequently, we used a lot of Kino Flos and smaller wattage tungsten units. We had no budget for HMIs."

"But having to use smaller lighting units was really not a problem as the HPX500 has a great light sensitivity," Germain added. "I rated the camera in the realm of 640 ASA; in bright daylight I set the camera at -3dB and used additional ND filtering in order to really open up the lens and throw the background out of focus. I have always been happy with the Panasonic color scheme. Skin tones are very natural out of the gate. The ability to choose Cine style gamma and color ranges helped to give the image a more dynamic feel than typical video, truly more cinematic."

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