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Paul Pierce Sit-Down Interview
I was hired as a lighting director and a director of photography by Turner to set up and shoot a sit-down interview with John Thompson Jr. and Paul Pierce. Dave and I picked up two Sony F900 HDCAMs, one Panasonic 900 DVCPRO HD, an Arri light kit, HD monitors, tripods, and tape stock from Rule Broadcast. I also brought some of my own gear. We drove to Healthpoint athletic complex (practice and training facility for the Boston Celtics) and met up with another camera guy, Chris and the sound guy, Bill. I set up my Sony EX1 with the Letus Extreme in the back of the “Hall of Fame” room at Healthpoint to capture a time lapse of our entire day. This sit-down interview is scheduled to air on October 28th during the one hour pre-game show before the Cavs/Celtics game at 7pm EST. TRT: 5 minutes 48 seconds Production Credits: Special Thanks To: 10 comments to Paul Pierce Sit-Down Interview |
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Copyright © 2012 Tom Guilmette - All Rights Reserved |
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Hey Tom,
This is awesome stuff. Thanks for sharing this interview. Unfortunately I missed the interview on TV
Was your walk’n'talk with Paul part of the interview process or was it just for fun?
@Raphael: Hey Raphael, the walk’n'talk was part of the interview. I shot with a second cameraguy, Chris, on the practice court as Paul and John looked up at all the original Celtics championship banners.
I have added the actual feature that aired on TNT on Tuesday October 28th to my blog. You can find it here: http://www.tomguilmette.com/wp/my-blog/archives/950
Great video. Can you talk a little more about the process that this time-lapse goes through? I assume you might have several tapes to fill with 7 hours of footage — so at times, you might have to come over and switch out? Additionally, in post, are you using software that would be pulling out X frame(s) every X seconds of clip which would then be cut together in order to produce above content?
@Kevin:
Thanks. First of all, the camera I used, the Sony PMW-EX1 does not record on tape, it records on memory sticks.
Secondly, when I set up time lapses, I use the “interval” record feature on the camera. Cameras using video tape also have this feature. This way, you are only recording a certain number of frames over a period of time. Not just leaving the thing recording and burning thru tape for seven hours.
In this case, the Pierce interview, I set the Sony EX1 to record one frame ever one second. I also set the camera to 16FPS shutter for the motion blur effect. The seven hour event was boiled down to the length of this video, just under six minutes.
How did you decide on the Sony 900s? Or was the decision made for you by the network for whom you were shooting? If you had it all to do again and had the choice would you get the same results from three EX1s?
You mentioned specular highlights from all the glass to the left and right of the interview. I am wondering how you managed to cut down this effect and still have orange light through those cases. What was your process.
I am also wondering if you were using HD-SDI out on the 900s? Or was it three cables out and audio seperate and timecode out seperate? What kind of monitors were you using? I am thinking of purchasing an FSI monitor that is HD-SDI with waveform and vectorscope and stuff all built in. I’m wondering if you have experience with these and if they would have worked for you on this Were the monitors used for critical focus or did you use in camera means for focus? Other means? Please explain.
How’d you get so lucky as to get to shoot a Paul Pierce interview?
@david h
The client (TNT Sports) asked for those cameras. Yes, I do think that three ex1s would have done the job just as well. Even though the “big” cameras we rented have 2/3 inch chips, record at 100mbps and have real glass on the front. It certainly would have been cheaper for the client to use ex1 gear!
The secret to getting no reflections on that glass is to use very focused and directional light. Every light I used, except for the two key soft boxes, was focused fixtures (they had Fresnel lenses). I was also keeping light reflections to a minimum because I knew exactly where the “sight lines” for the beams of light were coming from. The soft boxes had to be placed just right and flagged off to remove the reflections on the back display cases.
Yes, we were using HD-SDI out of the cameras to power two monitors. One of the monitors was a Sony CRT. This CRT had an “A” and a “B” HD-SDI input on it. This was great because at our “video village” the producer was able to switch between the Paul camera and the John camera. The second monitor was a Panasonic LCD with just one HD-SDI input. We fed the locked down two shot to this monitor. I set these two monitors on a table and the producer watched them and took time code notes through out the interview.
I do not know anything about that FSI monitor. We use Tektronics all the time, but these things are big bucks.
I used the monitor and the camera vf to first set the back focus (with a bf chart). I used the camera viewfinder for critical focus when setting the subjects. The black and white high res hi def crt eyepiece viewfinders are sharp and brilliant.
As for shooting this interview, I do this stuff all the time. This one is only different because I set up a time lapse camera in the back and wrote a blog about it.
Good luck and Happy New Year.
-Tom
You can find information on the FSI monitors at their store at http://www.fsistore.com and I wonder if you have the time if you would take a look at the 21 inch monitor specs and features and tell me what you think of it? Would you take a chance on a 21 inch hd-sdi monitor? Sony has one at 23 inches for 15 grand. So, it is a great deal if they are worth it. If you were buying a monitor for location work (duns on dc12v or AC) would you buy one of these at 21 inch for 2999? A marshall 8 inch can be twice that price.
I am thinking of buying either some Rosco light panels or some LED lights from properter people so that there is nice light with little to no heat. Fast breakdowns with ultra light fixtures that will run on batteries all day long. What do you think of these? Do you ever use this kind of light fixtures?
On your RedrockMicro mattebox I am wondering if you have mounted it on the EX1 without the Letus? I am wondering because some of the matteboxes I understand fight with the mic on the front of the EX1. Is there plenty of clearance between the mattebox and the front of the EX1 without the Letus?
Opps, that website for FSI is http://www.shopfsi.com. Sorry, Tom.
By the way, I was looking at the MF Nikon Nikkor AI lenses on Ebay so that I could use them on the letus and on the D300 I am about to purchase. I want to share lenses to save money obviously.
I am not sure if I should be buying digital camera AI lenses or film camera AIs. What do you suggest?
@david h:
I highly recommend full manual lenses for the Letus. You want the full manual controls with shooting video. I think these lenses will work ok on a d300, but I am not certain. You can use digital camera AI lenses on a 35mm lens adapter, but you will have to set the iris apature with the camera dslr controls, then put it on the Letus.
I personally think that the 21 inch HD-SDi monitor is overkill and really expensive. You just want to have a hd monitor that you can use when shooting with the EX1 or EX3 right? Those FSI monitors are nice, and they will look good, but that is a real investment. Perhaps think about renting it for certian jobs?
If you really want to buy, try the IKAN 8000HD. It does not have HD-SDI, or scopes but it has all BNC connectors and uses component HD out of the camera. It is 8 inches, can display 1080, 720, 480p, costs just $795 and can be powered with Sony L series batteries or A/C. It is made cheap, but for the money it works well. It was just reviewed in TV Technology. I have used it, and it is im my “COX Sprinter” blog. The picture is sharp and colors are good.
I have also used the Lite Panels Mini and really like that on camera light, especially for under $400.
I have not mounted the matte box without the Letus yet. But keep in mind that you can remove the shotgun mic, not sure if the onboard stereo mic (built in) would get in the way…I will check that out.