On May 23rd Eric Soth's "Mounting" screened for the first time at Marion Knott Studios' Folino Theatre. Production for Mounting wrapped in April, but I've been a little too busy to write about the experience until now.
"Mounting" was a particular challenge by virtue of some of the sources we would often reference in preproduction: for me, Tim Orr's work with David Gordon Green was of frequent discussion; for Eric, Vincent Gallo's strange sense of reality was the mark. With an eerily strange script and excellently cast talent, we prepared to go into photography with an eye out for the spontaneous; editor Mike Cox often joked with us that he would a place in the assembly for a shot which, mid dialogue coverage, gently pans away from the speaking character and zooms in to a bird passing in the background of the scene. While we never found our bird, Michael Nie and I found ourselves reaching for the microforce absurdly often, throwing a creeping zoom in to add significance to moments and elements which in the typical narrative wouldn't have deserved the attention.
Panasonic's AJ-HPX3700 found its way onto our set for this production; the camera came as a wonderful donation from Panasonic via Dan Leonard at the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. Apart from shooting to P2, the camera makes a great many improvements against its predecessors in the Varicam family: the camera shoots with a true native 1080p chipset, and captures its images with the new 10-Bit AVC-Intra codec. The 10-Bit chroma & luma depth of the codec makes a difference in clarity throughout the dynamic range, making the difference incontestable to anyone who's worked with a Varicam at the DVCPRO settings. The HPX3700 also offers 4:4:4 recording via Dual Link connection, but without a system to connect to we passed on this feature. The many advantages of the camera are not without drawbacks, however: the HPX3700 offers variable frame rates in any mode only from 1-30 fps, severely limiting options for overcranking. One personal complaint concerns the P2 system as it is implemented throughout the line: compulsory rolling recording requires that only one P2 card can be in the camera at the time if accidentally rolling to the next card during an unexpectedly long take is to be avoided; it's hardly a hassle but seems incredibly easy for rolling recording to be a toggleable option. The viewfinder we saw with the camera was of course black, a complaint against the standards for this range of camera; also, the disposition of these cameras toward the chip system which requires incredibly expensive and particular B4 Mount lenses makes me wonder why a "cinema" camera should be created from this design. Also, the lack of any sort of waveform or other image analysis for either the viewfinder or the camera's awkwardly placed LCD monitor (it should be in the empty space opposite the operator's side, not placed to slap against the operator's mouth) is baffling. Having worked very recently with RED, however, I'll defend Panasonic's design with the observation that the dynamic range on the HPX3700 is notably broader, and noise is comparably imperceivable even unto the darkest dark of a frame.
Our workflow ran through Final Cut Pro into Autodesk Lustre via DPX sequence; we made the mistake of migrating to Lustre the first time by TIFF sequence; the restricted color space was unacceptable for the quality of the footage. We'll be coloring again soon before the film heads to the festival circuit.
1:2.35
Panasonic HPX-3700
Fujinon HD Cine-Style Zoom
Shot to Panasonic P2 in 1080p
Rentals from Panasonic, Birns & Sawyer, Wooden Nickel Lighting
Dir Eric Soth
Cam Op Michael Nie
1st 1st AC Aaron Moorehouse
1st AC Katy Echols
2nd 1st AC Nicholas Dunakin Wiesnet
2nd AC Josh Wolk
Gaffer Kyle Bjordahl
Key Grip Matt Perez
Production Designer Andrea Mgebroff, Alex Lotz
Makeup Artist Jenny Hou
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