November
by Noni Jones
With today’s
technological advancements in film and video production hardware
and software, even though it maybe a surprise to some… its
steadily becoming the obvious that small pro-sumer camcaorders
like the Pacasonic DVX100 CAN and WILL indeed make the cut in
the professional industry of movie production. The feature film
entitled “November” Starring Courtney Cox (Dirt, Ace Ventura,
Friends) and James Legros (Zodiac, Enemy of the State, Sleeper
Cell) is a prime example that the Mini DV prosumer camera does
deliver quality award winning cinematic images.
Well, being
that I am not much of a movie or film critic, I will never mind
all the unnecessary personal tidbits about the storyline and get
right into the technical aspect of this feature film. Nancy
Schreiber (Director of Photography) has undoubtedly pushed the
Panasonic DVX 100 to the peak of its capabilities. Most of the
movie production either takes place indoors or are night shots.
In fact I believe all of the scenes are indoors or night shots.
With that said, if you are at all the Mini DV user that you
claim to be then you should know what a real pain it is to
properly light your sets and locations without pushing your
3-chip Panasonic camera to the point of a washed out pixilated
nightmare.
It is no
wonder why Nancy Schreiber took The Sundance Film Festival’s
Best Cinematography Award in 2004.
This feature
length digital film production was filmed 24P regular and most
color correction was performed in camera to minimize
deterioration that post production can sometimes do to extreme
color enhancements. The psychological thriller has three
completely different color palettes for each act providing a
new, fresh feel to the visuals which easily has you forgetting
that you’re watching a feature filmed on a Mini DV digital
camera. The DP never really utilized too much depth that the
DVX 100 stock Leica Lens is so well known for, which came as
complete surprise to me because I feel that the depth the DVX100
provides is one of the more powerful cinematic attributes of
that generation of Panasonic DV cameras.
Her overall use
of the Mini DV digital camera was groundbreaking in her method
of film production. Taking advantage of most features in camera
as opposed to post production and if not mistaken, this digital
movie was the first of its kind… utilizing a small digital Mini
DV camera for the entire full length feature film with big names
in the industry, it was definitely a gutsy move for both the
producers and the actors to take faith in the unproven quality
of the $3,000.00 Panasonic. One thing is for sure The Panasonic
DVX100 is unproven no more!!
Here are some
fun facts about the movie.
Title: November
Director: Greg Harrison
Writer: James C. Strouse
Lead Actors: Courtney Cox and James LeGros
Budget: Roughly $500,000 (Most Mini DV IFC Productions cap at
half a million dollars.)
Camera: Panasonic DVX100A shot in 24P Regular 4:3 and later
matted at 1:85:1
Overall
Score: 9 out of 10. Nancy Schreiber is one of the pioneers of
the pro-sumer camera world and made it possible for us
Do-It-Yourselfers to create an industry worthy feature film. If
you want to see how far you can push the DVX100 during night
shots then watch this IFC Production. Just think…all we need now
are actors.
Remember
stay current with our DVX100 movie technical ratings and updates.
And let those bigger budget productions prove the DVX 100
cameras to the digital filmmaking industry and in the meantime we
can utilize the same technology to bring our vision to life and
give all film makers, whether it’s film production, video
production or film and video production an even playing field.
Until next time.
Do
YOU have a cheap, low budget, do-it-yourself DVX100 tip or trick that
you'd like to contribute?
If so, just email it to
us and we'll post it up!
Thanks
for helping the grass roots grow!
