(continued...) Longer Loads One of the most important advantages of shooting digital may also be one of most mundane. Tape cassettes hold more than three times as many minutes as film canisters. For example, an $80 HDCAM small cassette can roll uninterrupted for 50 minutes (24P mode). Compare this with eleven minutes for a 1000-foot reel of 35mm film. Formats Film Load Tape Load (small cassette) Digital Advantage 16 mm and DVCAM 11.11 min. at 400' 40 min. 3.6 to 1 Super 16 mm and Digital Betacam 11.11 min. at 400' 40 min. 3.6 to 1 35 mm and HDCAM 24P 11.11 min. at 1000' 50 min. 4.5 to 1 The difference was crucial for writer-director Garcia. "The movie is ten uninterrupted monologues by ten different women," he says. "The longest is 15 minutes straight. I suppose I could have done it in film, with custom equipment. Doing it in 24P was easy." Letting it Roll The combination of 97% savings on recording media and longer loads can transform the flow of work on the set. Instead of stopping the camera and restarting for every take, directors are choosing to let the cameras roll. This single change can make a huge difference for actors, crew, director and producer alike. Cinematographer Steven Douglas Smith says, "You can get more out of your actors while they're in the moment. I've had directors do three or four takes in a row, sometimes giving the actors direction between takes. For the independent filmmaker, that's a real luxury." Roy Wagner, ASC has used HDCAM 24P equipment to shoot the pilot for Fox TV series "Pasadena," directed by Diane Keaton. He says that letting the camera run, "gave the actors their environment. By not stopping every eleven minutes, it was their space. In the first years of sound, the sound technologists controlled the set until the directors rebelled. Now I think the film camera controls the set. But 24P lets you keep the tape running, keep the actors in their environment" Independent writer-director Rob Nilsson, whose actors include members of the San Francisco homeless community, is enthusiastic about the running time of DVCAM. "I shoot long takes," he says. "I don't do the classic wide shot, medium shot and closeup. DVCAM enables my camera guy to move as one of the players." Long loads and inexpensive media have a special advantage for aerial shoots, underwater shoots, ultra-remote locations, wildlife and natural history. For example, wildlife shoots generally entail hours of patient waiting and costly rolling of recording media. Here the long digital record time can make the difference between capturing an elusive event and losing it during a film magazine change. Digital media also transforms the economics of extracting minutes of dramatic and treasured images from countless hours of necessary capture. Digital Doesn't Mean "Don't Bother Lighting" While digital cinematography does enable "run-and-gun" filmmaking, cinematographers dismiss the idea that in most productions, you'll simply shoulder the camera and shoot. According to Fritz Roland, "Each shoot is deeply, deeply affected by the culture. For the big-budget film culture, with all the lighting and dollies, nothing less than a 100-man crew will do." That's certainly the case for producer-director Pierre de Lespinois He has shot over $60 million in TV production on Sony HDCAM, including "The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne," "When Dinosaurs Roamed America" and "Inside the Space Station." "I don't do anything different for HD," de Lespinois states. "There's no new magic. The only thing different on my set is the part that holds up the lens." Steven Douglas Smith agrees. "At first it probably took me more time to light for 24P, because I was just gaining experience. High Definition tends to reveal what film grain hides, including skin pores and nose hairs. And if you want any sort of aesthetic, lighting will always take time." Shooting on DVCAM for "The Anniversary Party," John Bailey faced special challenges. "Because the story is about movie actors at home, we were going for film quality and a certain look of luxury. This meant some extra time in lighting. The DSR-500WS has an exposure index of about 250 to 320 ASA. But you also need to take into account the different parameters of video. For example, you can see into the shadows more, so you may need to take away light. And once the highlights hit 100 IREs, there's nothing left." Even some productions using DV are being carefully lit. Allen Daviau, ASC was director of photography on such movies as "ET," "Bugsy" and "The Empire of the Sun." He used the Sony DCR-VX1000E to shoot the acclaimed short subject "Sweet" for fledgling director Elyse Couvillion. "While we didn't have a generator, we did use three lights," he reports. "To get the look, we controlled the light." Daviau was indeed successful, as the standing ovation he received at Sundance last January attests. The Need for Speed Digital enables you to reduce your shooting ratios. Or digital means higher ratios. Digital lets you shoot faster. Or digital is just the same. It all depends on the creative demands of the director and cinematographer. Digital enables a pervasive rethinking of life on the set, but only if that's what you want. For example, seeing the instant playback obviates the need to wait 24 hours to see dailies, enabling you to strike sets faster (which may be more important to some shooting schedules than others). But ultimately the speed you achieve in digital production depends on you. De Lespinois says that shooting on HD enables him to move much faster. "It costs me $25,000 an hour to shoot," he says. "Every shoot swings between moments of intense concentration when the director says 'Action' and moments of relaxation when the director says 'Cut.' By shooting on digital, I can keep everyone focused and work much faster. Generally, you don't strike the set until you know you really have it on film. With HD, I always know exactly what I'm getting. I was able to shoot in Patagonia and walk away knowing I had everything." But Steven Douglas Smith has a different perspective. "How fast you work all depends on the overall budget of your picture. It depends on the project you're doing. Each film has its own pace, depending on what you're trying to get out of the imaging." Disquiet on the Set? To some, the prospect of having a high-resolution monitor on the set looks like an opportunity to arrive at consensus faster. To others, it looks like an invitation to disaster, inviting directors and producers to second-guess the DP to death. John Bailey, cinematographer of "The Anniversary Party" says, "I've been on film shoots where the debilitating overuse of the video monitor stalls the creative flow. But I still like having a high-resolution monitor on the set." "I keep monitors around the set so that every department can benefit," says de Lespinois. "Lighting, makeup, hair and wardrobe can all see what we're getting and make it better. It's 'what you see is what you get,' which enables us to push things farther." Cinematographer Allen Daviau says, "You don't light by the monitor. You light by pre-visualization. Having a high resolution monitor on the set is not threatening." Digital cameras also present the DP with a new range of refinements that cannot be done in the film camera. These include image enhancement, skin tone detail, digital soft focus, colorimetry and transfer characteristic. But opinions differ as to the benefits of making the tweaks. According to Roy Wagner, "In a way, 24P is more dangerous because you have the opportunity to 'paint' every image with the camera control unit. Too often, you're tempted to invest too heavily in specific imagery with no room to play in post. I studied under Ansel Adams and he said that the image is created in the darkroom. I think DPs should concentrate on making a good, solid image for post. Then you can do the radical things in the 'digital darkroom.'"