Our second consideration was resolution. The SD/HD divide is very well documented, but this project really reignited the advantages and disadvantages in the formats. Put simply, the approach that John and I are taking to filming, combined with the non-actors, means there is going to be a high shooting ratio. With a 16GB P2 card limiting us to 17 mins of full HD, we have to find ways to get the footage rotated. This is not overly critical as we have access to plenty of P2 cards, but it is also a problem when looking at the transfer into post. Traditionally I have very bad habits at editing, which is that I digitise everything onto a hard drive and sift through material in the editing programme. With P2 that is an incredibly large amount of data to import, especially if we don't need it all. So this bridge will have to be crossed at some stage.
The option not to film with DV was because I felt it would limit the film's potential at festivals and future screenings. Whilst it would inevitably have made many other things simple, it just doesn't offer us enough scope to do big things with it once it is completed. Perhaps documentaries can still exploit the SD format much further, but I think the expectation for drama is that it should be as higher resolution as possible nowadays. Maybe that is just me...
The other consideration is camera size. We shot 'Watching & Waiting' on the AG-HPX500, which we were very happy with. However, this time around we opted for the AG-HVX200, as it is more portable and John doesn't have an assistant this time around! It obviously has a fixed lens, but we were happy with it during testing and decided that all things considered, it is the right camera for the job.
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