Panasonic's VariCam Used To Film Mount Pleasant TV Series

Panasonic's VariCam range has been used to film the sixth series of British comedy-drama Mount Peasant.

The new series, which was filmed on location, is due to air at 9pm on Sky 1 tonight, 30 August.

Before filming began, both Tiger Aspect Productions and Rental Company 24/7 held a series of tests to determine which broadcast camera would suit the show.

The VariCam 35, as well as the newly launched VariCam LT, were selected as the range is an ideal fit for a show with an upbeat aesthetic requiring the colours to really stand out.

The VariCam has a 35mm MOS image sensor, features wide dynamic range and an expansive colour gamut. It also has dual native ISO settings of 800 and 5000. The native 5000 ISO allows for clean shooting in very low light situations.

Mark Devlin, Line Producer for Mount Pleasant, said: "Mount Pleasant is about being sunny and bright, it's always sunny in Mount Pleasant. We liked the look of the Panasonic, the colours seemed to zing and it was an obvious choice really.

"It has been such an easy, seamless change. We haven't been surprised by any costs sneaking up on us, the codec is so efficient that we've managed to switch from HD to 2K without any increase in the amount of storage required."

Andy Hollis, the Director of Photography, added: "We had a couple of night shoots that were in quite sensitive areas, and so we didn't want to put up big lighting rigs.

"I decided to go with some security lights in a police compound and use the dual native ISO settings. We upped it to 5000 and it was great, but probably too light. I set the ISO to 3200 in the darker areas, it saw all of the detail, it's a really good, useful feature.

"I think this is everyone's first time working with the VariCam. Once you know where the buttons are everything falls to hand very easily. This is a busy show, we have got a lot of scenes to get through in a day. If it was any slower or harder to understand then we wouldn't be able to use it, for us it works beautifully."

(LM/CD)