‘STREET’ PROMO SHOT ON SONY HD

SONY’S high definition HDW-F900 HDCAM camcorder, supplied by Sony through the hire and crewing department of Metro Broadcast, was used to shoot a promo of ‘Coronation Street’.
Paul Braithwaite, ITV’s Network Promotions Unit (NPU) Production Manager, said: “The latitude it gives is incredible. I suspect this would give a very cost effective and powerful way of shooting TV drama.” Braithwaite also added that HD was chosen after extensive tests against Super 16 carried out at the London Studios. Post production for the promo was done at the new London HD facility.
The promo's Director of Photography, Dominic Kersey (pictured), said: "We decided to shoot in exactly the same way as shooting film. We're using very similar lighting as on 35mm and the same kind of production values. The real benefit has been instant playback; you can go back and look at what you've shot. The artists can look, which is sometimes not a good thing. But having a big monitor with full colour playback is a real bonus."
Barry Noakes, Shoots Manager at Metro Broadcast, is also very happy with HD. The company are buying the HD camera and a separate VTR for their duplications business.
Noakes said: “I see HD as the way forward to replace Super 16 in TV. I’m only speaking for TV, because that’s where we operate. But it is going to replace Super 16 for top end promos and dramas. It looks really filmic.”
Noakes added that the quality of the HD shoot is maintained even if the final master is down converted for broadcast to Digital Betacam, as was the case for the ‘Coronation Street’ promo.
He said: “There’s got to be an education. Even if you down convert to Digital Betacam, you’re still getting a superior result. The information on HD goes with it to Digi Beta. It’s the same as transferring 35mm film to Digi Beta. It looks like 35mm film, it doesn’t look like Digi Beta. Likewise, a down conversion of HD to Digi Beta looks far superior to something shot on Digi Beta.”
(CD)