Jimmy Football

In the film industry, especially the commercial world, it isn't everyday that you get the chance to make art. Today ain't that day. But we did manage a laugh. Which in many ways is so much better...

Bones and a Bud Light

I just so happened to run across a terrifying yet simple problem on two recent jobs. It has become common practice to perform a "record review" after a take (much akin to the 'ol gate check) to keep a bit of Quality Assurance alive within the camera department. The Assistant simply hits one of the assignable buttons on the body of the F23, F35, or Genesis and the camera automatically engages the SRW-1 deck to rewind and playback the tail end of the last take. This is done mainly to double check that the camera did indeed roll during the take and that the SRW-1 deck is properly mounted to the camera body.

On a recent infomercial-inspired Bud Light spot involving three F23's I was brought in after photography began to steady a ship that was fast taking on water. I found myself with a camera mounted on a 30ft Super Techno Crane. After the first take I insisted on a minute to bring the camera down and perform a record review. I hit the assignable, watched the SRW-1 rewind, and waited to see playback. Unfortunately, there was no playback. The last take wasn't coming though the viewfinder or the HD-SDI outputs back to my D.I.T. station. Did the camera roll? Was the deck mounted properly? Sould I call the rental house and demand a new camera body? Or maybe a new deck?

Before you give yourself the cold sweats double check that your camera is set-up properly to send the playback picture coming from the SRW-1 to both your camera's viewfinder and the HD-SDI outputs.

Access the OPERATION MENU and configure the MONITOR OUTPUT page. Your MONI HD-SDI should be set to MONI and your TEST OUT and RM VIDEO should both be set to VBS. Next configure the PB MIX SETTING page in the OPERATION MENU. Your MIX DIRECTION needs to be set for PB.



Problem solved. On to the next.