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FILMMAKER MARCUS DE LEON CHOOSES JVC GY-HM100 PROHD CAMCORDER TO SHOOT INDIE FEATURE

JVC Professional Products, a division of JVC U.S.A., announced today that Marcus De Leon–an independent motion picture writer, director, and producer–used a JVC GY-HM100 ProHD camcorder to shoot Ebb and Flow: The Misery Signals Story, a 90-minute documentary about heavy metal band Misery Signals and its 2009 worldwide concert tour.

Inspired by 1970s era rock tour documentaries, Ebb and Flow captures the struggles and triumphs of the up-and-coming band. Armed with only a GY-HM100 camcorder, Sennheiser shotgun microphone, MacBook Pro laptop, tripod, and a few small lights, De Leon shot footage of the band’s tour throughout Europe, Asia, and North America.

“This camcorder is perfect for shooting in the midst of chaos, action, and live performance,” said De Leon, who is based in Los Angeles. “My goal was to let viewers experience the energy, dynamism, and violence of a hardcore metal show, and this JVC camcorder allowed me to do that. I shot the band’s performances while being pushed and kicked in mosh pits, knocked to the floor by stage divers, and shoved by people drinking beer at rowdy parties.”

Interviews with the five band members were shot using a tripod and lit with portable, 60-watt clamp lights. For concert footage, however, De Leon often held the camcorder high overhead by its handle and with his other hand pointed a small, rechargeable light and shotgun mic toward his subjects. Since he didn’t have any backup gear, he was relieved that the camcorder always worked flawlessly, despite being banged around and knocked to the floor by aggressive fans.

“Because of its compact size, I could shoot in very tight spaces, like a concert in the hull of a ship on Paris’ Seine River or inside a van full of passengers. It was very unobtrusive when shooting in spontaneous social situations, like backstage parties, where a bigger camcorder might have inhibited people’s natural behavior,” De Leon said. “This type of action could never have been captured with a larger camera or a two-man crew–or anything that required a bigger footprint to operate.”

With only three weeks to prepare for the summer tour–which started May 15 in Milwaukee–De Leon obtained the new GY-HM100 camcorder from BKW, Inc., in Tempe, Ariz. De Leon said the price performance of the GY-HM100 made his cinematic passion possible. It also streamlined workflow by recording MOV files, the native format of Apple Final Cut Pro, which could be dragged from solid-state SDHC memory cards directly onto editing timelines without ingest bottlenecks.

During production, De Leon would find a place to set up an ad-hoc edit suite daily. He would transfer his recorded files from two 16 GB SDHC memory cards, each holding almost an hour of 1080/24p footage, to Final Cut Pro 6 on his MacBook. He also stored video files on three external LaCie hard drives.

With shooting complete, editing is underway at Pivotal Post in North Hollywood, Calif. Deluxe New York will transfer the video to 35mm prints for film festival release. “I’m extremely pleased with the exceptional picture quality, clarity, and colors this camcorder captured,” De Leon added, “especially considering the challenging logistics, low light conditions, and fast-paced shooting.”

ABOUT JVC U.S.A.

Headquartered in Wayne, New Jersey, JVC U.S.A. is a division of JVC Americas Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Victor Company of Japan Ltd. JVC distributes a complete line of video and audio equipment for the consumer and professional markets. For further product information, visit JVC’s Web site at http://pro.jvc.com or call (800)526-5308.

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I have to say that I love mine too. I used it on a 12 day, 9 city and 2 island tour of Columbia in October and a number of smaller projects since then. This is a camera that’s perfect for that kind of travel. It has a very nice look in 1080 24p too.

http://louddata.com

Posted by DanConklin  on  12/15  at  12:20 PM

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