37 SOUTH FILMS DEFINE HIGH DEFINITION
7 March 2005
In the past few months, 37 South Films has completed two projects that were shot and edited using Panasonic's High Definition format, Varicam.
“The quality of the images were amazing... we were delighted with the results."
The learning curve was intense, but the brilliant results justified the journey.
“As we began to research the post production path, we realised nobody really knew much about it at all. Each manufacturer knew about their own product, but not about how it worked when running in an edit suite situation.”
We persevered and, with a mix of trial and error, quickly developed the post path that suited the format to the point where we could offer our clients this new and exciting technology. Two projects resulted.
The first was a television commercial for Hafele, a leading world brand for furniture fittings. Director Matt Kamen wanted the female talent to flow through the shots in slow motion, so we needed to shoot at high speed - 40 frames per second. Because of the crisp, clean look we were after, 16mm film would be too grainy and 35mm film too expensive, so the decision was made to shoot on the Varicam system. The results were stunning, and following a successful Australian launch, the commercial is likely to be used by Hafele worldwide.
The second project was a corporate film for Mazda Japan, promoting the new MX-5 roadster. This film was to be shown worldwide in both High Definition and Standard Definition. Produced and directed by Glenn Gibson of Blue Fish Productions, it involved shooting on Varicam, editing offline in DV, then online and master in HD.
Both projects were finished on time and on budget and the clients were delighted with the finished products. 37 South Films is one of the few production companies in Australia that can take a HD Varicam project from concept to vision with the technical skills and experience that make a project run smoothly and achieves the most from the format.