Capturing HD Eye Candy

LG Electronics will soon release a brand new line of 1080p-capable flat-panel digital HDTVs—more than a dozen plasma and LCD models—which the company will showcase during the upcoming CES tradeshow, Jan. 8-11 in Las Vegas. Since these new displays have superior image resolution capabilities over previous models, the manufacturer naturally wants to strategically illustrate those capabilities at tradeshows like CES, and at retail locations. Therefore, as is common in the industry, LG commissioned specially shot imagery for such display applications.

In this case, LG turned to HD acquisition and production experts Randall Dark, president of Los Angeles-based HD Vision Studios, and Kristen Cox, president and CEO of 16x9 Productions, also in LA, to provide what Dark calls “eye candy”—brilliant footage LG could use to illustrate the capabilities of its new line of HDTVs.

“Kristen Cox and Randall Dark are pioneers in HD program production,” says John Taylor, VP of public affairs at LG Electronics, USA. “[They are] always pushing the envelope of creativity and HD production techniques. It made perfect sense for LG to reach out to [them] to produce unique and compelling 1080p programming for our newest full HD flatscreens.”

Dark has a long history in the high-definition business, doing everything from feature films to television to industrial pieces. But he has also long been involved with creating display footage for various TV manufacturers, so he was well acquainted with LG''s expectations. He has worked in the past with not only LG, but also Samsung, Mitsubishi, and Texas Instruments, and anyone attending CES will almost certainly see at least some of his content on display at various booths on the show floor.

For the LG project, Dark had a tough decision on his hands, as he wanted to give the company as much picture information and detailed color as possible in the display imagery. So he decided to shoot 30p, meaning the best color scheme he could capture was 4:2:2, which currently represents the largest file format able to produce progressive scan footage at that frame rate. 4:4:4 HD color schemes, of course, would require Dark to shoot 24p, as current HD acquisition methods can''t support the larger file size for additional progressive frame rates. Shooting for LG''s purposes, however, 24p footage with a filmic sensibility was not desirable. The project instead required more of a broadcast format and look.

“I love 24p 4:4:4,” Dark says. “But I shot at 30p 4:2:2 because it gives the viewer an immediate experience. You don''t want to watch the Super Bowl at 24fps. Because of the nature and physics of film, it looks like it happened yesterday—it''s got that fictitious feel.”

Sporting events do make up a lot of the content that will be on display at CES, as a lot of exhibitors set up contracts with ESPN and CBS, who have some of the most up-to-date technology in the world and provide spectacular footage. Such booths display amazing sports imagery, but that footage has traditionally been shot in 720p or 1080i 59.94, falling short of the visual capabilities of the new LG flatscreens. So, LG was obviously looking for something more in terms of detail and quality.

“[Manufacturers] come to us and say ‘let''s get more specific,'' ”Dark says. “In a football game, you''re not showing off flesh tones—they''ve got on pads and helmets and are running around scoring touchdowns, and there are no extreme closeups. So they say, ‘we''ve got all these great sports, but we really want to showcase some of the subtleties.'' ”

To spotlight such subtleties for the LG project, Cox developed concepts for five different program clips: a nature program, highlights from a top fuel drag race, and three music videos. Such content was strategically designed to emphasize dynamic color when displayed on the new LG flatpanels.

When trying to decide how to shoot imagery such as vibrant flames from a dragster against a night sky, or singer Dennis Lamar against a brilliant background in glowing sunlight, all on limited time and budget, Dark looked at the camera systems he had on hand and selected the Sony HDW-F900 (version 3) CineAlta system, which is well equipped to handle varied contrast range for challenging light settings and scene conditions. But, being an older model in the ever-growing line of CineAlta camera systems, it required a workaround to fulfill specific requirements for LG''s displays.

“Technology is such a moving target,” Dark says. “As soon as you''re all set up with a workflow with your camera, the manufacturer comes out and says ‘we''ve got this new product where you don''t need to do that [process] anymore.'' Obviously, your client wants the best, so you either go out and buy the newest technology possible or find a workflow path that will give the exact results the client wants using the technology you have in place.”

For this project, therefore, getting the desired resolution and 30p 4:2:2 output out of the HDW-F900 camera meant that Dark''s camera needed to be tethered to a recording device, as the onboard HDCAM tape recorder can only record 1440x1080 pixel compressed component video. So he and Cox used a Sony HDCA-901 camera adapter, which allows two channels of HDSDI output and four channels of 20-bit audio input, connected it to a Sony SRW-1 HDCAM SR 4:4:4 portable digital recorder with an SRPC-1 VTR adapter.

Still, even with the addition of lengthy cabling capabilities, parts of the drag racing shoot greatly challenged the production.

“The drag race presented us with a very large venue to cover and some tricky camera angles,” says Cox, who directed the shoot. “Oh yeah, and there was the catastrophic bodily harm risk, as well.”

“You''ve seen a picture where I''m almost on fire (pictured above),” Dark says. “That was a fun shoot because you''ve got the chrome and fire and sports, it''s the adrenaline eye candy. Alternatively, the music video [bits] were not fast-paced, MTV bling sort of shots, but more about details and flesh tones. [Singer] Dennis Lamar is African-American, which against the contrast of bright sunlight and an incredible backdrop, the extreme closeups show just how good people look in high-definition.”

The drag racing shoot involved two Sony HDW-F900 cameras—one of which needed the ability to move the length of the Southwestern International Raceway drag strip in Tucson, Ariz. When tethered to an SR deck, this proved complicated. So, Cox and Dark decided to go mobile. They rigged up a Honda utility ATV, outfitting it with a Sony BVM-D9H1U 9-in. HD monitor, the SR deck, a tripod, a ton of batteries, and an HD crew piled on.

But production was only half the battle. Showcasing subtleties in the images to suit LG''s requirements not only took getting the right footage, but also the right pacing of edits. Dark notes such display programs are usually edited in a way that permits viewers to really notice image nuances. “It''s not one shot of a flower for five minutes,” Dark explains. “It keeps you interested and is designed to sell TVs.”

The post work was done at High Technology Video in Los Angeles, where the footage was offlined from the HDCAM-SR deck at 30p 4:2:2 into an Avid DS Nitris system running on an HP xw8000 workstation. Imagery was then outputted to the client on Panasonic AJ HD3700H HD-D5 tape, which LG then expected to transfer to a variety of playback sources, including the desired bit-rate for exhibiting their new HDTVs at CES.

One perk Dark gets when producing such programs is being able to test the display technology himself.

“Clients will send me the TV they want to showcase, and I''ll put it up in my edit suite,” Dark says. “I look at what I''ve shot in the past versus what I''ve shot today, and the TVs have improved dramatically. These new 1080p TVs are spectacular. And they''re all only going to get better. That''s human nature—we always want bigger, better, brighter, faster. It''s never going to stop.”