Kei Nozawa, President/Director of Photography, Gokuraku Eizousha Ltd.
Gokuraku Eizousha makes active use of Panasonic’s memory card portable recorder, AG-HMR10, and compact camera head, AG-HCK10G, when shooting live concert videos and TV commercials.
When the company was asked to both design the shoot for and capture the live concert of thepop/rock band Kome Kome Club, it decided to use 16 AG-HMR10s and 14 AG-HCK10Gs (the AG-HVX200 was used for the remaining two cameras) to capture the stageperformance from every possible angle.
“Before, Kome Kome Club’s live concerts were mainly shot from the audience’s perspective becauseit was quite difficult to place cameras on stage. The band’s known for creating their own distinct world with their concerts, and set design is a part of that,so there’s no way you can put cameras on stage if the audience could see them. We’ve tried various ways in the past, but, frankly, they were always far fromideal and we’ve never really been able to pull it off,” says Kei Nozawa, the company’s president and DP. Meanwhile, members of the band were requesting moreclose-ups, and the company too had a strong desire to change the look of the shots. “AG-HCK10G appeared right when we were struggling with these issues,”continues Nozawa. “I felt sure that this new camera would make a difference, and so we came up with a shooting plan that would effectively capture eachmember’s facial expression and virtuosity with their instruments, which are key elements in conveying the energy and intimacy of the show.”
Many Hours of “LiveConcert Feel” Was Captured Using 16 AG-HMR10s
The 16 cameraspositioned on stage recorded the almost three-hour performance onto SD memory cards(32GB x 16) in PH mode. All of the cameras were monitored from one location byconnecting the AG-HMR10s in HD SDI to 2 eight-channel repeater boxes. “We placedone AG-HCK10G on the mike stand, but it didn’t stand out at all. From theaudience’s seat, you couldn’t even see where it was. This could only have beenpossible because the camera’s so compact. The stage staff really dug the cameratoo,” recalls Nozawa.
“The high imagequality was also key. Up until now, whenever we used miniature cameras alongwith regular ones, you couldn’t help but notice the gap in quality when switching back and forth, but with AG-HCK10G, the quality of the images wasmaintained at a high level, so it wasn’t a problem.”
With regards to the iris, the “+” and “-” of the control was finely adjusted for each cameraaccording to the staging and lighting.
The Merit of AG-HCK10G’sSmall and Light Body Was Also Utilized for Shooting a TV Commercial
Gokuraku Eizousha also utilized the pairing of AG-HMR10 and AG-HCK10G to shoot a TV commercial for a amusement park. In a shot where a park visitor riding an attraction is shownshooting a toy gun at a cartoon character, they attached an AG-HCK10G onto thegun in order to capture the dynamic impact of the bullet hitting the target. “Thesekinds of shots aren’t possible with a big camera. For this TV commercial, we used a VARICAM (AJ-HDC27F) for the main camera and AG-HCK10G for the sub, and shot in 720/30p to match the image quality. We were satisfied with what we got. It was also great that AG-HMR10 allowed us to see a preview of the shot right there on the spot,” says Nozawa.
He continues: “The great merit of pairing AG-HMR10 with AG-HCK10G is that they’re small and lightwhile providing high image quality. As a company, our aim is to function as a ‘hub’ with various types of ‘sockets’—what we mean by that is we want to be able to respond flexibly to any kind of needs with a variety of camera and shooting skills. That is why we intend to continue actively adopting new equipment and technology.”
* The Users Reports provided aboveis correct as of the time of publication. Note that information such as company and organization names may no longer be correct.