Digital Video - December 2007 - (Page 37) BY JAY HOLBEN PHOTO AND INSET: LES STONE There’s rarely an easy day in reality television production, but the challenges abound when you’re following not just the living, but the dead as well. or the past three years, a star in the Sci Fi Channel’s programming has been the supernatural-steeped Ghost Hunters, which documents the investigations of The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) as they travel the country chasing claims of otherworldly infestations. Formed in 1990 by Jason Hawes, TAPS is a collection of everyday people on a mission to either belie suspected poltergeist phenomena or capture hard evidence that it exists. Reality TV veteran Craig Piligian (Survivor, American Chopper, Dirty Jobs) and his Pilgrim Films created Ghost Hunters, which follows Hawes and TAPS co-founder Grant Wilson—former RotoRooter plumbers by day, spirit seekers by night—and their rag-tag team of investigators. “Originally, the show was very run-and-gun,” attests Dave Hobbes, Ghost Hunters’ original director of photography, who began on the show as a camera operator. “Our job was just to follow the TAPS members and document what they did. That was certainly challenging with limited gear and crew. We’d basically rig their vehicle for the drive-to—catching their discussion of the case en route—and then, once we arrived at the location, scramble to pull the camera out of the car and follow them into their initial interviews. When we started the show, there was no director of photography—just myself and two other operators—but, after a while, I put myself out there to take control of the camera department. Jay Bluemke, the show’s original director, supported me and gave me the backing to streamline our approach.” Looking for compact, quality production cameras, Ghost Hunters turned to three Panasonic AG-DVX100As as the crew’s F Above: TAPS teammates Jason Hawes (left) and Grant Wilson. Left: TAPS team member Brian Harnois. Below: The Ghost Hunters production crew at the TAPS field office in Rhode Island. From left: B-camera operator Kendall Whelpton, AC Shawn Aponik (who recently replaced Nick Ferrelli), DP Brian Hodge, C-camera operator Drew Nicolello, second sound operator (A2) Alan Jarmolinski and camera PA Adam Abelson. www.dv.com dv december 2007 37 http://www.dv.com
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