American Cinematographer - August 1990 - 48

Above: Carter and

time code

Clark

Terry "get the
jazz" in the

we

component Betacam, so that we
had a component video signal,
1 /2 inch Betacam tape," he says.

Carribbean aboard
the S. S.

Nagra in stereo. Then

telecined all the material to

Norway.

Below: Carter and

Dizzy Gillespie, who
played with Carter

Component Betacam is
actually somewhat akin elec¬
tronically to the old YCM or three
strip cameras. Each color element
is kept separate until a later stage
of production, as opposed to

in 1940, aboard the

Norway.

composite Betacam and compos¬
ite video, where the color ele¬
ments are combined earlier in the

process.
is

The much heralded D-2

a newer

incarnation which

employs

a composite process
rather than component.
"At least in theory, we
felt that component was a supe¬
rior way to keep the image as
pure and elegant and the
as rich and
pristine as we

colors
possi¬

bly could,"

says Engle.
"When we edited, we
made window dubs of those 3/4
inch tapes. We off-line edited and
did our on-line onto D-l video

format, which is also a digital
format component system. We
chose Pacific Ocean Post where
all of the electronic switchers are
able to keep the component sig¬
nal in digital. Many places might
have component machines, and

component record machines, but
their switchers aren't component.
It ends up being composited and
the quality never really gets pre¬

real time situation, you can't go
back. The song only happens
once.

You have to

get every shot

production

manager,

Engle,

Ostrow, an additional gaffer, and
two sound

people

-

and that

of the biggest shoots.
"The short, quick shoot
is often the worst kind possible.
We had one evening to shoot in

synchronously. It was very hard
to get the richness of coverage we
wanted with only two cameras.
"Fortunately, I think it

was one

doesn't show in the film, because
had a terrific editor. Ted Levy

Washington and things always
happen. It takes time to get a unit
up to speed, to work out the
kinks. For example, it takes you
a
couple days to figure out that
there's static in the Nagra, or
maybe that the camera wasn't up
to speed. All the things that you
can't anticipate happen - dan¬
gerously. Before you know it, it's
over, and irreplaceable.

we

is

jazz expert, and knows his
thoroughly. The integra¬
tion of the image and the song is
all done as carefully as possible."
The live action perform¬
a

music

ance

shoots resembled the opera¬

tions of a special

forces unit - the
small crack crews struck quickly,
sometimes getting in and out in
a

matter of hours. At the Smith¬

sonian
were

46

a

gig, for example, there

two cameras, two

American

Cinematographer

assistants,

"We shot

everything on
fps and did all
our field
recordings with a Dolby
16mm film at 24

August 1990

served. So

we were able to, in
effect, keep our color image sig¬
nal separate until the master,
which I think is pretty unusual.

Most video

production houses
marrying the signals ear¬
lier," Engle explains.
end up

Since television is the
most realistic outlet for most

documentary

programs, many
such films, like many television
productions in general, never
make it to a full film finish. The
added expense contributes to this

trend, but Engle sees another
obstacle. "There would be more
full film finishes of shows if
16mm audio could be brought
into the present age. It's some¬

thing that I feel very strongly
really look forward to

about. I
American Cinematographer - August 1990

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