Tapping a Still Camera for a Low-Fi Production Solution

Tapping New Technology for Web-Ready Production Solutions

Chelsea's VW web shorts, Humble's "Passion Pit"
music video are examples of Canon 5D versatility

By Anthony Vagnoni


In this age of ubiquitous camera phones and user-generated content, audiences have come to expect all kinds of footage on both the web and TV, from pristine images shot with the priciest Panavisions and Arris to grainy, out of focus snippets that look like they were shot with inexpensive digital cameras bought off the shelf at low-end retailers.

But the technology of digital capture is changing rapidly, and still cameras are now capable of producing video images that, in the right hands, can serve as original source material for content that’s well suited to both the tight schedules and reduced budgets of web video as well as the loftier demands of brand advertisers.

For example, a recent campaign for VW and Crispin Porter + Bogusky from Chelsea director Neil Tardio takes a low-fi approach to production that doesn’t sacrifice picture quality while providing the crew and creative team with a flexible solution.  The spots—a series of typically funny and offbeat product demos for VW’s line of TDI ‘clean diesel’ models—were shot on a highly versatile, flexible and affordable Canon still camera, the 5D Mark II. 

It’s one of a growing number of projects that directors and producers are using this technology to capture.  In another example, Humble, a New York-based production and content company, also used a Canon 5D to produce a music video titled " The Reeling" for the band Passion Pit that entailed a complex combination of shooting motion and stills, then compositing them together.

For the VW campaign, Tardio and his Chelsea team, including director of photography Wells Hackett, worked with L.A.-based Bandito Brothers to produce and edit the work.  The four spots are part of Volkswagen’s “TDI Truth or Dare” campaign.  Tardio says the partnership was the most efficient way of meeting the job’s requirements for longer format content that had strong production values, spiffy car shots and comedy, and that could be produced on a tight budget.  He turned to Bandito, co-founded by director Mike “Mouse” McCoy because the shop has full post production capabilities and is experienced in shooting automotive footage as well as working on long-form content, while his specialty is comedy and dialogue.

“It was sort of divide and conquer,” the director explains.  “It was really the only way to get it done.  We got the best team in the business and made the shoot really fun.”  This included racecar driver Josh Hurley, the 2008 U.S. Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup champion, and Greg Tracy, one of the top drivers in the movie industry, whose credits include “The Italian Job” and “The Bourne Ultimatum.” 

They produced four web shorts that all show off the advantages of the VW TDI diesel, often in comparison to the Toyota Prius.  In one, “Clean Diesel Decaf,” the exhaust of a regular diesel is captured on coffee filter paper and compared to the exhaust of a clean Jetta diesel.  The papers are then used to brew competing cups of drip coffee, with understandably gag-inducing results. Another short, titled “Ice Cube,” demonstrates that the Jetta diesel can start in sub-zero temperatures. It was shot in a room refrigerated to 25 degrees below zero Fahrenheit.  The other two shorts are titled "Jetta vs. Prius" and "Panic Handle."

“The camera performed flawlessly,” says Tardio of that spot "Ice Cube" spot. Its size allows it to be used in places where conventional film cameras and existing HD digital capture systems can’t easily go, and its ability to use a variety of lenses produces visual results that Tardio calls impressive.  Since the camera has no moving parts, it handled the cold with no problems.  Up to ten minutes of HD video can be shot on one memory card, with even more on larger cards.

“This is the bleeding edge of technology,” adds Hackett.  “It’s the first consumer-priced camera that really delivers a professional level image.”  A handheld SLR camera initially designed for amateur still HD photography, the video function built into the camera quickly has caught on, with a web site (www.cinema5d.com) dedicated to a community of users which includes both pros and amateurs.

For the team at Humble, shooting with the 5D seemed the only reasonable way to pull off the Passion Pit video project.  Sam Stephens, a partner and creative director at the New York based production company, used it on the video for the song “The Reeling,” which was co-directed by Ariel Danziger and John Hobbs (the trio work as a directing team called Hydra.)

Stephens had been reading online about the use of the Canon 5D for video projects, and was intrigued by its capabilities.  They seemed perfectly suited to a low budget music video that would need to devote most of its production dollars to art direction and that would be mostly shot on the streets of New York at night.  “It has great low-light sensitivity, it uses a full 35 mm sensor and you can use almost any optics on it you want,” he explains. 

For the video, the Humble team shot footage of the band, then printed out each frame on a color printer, making multiple prints of each, and then shot the prints on an animation stand.  The prints were crumpled to look distressed, glued one atop the other and then peeled back so that each frame would look like it was torn or ripped to reveal different scenes underneath.

Stephens and Danziger actually took a 5D out late at night in New York’s Chinatown to see if it could handle the low light levels that would be available on the shoot.  “We were going for a real gritty, run-and-gun look on this piece,” he says, “and the 5D captured it perfectly.”

Stephens says the camera is ideal for everything from shooting tests to doing full-up final production. “It looks like a still camera and is totally unobtrusive,” he notes. “It lets you walk through your shots, shoot background plates, even capture b-roll on set. Its potential for directors is fantastic, since you can couple it with prime lenses and get a very close idea of what you'll be getting on the day of your shoot.”

Already other manufacturers are working to release their own competitors to the 5D, Stephens points out, and Canon is about to release a software update that will make remote control of the camera’s functions and settings easier to accomplish. Canon is about to release a software update that will allow full manual control of the ISO, shutter speed, and aperture, making it a truly professional level tool.

What’s the outlook for this kind of technology?  “This camera allows for an incredible amount of flexibility on a shoot, allowing any number of teams to shoot with minimal set-up, mounting equipment, and downtime between takes,” coos Tardio.  Based on its impact on his VW project, he’s given the 5D the ultimate endorsement: “I’ve already pitched it for future jobs,” he says.

Published 2, June 2009