It used to be that shooting in high definition meant lugging around a heavy camera that was tethered to a 750-pound recorder," says Tom Fletcher, VP of Fletcher Chicago. "The whole setup drew an incredible amount of power and cost a fortune." But the introduction two years ago of Sony's HDW-700, which shoots to a 40-minute, 1/2-inch HDCAM cassette, changed the rules of HD field production. "Now the camera weighs under 25 pounds, fits on your shoulder, and consumes a lot less power," Fletcher says.

While new technology is making HD field production practical at last, shooting in HD is different from shooting standard video or film. Knowing the differences in advance can save mammoth headaches both on the set and down the road. Among those best prepared to educate others about HD's unique requirements are rental companies that have made HD a major focus of their business.

Comparing Costs The relative cost of working in HD depends on the medium to which you compare and the type of material you are shooting. "The video person going into HD has to be aware of the added cost of the tape stock and the downconversions to Digital Betacam or Beta SP," says Dana Liman, partner in New York-based Liman Video Rentals (LVR). But Fletcher points out that the cost difference between Digital Betacam and HD may only amount to a small portion of the overall production cost. "You have the actors, the crew, the set, the location, and the lighting," he says. "So paying $1,200 per day for an HD camera instead of $800 for a Digital Betacam is not that big a deal."

Beyond camera costs are the other components that may be needed. "Monitors and lenses may be up to 25 times more expensive than their widescreen Digital Betacam counterparts," says Marker Karahadian, president of Plus 8 Video, Burbank. He offers purchase prices as a basis for comparison: "A 14-inch HD monitor costs about $13,000, as opposed to under $1,000 to buy an inexpensive NTSC model. And an HD distribution amp costs between $2,000 and $15,000, instead of $250 for the NTSC equivalent."

Online editing is another area where HD can significantly affect total costs. The best quality comes from posting in HD and downconverting only for final delivery. But both Liman and Fletcher advise customers to shoot in HD even when HD posting is beyond the budget. "Even if you downconvert to Digital Betacam before post," Fletcher says, "you will still be getting a better-quality product than shooting in Digi-Beta." Liman agrees, stressing that the material should always remain in the digital domain throughout the process.

Shooting in HD can also cost less than shooting film. "An HD camera package rents for about the same as a 35mm package," Fletcher says. "Where HD becomes most cost-effective is when you have a high shooting ratio. If your ratio is 3:1, then shooting film is not that much more than HD. But if it's 30:1, like nature documentaries traditionally are, then HD saves you a lot of money." On The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne, Fletcher says, producers were able to save $5 million out of a $40-million budget by shooting in HD. Fletcher points out that you can shoot and post in HD and then transfer to film. Overall, the process will be less expensive than shooting film because film stock is only required for the edited master.

Karahadian believes that, in additition to saving money, HD can yield a better product than film. "You can move faster with HD, doing more set-ups and more takes," he explains. "And with a 40-minute tape instead of a 10-minute load of film, you don't have to manage short ends or worry that you've used up all your film before finishing your episode."

He adds that HD is helpful for special effects shots, since you can check what you have done and then move on. Fletcher agrees that HD's instant-replay capability is an asset. "People like the immediacy," he says. "You don't have to go through a process to get dailies. You shoot the tape, and you can start editing immediately."

Liman points out that HD is reliable since its camcorder hardware is built on the Digital Betacam platform, which has proven very stable. "HD requires the same precautions of working with any kind of video equipment," he says. "If it's raining, cover the camera; if you are shooting down by the shore, be careful not to get sand in it. It's common sense." Karahadian agrees, noting that the company's camcorders have gone to such diverse locations as Vietnam and Alaska with no reported problems.

Production Challenges Despite its advantages, HD poses many production challenges. According to Karahadian, one danger is unrealistic expectations of cost savings. "For example," he says, "people might think that because HD cameras are very sensitive, they can go with a smaller lighting package. But the fact that the medium is more sensitive doesn't mean that you need any fewer sources of light to get the picture to look right. To get the quality, you have to approach HD with the same culture that you have when you shoot film. If you take away the production values, you end up with HD product that looks like regular video."

It can be difficult to find all the components needed to make HD behave like film. "The selection of lenses is quite deficient compared to what you can get for 35mm," Karahadian says. "And the kinds of light-control devices that you need, like matte boxes and follow focuses, are limited, available in small quantities, and very expensive. We even ended up making our own line of matte boxes."

Liman says that film people will need to adjust to the focal lengths of video lenses. "They may know the focal length they want when using a prime lens in film," he says, "but have trouble finding it on a video zoom lens. We are still waiting for a good set of video primes, though we do have an HD adapter for 35mm film lenses."

Liman also points out that while video people will find the functionality of the HD camera the same as Digital Betacam, filmmakers may have to hire an HD engineer to guide them. "We don't send out our own engineer, but we do provide our customers with a list of engineers we know can do HD right," he says. If customers do not want to hire an HD engineer, they should at least get some instruction from the rental company. "Almost everybody requires some sort of training," Liman says. "We do it for free. We've had some people who don't bother, and then we get one phone call after another while their whole crew is standing around waiting."

"You need someone on the crew that understands video," Fletcher concurs. "They have to learn how to attach all the various accessories they are used to having on a film camera. We have prep rooms, and we run seminars and do one-on-one training. Sometimes we also give a client the camera ahead of time so they can experiment and run tests."

On the Set On location, it is important to realize that set imperfections that do not even register in NTSC may appear as obvious flaws in an HD picture. And lighting techniques will be counterintuitive for those with a background in film. "In film, people generally light for shadows and don't worry so much about highlights," Fletcher says. "In HD, you need to do the opposite because you can bring as much as four stops out of the shadows, but you can't bring detail out of the highlights."

Aspect ratio is another crucial consideration. "Are you going to letterbox your 16:9 image? If not, you have to adjust the active area in your viewfinder while you are shooting so you won't lose anything of importance on the sides," notes Liman. "That affects the way you stage the actors and block out the scene."

To Charles Pantuso, director of engineering at HD Vision in Irving, Texas, the main challenge at the shoot is maintaining correct focus. "Focus is hard to see on the small camcorder viewfinder," he says. Fletcher agrees and says that he has seen many people realize after the shoot that the focus is soft. "People who do HD all the time learn to recognize the focus, but you may need to roll through it to find it," he advises. "And you need to take out a high-quality HD monitor to judge focus-a standard 10-inch monitor doesn't cut it."

HD monitoring in general can be challenging, Karahadian says, particularly on commercial sets where people are used to having monitors placed everywhere. "The camcorders output component HD in analog, so you have to have an analog-to-digital adapter card or an RGB harness for your monitors," he explains. "And small, battery-operated field monitors are not yet widely available."

Hand-Holding With all its potential complications, HD can require more hand-holding from the rental company than other formats. "For first-time renters," Pantuso says, "you need to find out what they are trying to accomplish and help them decide whether or not HD is appropriate and then help them with equipment and personnel selection."

"It's more than handing out pieces of equipment," Karahadian says. "We have to be able to anticipate problems and also to troubleshoot over the phone. And you need someone working with you to plan the shoot, so that you don't arrive on location and find that you are missing critical pieces. That means renting from a company where HD is a core business."

With the adoption of HD as part of the ATSC DTV standard, Karahadian sees the movement to HD as inevitable. "There's no doubt that it is going to be an HD world," he says. "There are a lot of projects that could be done in HD right now-without compromising the project or costing a fortune-that would allow the crafts people, the bean counters, and the creative people to all learn how to marshal an HD production successfully. In the long run, it's not going to work for people to be afraid of HD and to hide."