On Stage 22 at the CBS lot in Studio City, a TV film crew is spending a seemingly ordinary day shooting flashback and insert segments for the Fox sitcom Titus. Those segments will be rolled in two days later in front of an audience, during a live shoot of the entire episode, titled “The Last Noelle,” in which the show's lead character reminisces about his relationship with a psychotic, now-dead, ex-girlfriend.

Jack Kenny, one of the show's executive producers doubling as director of this episode, is about to film a scene in which Titus' ex-girlfriend punches him in the face. “A” camera operator John Dechene, however, asks Kenny to “hold on,” trots over to actress Danielle Weeks, and removes two tiny specks of lint from her black slacks. Shooting resumes.

“[Removing lint] is something I never would have thought about if we were shooting film,” Dechene explained later. “But we're not shooting film — we're shooting [24p] HD. It was really just two tiny specks of dust, yet I saw them clearly, even though I'm looking at a flickering, black-and-white video image inside the viewing tube. The Sony [HDW-F900] camera picks up small contrasts, and I have to be aware of that fact when I'm shooting. In my entire career, I don't think I've ever noticed anything like that looking through ground glass [of a film camera lens]. But here, I noticed it on a tiny HD monitor, and if I could see it, then viewers would see it.”

Such is life in the bold, new world of 24p, high-definition TV production.

Titus represents the best illustration to date of the highs and lows of 24p production. The show is believed to be the first multi-camera episodic sitcom to utilize Sony's 24p technology, in concert with first-generation Panavision Primo Digital 11:1 zoom lenses and Panavision's Ultraview, cine-style viewfinder. That viewfinder was designed by Panavision to mimic the ergonomics of a typical film camera, offering operators a higher viewing magnification rate than a film camera; but at the same time, limiting them to eyeballing a black-and-white video image while composing shots.

(In the last year, a handful of shows, such as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, have used Sony's older, HDW-700A cameras, which record 30fps interlaced images, for particular episodes, but those are mainly single-camera productions. At press time, the only other episodic shows regularly using 24p, HDW-F900 cameras were CBS' Diagnosis Murder — a single-camera production — and A&E's new courtroom drama, 100 Center Street, which recently started production in New York using three HDW-F900 cameras.)

What makes the Titus transition so important is that producers are using essentially the same film crew that shot last season on 35mm. That's because producers agreed to produce this season's 24 episodes under the IATSE film contact, rather than under the Guild's tape agreement, thus assuring the show would continue to employ a larger film-style crew (see accompanying story).

By changing the jobs of some crew members, adding additional crew members, and attempting to replicate “traditional” production methods while using 24p technology on a multi-camera show, Titus is traveling an uncharted and sometimes controversial path.

In the process, every member of the crew has become a test case for what happens when a film-trained professional transitions to HD.

Like many sitcoms, Titus has a revolving group of directors who run the Wednesday insert shoots and the Friday live shoots for each episode, which are staged and filmed much like a play, from start to finish. After wrapping this day's shoot, Kenny suggests that the show's switch to 24p tools has provided a major creative bonus.

“A huge difference is that I no longer feel bad about shooting rehearsals,” Kenny explains. “We often capture our best stuff during rehearsals, and now much of that stuff ends up in the show. Normally, shooting film, that would never happen. Film is too expensive, so you normally rehearse a bunch of times before rolling film. With these HD tapes [BCT-40HD tapes, which at 24fps, can record up to 52 minutes of action], we can record an entire episode-plus on just one tape. Therefore, you have plenty of inexpensive tape to shoot rehearsals and extra takes. From a directing point of view, that means we have an increased likelihood of getting something really special that we might otherwise have missed.”

Kenny adds that the format has also aided the unique production methodology employed on Titus — shooting segments on Wednesdays and rolling them into live shoots two days later.

“HD is perfect for this style, because our method requires the editing process to proceed quickly regarding the Wednesday material,” he says. “With HD, we can hand off tapes to our editor [Kris Trexler], and he can turn it around quicker. We no longer have to take the time and expense to digitize film before Kris can work with it. That's important, because by Friday, we need those segments completely edited in order to roll them into the show — the audience sees them on monitors — while we shoot like we are filming a play. We have a greater ability now to tweak takes more completely before Friday.”

Veteran film and television DP Bobby Byrne runs the show's camera department, relying for the first time in his career on HD technology. Byrne calls this season “a learning curve,” in which he has received a “strong education.”

Among Byrne's challenges: light issues, depth of field issues, and the need to evaluate camera shots in an entirely new way — using a 24-inch, Sony BVM-D24E1WU HD monitor on-set, controlled by a hand-held, electronic switcher that lets him check all four cameras on the same monitor. Last season, Byrne — like most film DPs — simply looked through a traditional, film camera viewing tube to evaluate color, light, and composition. But even though Panavision supplies a cine-style viewing tube with the Sony cameras, Byrne and his cameramen are limited to two viewing options: either a flickering, black-and-white image on the tiny monitor inside the camera, or an attached, top-view, color LCD monitor.

While those monitors can show great detail to a trained eye — such as specks of lint — they aren't sharp enough to satisfy a veteran DP's needs. Thus, the on-set HD monitor has essentially transformed into Byrne's “viewfinder” as he sets about determining what shots are suitable.

“I always depended on my own eye to judge quality of light and other things,” says Byrne. “I could use the quad-split [video assist] monitor to judge operating skill, but for color and light, I always used my eye, like most DPs. Here, I use a switcher to flip between each of the four cameras — we call them A, B, C, and X for Steadicam. That gives me a beautiful picture that replicates what I would see looking through a film camera. I've now gotten used to it, but it took a while. Shooting HD, the monitor has essentially become the best way to evaluate the quality of a shot. In that sense, it replaces both the traditional video assist combined with the viewfinder of a film camera — for the purposes of what a DP would normally use them for.”

That monitor, however, also happens to be Byrne's only line of defense against lens flares and other optical oddities that can pop up on a typical TV set. With his operators limited to using video monitors, they no longer can assist Byrne in detecting flares, as film cameramen often do with the naked eye.

“The [Panavision] lenses are very good, but they do accept flares a little more than our regular [film] zoom lenses,” says Byrne. “We have to be very careful about back-lighting to prevent flares, but I'm the only one who can detect them on the HD monitor if they do appear. My operators can't see them on their small video monitors. Flares, therefore, have become totally my responsibility.”

Besides extra care with back-lighting, Byrne has also made other lighting changes on the Titus set.

“We have less latitude with light than I would normally have with any of the Eastman Kodak film stocks I would ordinarily use for a sitcom,” he explains. “In particular, we have to be careful in dealing with reds and whites, so we are a bit more muted with our lighting scheme. That's why this format would not be good for outdoor location shooting — it just blows out the whites. But on a controlled set, with four-cameras and a film crew, we can compensate for that. Just be careful on the white side, the hot side, and I think you will be OK, if you are shooting on a set.”

Byrne's other major challenge is keeping HD's superior depth-of-field capabilities from overwhelming foreground images. In that battle, he gets lots of help from the show's production design and set decoration departments (see below), combined with enlarged camera aisles on the Titus set and increased use of lens filters.

“These cameras can see everything, and it's hard to get soft backgrounds,” says Byrne. “Everything is so sharp all the time. We have muted our backgrounds, using darker paints and lights. I also diffuse the lens more, using different filters, and usually shooting almost wide open. Widening the camera aisle to about 18 feet — it was about 12-14 feet last year — has also helped a lot, because that allows us to keep the cameras further away from the actors and make the foregrounds sharper, while still moving the cameras on dollies.”

Byrne adds that other HD issues make his job slightly more complicated this year. Among them: the need to work around dozens of cables that, last year, were not needed on the Titus set, and the inability to casually roll out a film camera on non-filming days and use the viewfinder to plan shot composition.

Dechene runs the A camera on the Titus set, and Peter Hapke runs the C camera. Both have film backgrounds as well as video experience, though Titus represents the first time either has shot HD. (Hapke worked on the show last season, using film cameras, while Dechene joined the crew this season.) Their different approaches with Sony's “Panavised” 24p cameras are instructive in terms of the choices operators face in an HD production universe.

Dechene prefers to use the Panavision viewing tube during filming, while Hapke opts for the topside, color LCD monitor.

“I prefer the viewing tube, even though the image is black-and-white, because I feel like I'm still looking through a film camera,” says Dechene. “The eyepiece and viewing tube work well, and they make me feel closer to the action, more ‘filmic,’ so to speak. The viewing system is hardly perfect, but I'm sure they'll improve it over time. The interior monitor strobes and flickers a little bit, but you get used to it after a while. One thing I like is the magnification when I look through the tube. That image actually appears bigger to my eye than looking through some film cameras. On some film cameras, what you see through the tube is about the size of a postage stamp. Here, it's about the size of a playing card, and I like that a lot.”

Hapke counters: “I've done enough video work to feel comfortable with that type of monitor instead of using the viewing system. When you spend time working in video, you get used to side or top viewing. It moves you away from the camera more, and it gives you a larger image on the monitor than I would have on a film camera. Plus, there is less shimmering on the color monitor than the tube monitor, which I find distracting. Also, by being further from the camera, I can see what is going on around me while I'm working, and I can make 180-degree pans. Since I work a center camera, I can make whip pans 180 degrees across the set without having to traverse all the way around my body with the camera. I can get that shot with less body movement and feel more comfortable doing it. With whip pans, you often have to move away from the viewfinder anyway.”

Hapke compares the HD 24p format to “simply another type of new film stock.” He adds that adjustments are therefore standard practice for experienced shooters.

“This system records the image differently, but not the way I compose shots, or the way we pull focus,” he explains. “Yes, there are things to deal with, like being very careful with back focus, but most of that is trial-and-error, which also happens every time they ask us to try a new film stock. I advise film operators to learn about this technology, and attend HD seminars. Operators need to be on the forefront of changes like this because it's not going away.”

Dechene agrees, pointing out that some of the “bulkiness” of the modified Sony cameras is temporary, since “these tools are first generation.”

“For instance, they had to attach the top monitor that some operators use a bit further back on the camera, in order to counteract the weight of the Panavision zoom lenses, which are quite long,” says Dechene. “It's my understanding Panavision will be introducing more compact lenses, and then we could adjust the location of the monitor. [At press time Nolan Murdoch, Panavision's VP of technical marketing, said that the first of the lenses would be released this month, with the rest due by April, including a wide-angle, a telephoto, and a lighter-weight 9:1 zoom.] The camera will then balance better, making it easier to use on wheels. As to the electronics, as long as we are shooting film style, assistants and engineers deal with that stuff, so the operator can concentrate on shooting. If we shot this show on pedestals without any camera assistants, then that might be more of a problem. But with this crew, they provide utility people to move cables around, and assistants and engineers to run the electronics. So I do what I always do — concentrate on framing shots. Certainly, with superior depth of field, we have to be more careful on picking up detail we don't want — like blocking marks — but camera operators always have to be careful anyway.”

In its first two seasons, Titus made considerable use of Steadicam for the so-called “Neutral Spaces” portion of the show — black-and-white segments where the lead character comments on his feelings while being filmed at odd angles by a moving camera. Of the show's four camera teams, the Steadicam team has experienced the most complications during the switch to 24p HD.

Operator Tim Bellen and first camera assistant, Steve Bellen — Tim's brother — replaced last season's Steadicam team, in part because they had experience operating both film and video cameras in Steadicam configurations.

“The transition to using HD cameras was not hard for me in one way — I already had basic video language down,” explains Tim Bellen. “However, the huge problem we faced when we came on board for the first episode this season and were told we'd be using the new HD cameras was the fact that those cameras require cables normally. For Steadicam, where you are moving suddenly, doing whip-pans, and going up and down ramps, that was a big problem. Steve and I had people trying to tell us where we would plug in the audio cable, the timecode cable, and so on. They were asking us to run Steadicam with about six cables attached, and of course, Steadicam doesn't work that way. In fact, the evolution of Steadicam for film or video has been that they are now completely wireless, transmitting the video assist signal remotely. We were used to a nice, user-friendly, wireless system. So in that sense, with HD, we were taking a giant step backward, and we told them it wouldn't work with cables.”

The Bellens worked closely with HD engineer Dale Hunter (see below) to solve the problem. They concluded that since three other cameras could run with cables — transmitting audio, timecode, and other data — they could run the Steadicam wireless. This meant that, while the other cameras were simultaneously recording audio, the Steadicam audio would be captured separately and synched in post, like they would with older video technology.

The obstacle to executing that plan, however, was power consumption. Separate power units are normally required to operate the Sony HD camera and the image-stabilizing Steadicam rig itself. The Titus rig includes a downconverting box to turn the HD signal into an NTSC signal for remote transmission and display on a tiny electronic monitor that the Steadicam operator relies on. (For correct balance and weight in a Steadicam configuration, the cameras have their viewing tube removed and run without the color LCD monitor. Thus, the small Steadicam rig monitor — green to highlight contrasts — is the operator's only visual reference for what he is shooting.)

“In the film world, the camera itself wouldn't need a battery, and the rig would normally have its own power supply,” says Tim Bellen. “In this case, to go wireless, we would normally attach the HD camera battery pack to the back of the camera. But attaching the battery, combined with the length of the Panavision zoom lenses, made the camera over 3 1/2 feet long. It was then no longer a moving, whip-pannable device, and also too front-heavy and oddly balanced to use for Steadicam.”

The Bellens and Hunter worked out a solution, whereby the Steadicam rig would operate without its own, normal power unit. Instead, they converted the HD camera's power unit so that it could power both the camera and the rig, while securing it to the rig itself, rather than the camera.

“The normal Anton Bauer battery bricks that the HD camera uses were adapted to fit the Steadicam rig and power both the rig and the camera,” Hunter explains. “Tim and Steve asked me to build a battery plate for them that would permit this, so after a little trial and error, that's what we did. The end result is that we cut the need for two battery packs down to one, and we just have to remember to have lots of them available on set since we use them up quicker. That ended up saving the Steadicam rig about 6-7 pounds, making it easier to balance. We had to experiment with different placements of the battery around the rig to keep the camera from being too back-heavy, but eventually, we got it right.”

Even with that solution, the Bellens report that the Steadicam configuration they are using this season is still “far from balanced correctly, mainly because these cameras and lenses were not designed specifically for Steadicam work,” says Steve Bellen. “Also, because it's an electronic piece of equipment, the camera's normal buttons and knobs stick out everywhere and are easy to hit during routine handling. On the other hand, we are getting the shots the producers want, and the show is coming together beautifully, so we are getting the job done. But clearly, this version of the technology was not designed for Steadicam work.”

The HD transition has subtly altered the job of the second camera assistant on Titus, Meggins Spek. A year ago, Spek performed the same basic duties as she does now — ordering camera equipment, making sure broken parts are fixed, helping to build cameras on shooting days, and putting filters on and off the camera lenses.

The specifics of that job, however, have changed a lot, according to Spek.

“For one thing, I now work closely with our HD camera engineer because all of this is so new to our crew,” says Spek. “Every shoot, he helps us fix little problems that crop up. We also have a problem on shooting days with blocking marks on the stage floor that these cameras pick up, so I often have to coordinate with stage people to make sure the blocking marks and others things are not visible to the cameras. But in other ways, my job is easier. For one thing, these little HD tapes are a lot easier to lug around. They can hold up to 52 minutes of material, so we don't have to carry tons of tapes or film mags all over the set. Last year, I had to carry around 2,000-foot film magazines, so this is a lot easier on my biceps.”

Spek is also responsible for operating a “holdover” from the show's film days — slates, or “sticks.” She explains that because timecode and audio are recorded directly onto the HD tapes, the slate is no longer technically necessary, as it was when Titus was a film show and required post synching of picture and audio. But, she says, “we still use them for safety, in case something goes wrong with the audio or when we shoot Steadicam.

“There is a problem we have to be careful with, though,” she adds. “Light can reflect funny off the shiny slate and that can get captured by the cameras. I have to avoid using a bright flashlight when they film the slate because that will blow out the white balance. That's why I use diffusion on my flashlight.”

The role of utility people, in general, has also changed on this year's Titus crew because of the HD cameras. The camera department this season uses three utility people on shooting days, while it only relied on one, and occasionally two, last year. The biggest difference, says utility man Jack Galus, is that they are mainly used to pull cable this season, instead of lugging and loading large film magazines.

“Right now, we have tons of cable to deal with, and none of that would be present if this were a film show,” says Galus. “We have audio cables, timecode cables, electricity cables, and others — about seven or eight cables per camera. Just keeping them organized and out of the way is a big job. I'm sure, eventually, Sony will develop wireless cameras, though probably not for a long while. In the meantime, we have even more cables than a typical videotape show using multiple cameras. For now, I'm sure it's costing producers more money to bring in three utility guys just to handle cables, but there is no way around it.”

Kevin Sullivan serves as technical coordinator for the camera department. He points out that, in most respects, his specific job has not seriously changed, but subtle coordination between cameras, crew, and actors is more detail-oriented than a year ago.

“My responsibilities are the same — to act as a liaison between the director and the DP and the four camera operators in terms of setting up shots and pulling things together so that the shots can be edited together as the director envisions them,” explains Sullivan. “That mainly involves assigning shots to various cameras, and keeping track of various camera moves. That's what I did last year and that's what I do this year. Since we still use four camera operators, four first assistants, and four dolly grips, I still coordinate with the same people. But what we talk about is somewhat different. This year, I spend a lot more time discussing actor blocking and marks, and making sure actors are not placed too close to stage walls, things like that. The other thing that is a lot different is that we have to coordinate more utility people and their responsibilities — we have to wrangle cables, take care of monitors, feed the audio people, and so on. So our purpose is the same, but some details have changed; and right now, we do need more people to get it all done.”

HD's arrival has also required increased care in designing and dressing the Titus stage.

Steve Olson, the show's production designer, says he learned valuable lessons about the need to alter colors and textures on the set during two days of tests conducted by Titus producers for the crew's benefit just weeks before the show went into production earlier this year. Those tests, he says, made him realize that he would have to “vastly improve the quality of materials, painting surfaces, and finishes” used on the show.

“What I realized, watching the high-def monitor, is that the Sony cameras can read surfaces realistically,” says Olson. “That meant that the types of products we have used for years on sitcom sets aren't always enough anymore. We did a lot of extra painting and finishing, and lots of color adjustments. That process includes adding additional walls downstage of entrances and exits on the set, since the wider 16 × 9 format means viewers will see a wider image of our set. Because of the greater depth of field, we also have to take special care to make sure nothing too bright is placed in the background. Otherwise, an actor might look on camera like he is wearing a piece of molding on his head. We now often paint background items a shade or two darker than foreground items. That way, the backgrounds are a bit flatter, more muted; and combined with the DP using filters on some of the cameras, it keeps us from having major depth-of-field problems.”

Olson adds, “Electronic cameras do perceive color differently than film cameras, so that caused us to change some color and lighting schemes as well.” In particular, he says he has downplayed the use of reds and yellows on the set, and other saturated colors.

“But because this show has kind of a dark tenor to it, we haven't had to make too many wholesale changes with color, since we avoided some of those bold colors to begin with. That creative decision made the adjustment easier. We just have to remember to keep colors muted, basically.”

Olson also says that HD's arrival has caused him to work more closely with the show's DP than he would on a typical sitcom.

“I normally run my colors by the DP, but in this case, my relationship with Bobby [Byrne] is much closer than normal,” he says. “We pretty much talk about every color on every set and try our best to plan it all out ahead of time. Generally, Bobby is more concerned with color value on the spectrum than he is with particular colors, per se. The lower the color on the spectrum, the better for the photography. We always avoid colors on the high end, and nothing in the white end.”

Titus set decorator Richard C. Walker works closely with Olson to solve such color issues. In particular, says Walker, seemingly minor details like lampshades now receive more attention than in the past.

“Colors pop a lot different with these cameras, so we have to be more sensitive to lighting issues on the set — light draws focus,” explains Walker. “Lampshades, because a light is running under them, are very sensitive, as a result. Whites are whiter, yellows are more yellow, and so on. Now, as I'm decorating the set, I can't just run out and buy a soft, typical lampshade. I usually have to tone them down, burlap them sometimes. We need to dress lampshades so that they don't become the center of focus on the set.”

Walker adds that another seemingly mundane detail now occupies more of his time — the issue of product placement.

“Products, brand-name logos, and other things are now a bigger problem because we can't always blur them out in the focus,” says Walker. “The depth of field makes a lot of those things readable. So we spend more time putting stickers on them or otherwise covering them. In general, there are lots of little things we used to be able to cheat that we can't get away with anymore. That doesn't mean we don't still disguise things or cheat, but we now have to cheat better.”

Like the show's design and set decoration teams, the makeup and hair departments now spend more time on minutiae than they used to. For instance, according to Roxanne Baker-Sarver, head of the hair department on Titus, the old “cheat” of using synthetic hairpieces on actors is no longer a viable option.

“We use a lot of wigs on this show because there are lots of flashbacks to different time periods,” says Baker-Sarver. “We have always used lots of colors, sprays, and powders to age and de-age our actors. On our camera test days, right before we started shooting this season, we learned several things about what we could and could not do. For one thing, we can't get away with synthetic wigs anymore. Synthetic materials really kick off a shine from the lights that interferes with these cameras. So we had to move away from synthetic and use human hair wigs, which are far more expensive. We now have thousands of dollars worth of custom-made, human-hair wigs on this show. In HD, the human hair is treated by the light the same way a real person's hair comes through — realistic. Those wigs don't look plastic or fake, like synthetic wigs do in this format.”

On the makeup side, department head Vikki McCarter had to pull back this season on her use of red blush colors, among other things.

“We have to be very careful not to use too much red or blush, in general, because red really pops in this format,” says McCarter. “Even a tiny bit of blush looks like you've painted the person's whole cheek red, so I've had to be careful in that regard.”

McCarter also strives for “more natural, street makeup,” rather than the “sort of soap opera or heavy movie look.”

“These cameras can pick up every pore, so the actors have to appear as though they are not wearing makeup,” says McCarter. “So we really try to be understated, especially since the bright lights we use don't wash out the flaws — they have the exact opposite effect. The other thing is, we have to do the makeup all the way down the entire neck. With film, you don't have to always do that unless the actor will be in a close-up, but with HD, even in a wide shot, you can see those little details.”

Klaus Landsberg, an Emmy-winning veteran of dozens of sitcoms over the years, took over Titus mixing duties this year, using the same audio booth, and mostly the same mic and mixing procedures as the show utilized last season. Landsberg points out that the show's audio is now captured differently only in the sense that audio is now recorded by the Sony HD cameras directly onto the master HD tape.

“These cameras give us four quality digital tracks, with good head room and sonic quality,” says Landsberg. “I was skeptical at first about relying on the master HD tapes as the master audio tracks, rather than the DA-98 tapes they used last year, and which most people use on shows like this. But they have really proved themselves. Now, we still run the DA-98 tapes as backup, but we use them as the primary audio source only for the Steadicam scenes, because we run no audio to those wireless cameras. But even there, we do run timecode to the Steadicam, so it's easy to synch it all up in post.”

The process of capturing that audio, however, has barely changed at all since last season, with the audio team continuing to utilize a mic configuration that replicates a film style, multi-camera shoot. Since Landsberg mixes the show live as it is filmed, that process has also not dramatically changed, but there are tricky synching issues to consider.

“Here, we have six high boom mics, two floor booms, some small, hidden mics, and two fish-pole mics,” explains Landsberg. “We need most of the booms up high, film style, because we are still running dollies down on the floor and they have to be out of the way. That's pretty much how they did it last year, even though we are feeding directly to the cameras, which essentially are the audio recorders.

“I still mix like I would for any other sitcom, whether in a booth or in a mobile audio truck. The only real tricky part for mixers is that there are lots of synch differences with HD formats. Here, we are using 24p, others are 30fps, and there are others in-between. That's a tricky area — setting things up to make sure that camera and audio are in synch. In our case, I work closely with Dale Hunter, who runs our timecode synching equipment, to make sure that happens [see below]. Shooting HD does sometimes make the post and telecine phases somewhat easier, though, after I've done my mix. It's easier in terms of immediacy — we don't have to transfer anything to tape except the ‘Neutral Spaces’ [shot Steadicam]. Mostly, we have the master track as soon as the tape is shot. It can go right to our editors in the Avid.”

Landsberg also points out that this combination of film and videotape approaches for collecting and mixing audio can have a financial consequence for productions like Titus.

“In a sense, it would be easier to mix this show in a state-of-the-art, high-def mobile truck, where everything was patched in and ready to go, more like we do traditional videotape shows,” he says. “But we can do it this way fine, very similar to how they did it last year. The problem is that this setup costs the producers more money and is a little more complex. If we were doing it with a truck, that truck could leave each week after we are done, come back the following week, get patched up and wired, and be ready for the following Wednesday shoot. Here, they have to pay to maintain a permanent booth. But having this booth here keeps the production entirely self-contained, like it was last year, in one location. These things are cost issues that producers will have to eventually decide.”

The major new addition to the Titus film crew this season is Dale Hunter, an HD engineer/consultant who says he “essentially came with” the Sony cameras and Panavision lenses when the production rented them from Panavision. From his small booth underneath the bleachers where the Titus live audience sits on Friday nights, Hunter is responsible for setting up, monitoring, and maintaining the HD cameras, along with running the timecode synch generator.

As part of the show's arrangement with Panavision, Hunter is paid by Panavision, and so the cost of adding him to the crew has not increased the show's budget. His position does represent a potential new cost for so-called film crews that will use 24p technology in the future, however. But, at least for the time being, it's a job such crews can't do without.

“There are lots of things about this technology that are brand new for even the most professional film crew,” says Hunter. “The cameras replicate a film-style viewfinder, for instance, but they aren't optical viewfinders. They have pipes, but you don't see through the tube — you are looking into a tiny LCD screen. Experienced camera guys are used to seeing more than just the frame they are shooting, but here, they don't have that leeway. They can't see flares either, and they have to deal with more cables, connectors, and switches. Eventually, a lot of this will be minor stuff, but for now, they have lots of things to get used to. My job is to help them through that process.”

Hunter personally takes care of operating the master timecode generator — an Evertz Timecode Master 5010 unit — and the synch reference generator running an Evertz 7750SRG-HD card.

“The synch generator creates a slow PAL video reference signal and feeds it to the timecode generator,” Hunter explains. “The timecode generator then locks to that reference image and generates timecode. We send that timecode to all four cameras, directly onto the master tapes, and the sound department. We also split off the master signal into eight downconverters (Evertz 7710MD-HSN boxes) that feed a composite NTSC signal to various stage monitors. The HD synched signal also goes to an HDW-F500 HDCAM tape deck, which we currently use to generate a black burst signal to phase-lock the NTSC version of the signal with the HD version while we're shooting.”

The idea behind having Hunter personally coordinate these processes is to “create one master synch source,” he explains. “Everyone who needs it gets timecode and synch reference from the same location. That puts everyone on the same playing field, so to speak. That way, we make sure that audio gets the same reference and timecode that the cameras get, meaning we can be positive everything will lock up. We therefore don't have to worry about slipping and sliding with audio in post.”

Hunter says the feedback he has gotten from the Titus crew has been valuable, and he's hopeful much of it will make its way back to both Panavision and Sony engineers.

“I think in time, these cameras will be even more user-friendly for television crews,” he says. “Many of these problems will be solved with the next generations of these cameras and lenses, while others will be ongoing. While it's true the concept of HD has been around for years, people forget that this technology is in its infancy in terms of being practical for real production use. This show proves it can be done, though.”