I was fortunate enough to be hired again by Panasonic to shoot another "Impressions" video for a new camera, the consumer-focused LUMIX LX10. This time I wasn't to be in the video (unlike in the GX85 New Orleans piece where I both directed and appeared in it!), but instead would be directing and DPing (Director of Photography). The chosen location was San Francisco, and the star of the show was Rick Gerrity, a fellow LUMIX Luminary.
Yours truly, keeping warm on a freezing San Francisco summer day. That's Rick in the red shirt on the trolley car.
The Crew
Accompanying us was Sean Robinson of Panasonic — the client — who also operated a handheld gimbal by IKAN with a GX85 (or was it a G7?) on it. Jayson Wynkoop was the editor on the project, and he also accompanied us as the DIT (Digital Imaging Technician), responsible for wrangling all the media we'd be shooting. Kevin Duffie was our local fixer, and finally, the latest addition to the team, Ellen Schweikert came along as a PA (Production Assistant) and behind-the-scenes, social media handler.
I shot everything on a GH4 into an Atomos Ninja Assassin, which allowed me to capture direct to ProRes in 4K 10bit 422 — excellent for editing and grading later on. Sean shot quite a bit with the aforementioned GX85/G7, also in 4K (not exactly a cinema camera, but small and light and definitely sharp enough to hold its own!). Interview audio was captured with a Sennheiser wireless pack and nat sound (natural, or ambient sound) was constantly captured through a RØDE shotgun mic attached to my rig and recorded with the video.
Drobo was gracious enough to loan us a fully loaded Drobo 5Dt for the production. Round-up on that to come later.
Back home, Jayson did the editing and motion graphics, and Sean McCoy of Oregon Sound Recording composed original music and did all audio work (clean-up, enhancement, mixing).
From left to right… me (PhotoJoseph), Ellen, Sean, Rick and Jayson, with Kevin on the ground.
The Videos
As with the GX85 New Orleans shoot, our job was to create two videos. The primary one, referred to as the "impressions" video, is Rick on camera, using the new LX10, and talking about the benefits and likes of this particular camera. The second is called the "creative" or "sample" piece, which shows video and stills shot exclusively with the LX10.
The LUMIX LX10 was officially announced at Photokina in Cologne, Germany this week. (In Europe, the camera is called the LUMIX LX15).
The round-up
What do you do at the end of a three very-long-day shoot? Why, you open a bottle of expensive whiskey and go on camera to talk about it! Which is exactly what we did… think of it as the behind-the-scenes you'll wish you could un-see.