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The Secret Life of Mrs Beeton uncovered with HDCAM

"HD can look very beautiful in low light but by getting to grips with the camera's menus in advance it's brought an agility to the whole shoot" Ian Moss, DoP

First experience working with HD

The popular image of Mrs Beeton, author of the famous Book of Household Management in 1859, is of a dumpy, middle-aged lady in a pinney who was good at cooking. BBC4's 90-minute drama, The Secret Life of Mrs Beeton, will lift the veil on the fascinating reality of this Victorian journalist who died aged 28 and whose work did her publisher husband promote posthumously.

"The script (by Sarah Williams from Kathryn Hughes' book) was so good we wanted to give it extra breadth," says line producer Sue Smith. "We knew we wanted to go with HD, having seen its quality on Bleak House, but we thought there was no way we could afford to shoot, let alone post, in HD."

With budgets for BBC4 costume drama considerably less per hour than BBC1, a Digital Betacam production looked most likely until deals struck with drama specialist 24/7 for hire of an HDW-750P and facility Martyr Television for HD post gave the production a real boost. "With the BBC moving toward HD, it's important to future-proof drama," Smith explains. "HD also gives the programme stronger overseas sales potential."

The ability of the HDW-750P to capture detail in low light allowed the use of candles, paraffin lamps and Chinese lanterns. With less need for lighting rigs, the production could set-up more scenes per day - vital for the tight 18-day shoot which takes in 20 locations in and around London, from Spitalfields to Luton Hoo. For Smith, as well as award-winning director Jon Jones (A Very Social Secretary, The Alan Clark Diaries), DoP Ian Moss (The Slavery Business, The Alan Clark Diaries), and producer Katherine Lannon this was a first experience working with HD. "We all wanted to explore it," she says.

"HD can look very beautiful in low light"

Two weeks of tests in conjunction with 24/7 enabled Moss to establish menu settings for every interior and exterior, day and night scenes, with a special emphasis on the low light conditions. "One of my concerns was the high light levels which I've managed to reduce by tweaking the settings in-camera to achieve a much softer, pastel feel," reports Moss. "There's no chance to do that on set, because we're moving at such a rapid pace. HD can look very beautiful in low light but by getting to grips with the camera's menus in advance, it's brought an agility to the whole shoot."

Moss' preference is for handheld camerawork for which he is also the operator. "It allows a fluidity of movement along cobbled streets and following characters up staircases," says Smith. "When shooting 25 progressive scan handheld, panning a light source like an oil lamp leaves a comet trail, so you must use the shutter within the camera on 1/50 or 1/60 to reduce flaring," explains Moss.

The production used a Cine style zoom and Prime lens to enable accurate focusing. "The Prime fitted with a Pro35 adaptor gives a marvellous wide depth of field from three foot to infinity," says Moss. "With the wider lenses, we could incorporate a lot of the architecture and landscape and use them almost as another character. With standard HD or ENG lenses you won't achieve anywhere near that quality and you're not getting the full benefit of your locations."

Around one and half hours of daily HDCAM rushes were delivered to Aquarium Studios for offline in Avid Adrenalin. Martyr performed the online on Symphony Nitris before grading on Edifis Finaliser, keeping the project in HD from acquisition through post and final delivery. The drama airs this autumn.

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The Secret Life of Mrs Beeton uncovered with HDCAM

First experience working with HD

"HD can look very beautiful in low light"

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