Wild cats shot with Sony kit

German documentary maker, Marco Polo Film AG, is currently filming two nature shows, The European Wild Cat and Deep Sea. Both HD productions use the HDCAM , with the addition of the XDCAM EX for time lapse and slo-mo work.

“The EX can do 60 frames per second and during the Wild Cat shoot we doubled it to 120 frames. It was very useful in the scene where a baby cat, reared by humans, is released into the wild. Without slow motion this would be a flash and the cat disappears,” says director and cameraman Klaus Scheurich. The life of the elusive cat was detailed in a 45-minute documentary filmed in Germany and the Netherlands for NDR Naturfilm.

“For the Wild Cat documentary there was a lot of big telephoto lens work, a lot of landscape, especially aerials, which is brilliant in HD,” adds Scheurich. “When you want to see all the information in the frame, such as each leaf moving on a tree, then HD is perfect.” Also HD is necessary for co-productions: Marco Polo’s shows are filmed in 50i, or for a US or Japanese co-production, in 60i and then downconverted to 50i for European use.

Marco Polo have been using HD since 2000 when they moved over from film. “After making at least 40 16 and super 16 films everything since has been HD and I am more than happy with this,” comments Scheurich.

The company’s most recent documentary, still to be edited, is about leading-edge deep sea research. Here beside the HDCAM and the XDCAM EX, an HVR-A1E camcorder was also used for under-water shots either fixed or carried by a diver.

Under-water action

The aim of the programme is to show the struggles of researchers trying to map the landscape, ecology and species of the deep sea, which is relatively undiscovered. The crew filmed in two locations: the first in the Mediterranean in the winter, where scientists were testing new remote- controlled submarines, which can be used to gather material for research. The second trip was to the mid-Atlantic, between Brazil and West Africa. Here Scheurich filmed scientists using “tracers”. These are substances formed from a special chemical which, when released 200 metres under the sea, can be detected — even one molecule — for years. This technique is used to follow changes in tidal movement over time.

Deep Sea is a co-production between Arte/ZDF and Marco Polo. Tim Foerderer and Annette Scheurich were the writers and it was directed by Klaus Scheurich and Foerderer, with Klaus as cameraman.

The most famous HD shots Scheurich ever achieved were on the 2005 documentary film The White Diamond, directed by Werner Herzog, when he and his crew flew on an air ship above the jungle. “This was the first HD film the famous director was involved with. We had to face all sorts of imponderabilities in the jungle. And we never had any problem with the cameras, even though humidity, dust, and rough terrain were rather challenging for the crew of 14 and the extensive equipment (including an airship),” he says.

The next trip Marco Polo will undertake with HD equipment is to the Gobi desert in Mongolia in August.

11 September 2008