BBC Bionic reconstruction shot with Canon 7D

[Johnnie Behiri]

Dear friends. I've shot and edited a short feature together with Neil Bowdler the BBC science corespondent about "Bionic reconstruction".

The piece was running successfully in BBC world.
A longer version of the story was edited in London with the rushes I supplied for BBC "Newsnight".

You can watch the short version below.

Bionic reconstruction on Vimeo

A link for the Newsnight version:
BBC News - Patient opts for amputation in favour of bionic hand

Equipment used:
Camera: Canon 7d
Lenses: Canon 17-55 f2.8, Tokina 11-16 f2.8, Canon 70-200 f4.0
Audio: Tascam DR-100 recorder, Sennheiser G2 EW100 wireless system, Sanken Lav mic, Cos 11D
Rig: Vocas
Electronic VF: Cineroid
Tripod: Sachtler DV8 SB
Light: Litepanel 1x1, Viso PH 5502 (kino style)
Editing: Adobe Premiere CS2 with Cineform Neo4k
Color correction: Cineform “FirstLight”

Thanks for watching!

Johnnie

[Nicholas de Kock]

Thanks for sharing Johnnie, beautifully shot & edited. Did the BBC use this for broadcast or only for web distribution? Did they give you any feedback on technical issues?

[Johnnie Behiri]

Dear Nicholas, thanks for taking the time watching the video and commenting.
Both version were made for broadcast.

(Again) I was amazed how well the footage kept its quality through the "torturer" it want.

For the short version that was my workflow:
-Transcoding the original footage to Cineform HD AVI files
-Edit in HD
-Final version converted to Cineform SD AVI
-Use "Quicklink", which is transcoding the SD AVI footage to mpeg2 and sending it to London.
-Broadcast

For the longer piece which was edited in London, they used the rushes I send them in the same method. So editing started with mpeg files, then, broadcast.

Actually the long version video you see on the link above is an mpeg4 made from the mpeg2...It still looks fine in my opinion...

The response from the editors concerning the quality of the footage was great. They loved it.


Hope it helps.

Thanks

Johnnie

[Jamie Roberts]

First class!

Thanks for the detail about what you used and what your workflow was.

Who would have thought even just a few years ago that you could get this kind of quality with a DSLR camera!

Well done

Jamie

[John MacPherson]

Excellent stuff. I hear so many comments about what 'might' be possible with a dslr, and what might not, so its refreshing to see some serious work actually being done and broadcast. Well done.

[Martin Campbell]

Great film Johnnie - fantastic quality. I am really intrigued, I have the Tokina lens and never seem to get that type of quality from it. the scene when the patient is being pushed along the corridor was that shot with the tokina? If so, what did you use to get such a smooth shot? Also, the Vimeo quality is very good too - was that at 5000kbps, or any tips on encoding for Vimeo you could pass on?

Really great film.

[Johnnie Behiri]

Jamie, John, Martin.
Thank you very much for taking the time watching the video and commenting. Appreciated!

Martin, The Tokina is great! Not sure why you can not get good results from it.
Did you try it in "Photo mode"?. Try and take few photos with it to determine if the problem is the lens or the "Video mode".

The scene along the corridor: I've just used one of those "small mobile platform" usually found in hospitals...
Regarding encoding to Vimeo: Later today when next to the editing computer I will check the settings I am using with "mpeg streamclip" and post it.

Thanks again for watching!

Johnnie

[Martin Campbell]

thanks for the reply Johnnie. Watched it a few times now, and still can't believe how smooth you got that shot - was it like a small plate on wheels that you had the tripod on, or more like a patient trolley? the fact that the Tokina doesn't have image stabiliser on it I would have thought it would have picked out every minor bump - really impressed.

I don't know what it is with my Tokina, am really tempted to get my hands on another lens to give me peace of mind that it's not just my lens!

[Johnnie Behiri]

Hi Martin.
You know those trolleys they use for bodies? Then it is not that one....

It was like a normal 1x1 meter plate trolley. I made sure it's running smooth+the hospital floor is really great for that matter.
The camera and Tokina lens were direct on the trolley (with a small cube I had to lift the front).
The old trick of keeping the lens as wide as possible helped very much too and here you go, a smooth shot.

Is there anybody you know in London who can give you a Tokina lens for a short time just to try and see if there is any different?

Thanks!

Johnnie

[Martin Campbell]

no - but I will take the camera into a dealers and do some test shots on a lens there hopefully!

thanks

[Richard Collins]

Stunning Johnnie.

Always!

[Dave Mercer]

I really enjoyed the piece. How do you record natsound?

Thanks!
Dave

[Daniel Weber]

I saw this broadcast on the BBC when I was there in May. My first thought was that it was shot with an HDSLR, but I thought so for all the right reasons. One of my camera systems is the exact same one that you have with the same three lenses. Three very good choices with my favorite being the Tokina 11-16mm.
I have also added a Sigma 30mm f1.4 lens for low light shooting.

Very well done.

Daniel Weber

[Johnnie Behiri]

Richard, much appreciated!

Dave, thank you!, sound was recorded into the Tascam DR-100 (which I really don't like working with, very noisy pre-amps).

Daniel, thanks for taking the time commenting!. very much appreciated.