Article: Field Production (Israel '93)

Impact Televideo Productions (Rev H) of the Israeli Field Production article on our "Israel...Land of the Bible" video. 3544 words

Tourism, is Israel's largest source of foreign income, with Christian pilgrimage group tours comprising the largest segment. With the exception of the Gulf War period, tourism has never been higher. Canadians are generally a conservative lot who have not been flocking to Israel as much as the Europeans; hence, the need for a promotional video aimed squarely at Canadians. Video production in a foreign land can pose many problems not normally faced at home. It can also be an eye opening and rewarding experience. Such was the case when our four member crew accompanied a group of 120 Christian tourists to Israel for 12 days last November.

Israel is a country struggling to properly service it's burgeoning tourism industry. For this reason, Allan Waddell, of "Bible Land Journeys" Toronto, works through International Travel & Congresses Ltd. of Tel Aviv to do all of his local arranging. I got to see first hand what plans could have gone awry had these two companies not been diligent in anticipating problems. Being that this was my first trip to Israel, Allan and I arrived 9 days before the rest of the group and traveled the tour route with a Budget rent-a-car. Our purpose was to scout locations, get pick-up shots, firm up sponsorships, sort out possible problem areas, test the equipment, adjust to the 7 hour difference in time zones and perhaps catch a few rays. I wasn't able to convince the rest of the crew that we just hadn't found any time for sunning at the Dead Sea!

This shoot only had a script outline because we were documenting the events as the tourists were experiencing them and could not anticipate exact content. We therefore shot more footage than usual (45 hours), and tape costs became a significant factor in deciding which format to use. We knew two cameras would be needed since there were several occasions when concurrent shooting was necessary, and we didn't have the luxury of sticking around for cut-away shots since we had to move with the tourists. A tight budget was also a factor as corporate sponsorships have been harder to obtain during a recession. Ordinarily I might have chosen Betacam SP as the preferred broadcast format for a foreign shoot. However, my experience with 3 chip broadcast cameras recording onto Super VHS had shown me that this format could do the job if properly tuned and edited. While in Israel, I bumped into several video crews from other countries who all seemed to have a healthy respect for S-VHS.

EL AL was good enough to allow me on the tarmac to get shots of the plane arriving when the rest of the crew and tourists landed. Unfortunately I could not go in the terminal as I had already cleared customs. I was feeling really good about seeing everyone and getting started on our assignment. That euphoric feeling didn't last long as I was waiting at the wrong exit and the crew left for the first location without me. So much for feeling indispensable to the project.

Over the next 12 days, our caravan of buses followed a clockwise route around Israel covering places like Tel Aviv, Haifa, Tiberias, the Galilee region, Masada, the Dead Sea and Jerusalem. We were constantly amazed at how much there was to see in this tiny, rock covered land. Four thousand years of biblical and political history unfolded before our eyes. We even found time to visit the Caprice diamond factory (no free samples available) and went souvenir shopping at Lama Brothers in Bethlehem. The tourists stayed at five star Moriah Plaza Hotels where the breakfast buffet has a huge variety of healthy food. The Israel Government Tourist Office supplied our hospitality needs and provided us with a minivan, driver and tour guide. I cannot overstate how valuable it is to enlist the cooperation of the proper local authorities and travel experts on a complex production like this. I anticipated a language barrier problem, which didn't materialize as most Israelis could speak some English and our tour guide, Eitan Brosh, bridged the gap when communications were needed in Hebrew.

The amount and type of equipment you choose to take abroad is critical to the success of the shoot. You must take enough to cover every possible contingency, but not so much that you spend all your time hauling equipment. We used a JVC KY-17BU broadcast camera with a dockable BR-S411UB recorder that takes full size 2 hour tapes. Sony Visual Excellence S-VHS tapes were used for this camcorder since prior experience had proven this tape to be quite reliable. The other 3CCD broadcast camcorder was a JVC GY-X1, one piece, that uses 20 minute "C" size S-VHS cassettes. For this camera we used Scotch (3M) STC20 tape with the same high quality results. Both cameras were equipped with SMPTE time code (generate only), which we used in the vertical interval and turned off on the linear time code track, which was used instead for safety audio. Since both cameras have HI-FI audio, I could have afforded to use one of the linear audio tracks for time code, but experience has taught me to take the safe approach and use both channels of sound on linear and HI-FI audio tracks, at different levels. We used the time code in a record run mode, without resetting it when we changed tapes, so there wouldn't be overlapping time code unless either camera went over the 24 hour clock. We generally used a Sennheiser ME80 shotgun mic on one channel of each recorder and a wireless lavalier mic on the other. The Sennheiser worked well as an on-camera mic and as a hand-held mic for interviews because of its very tight forward pick-up pattern. The bass roll-off switch was used in maximum position for narration, to minimize wind noise and proximity effect. We experienced some windy conditions, so thick windscreens were needed outdoors. One radio mic system we used was the Comtek M-72 transmitter with MCE-5 lav mic, and MRC-82C receiver. Although this was only a moderately priced system, its performance was exceptional and it had much longer battery life than other VHF systems I have used. Part way through the tour, a mic connector did break because of the abuse we gave it, so we used the companion M-182 hand-held wireless mic. You can count on a variety of breakage's to happen, but be ready with alternatives. The other portable wireless was the Lectrosonic M185 transmitter & CR185 receiver. Whether we pinned the radio mics to the walking tour guides or fixed them at a podium for a speech, it was worth having one for each camera for versatility and speed of set up. Finding out the allowable frequencies to use in Israel was no easy task, but one we didn't want to leave to chance. Their allotment of frequency spectrum is a little different than ours. Spare Sony wired lav mics were in our kit but seldom needed.

For tripods we used two Vinten Vision 20's from Applied Electronics. These were larger than what was required for the size of our JVC cameras but their smooth performance and speed of set up more than compensated for their size. Although most of our shots were to be from the shoulder, I was surprised how often we used the tripods. I have been enamored with the quality and light weight of Vinten tripods ever since I first discovered them several years ago at the NAB convention.

Since Israel's Television system is PAL, we brought our NTSC Sony BVM-8021 8" field monitor along for verification of coverage in the evenings. One of the nice things about S-VHS is that you can play back a colour picture without a play back adapter. The ability to play back our camera masters proved invaluable for military clearance of aerial coverage over Jerusalem, the Dead Sea and Masada when we chartered a Cessna 172 from Kanfei. The Dead Sea area is the lowest place on earth at 394 meters (1293 feet) below sea level. At one point the altimeter showed that we were actually flying below sea level. When flying over the Judean desert and mountains, I couldn't help but notice the similarity to terrain I had shot in Arizona and Nevada the previous April. Israel has a variety of coastal, fertile plains, mountainous and semi-desert areas not unlike California. The sun rises and sets earlier in Israel than North American locations at the same latitude. They are really 8 hours ahead of the Eastern Standard zone geographically but chronologically only 7 hours ahead.

You might assume that the heavy presence of Israeli military would make Canadians feel nervous. On the contrary, most felt reassured that nothing was likely to happen while they're around. The Israeli military is very casual, but it is mandatory for them to carry their rifles when on duty or in uniform, even if they're just hitch-hiking home for the weekend. However intimidating this may sound, the military was more than accommodating to us. We had a temporary cassette compartment latching problem with the GY-X1 camcorder as the Cessna was about to land, so we couldn't immediately play the coverage back to the young soldier who accompanied us on the flight. Rather than confiscate our aerial coverage and mail it back to Canada once it cleared military censorship, the soldier agreed to stay overtime, and came back to our hotel room where he viewed the material on another unit using a "C" adaptor. Despite what you might conclude by reading or watching the news, Israel is a very benign place right now. I got the impression that most Jews and Arabs want to get on with life and conduct business in a peaceful manner. Several sources have told me that there are more journalists in Israel trying to justify their jobs and waiting for some news to break, than just about anywhere else. Is it any wonder then, that the smallest altercations in Israel that wouldn't even be newsworthy in other parts of the world, make it to our news? Before the crew arrived, I drove around much of the country and spent six hours by myself walking through the Arab, Armenian, Christian and Jewish quarters of the Old City of Jerusalem. At no time did I ever feel like I was in danger. I wish I could say the same when I was in Los Angeles just before the riots and earthquake!

Battery power, chargers and hydro are major considerations on a foreign shoot. With two cameras running intermittently, 10-15 hours a day, 12 days in a row and using 100 watt DC lights some of the time, our requirements were high. We brought 13 NP1A batteries along for the GY-X1 which turned out to be more than enough. Each battery lasted more than the length of a 22-minute cassette but fell short of the theoretical 49 minutes for that camcorder with a new, fully charged battery. The Cadex C2000 intelligent NP1A battery charger/analyzer from Cinequip, prime cycled (exercised) 4 batteries simultaneously and showed that most of them were performing at 100%. Those batteries that didn't meet capacity were automatically rejuvenated by a slow deep discharge. Unfortunately, I blew up the Cadex early in the scouting trip by plugging it into the bathroom receptacle that said 110 VAC. Five star hotels in Israel have 220 and 110 volt receptacles in the bathroom, but I later learned that the 110 was really 149 volts square wave. Of course, the 2 fuses intended to protect the circuitry of the Cadex were completely unaffected. Murphy's Law #48 held true..."Expensive circuitry will always fry first, protecting the 5¢ fuse!" Apparently, the newer Cadex C4000 has additional protection circuitry. I made do with the NP1A slow charger built into the Sony BVM-8021 portable monitor and got up through the night to change batteries. Videoscope (a Toronto area equipment dealer) helped out by coming up with a Sony BC1WA charger that quick charges 4 NP1A's sequentially, and it performed well for the duration of the shoot. The GY-X1 shut-down voltage point was approximately 10.5 volts, so it was well suited to extracting all the power available in an ordinary 10 cell (nominal 12 volt) NP1 battery. Users of camcorders with a cutoff point over 11 Volts, would be well advised to use an 11-cell nicad (nominal 13.2 volts), such as the "Alexander" NP1 from Cinequip or the "Pag" from Precision Camera, to minimize the chance of premature shutdown as the battery's voltage decay curve slopes.

For DC lighting and the KY-17BU/BR-S411UB, we used one Precision Camera 713B nicad belt with built-in 110/220 slow charger, three 12 amp-hour gel cell belts, two 6 amp-hour gel cell belts and 2 NB-G1U 2.2 amp-hour nicads for the 411. JVC makes the BH-P10U battery holder that can house an NB-G1U or NP1 type battery on their newest lines. Unfortunately it doesn't fit the KY-17/411. Precision Camera offers an adapter that will allow the use of NP1's. Life would be so much simpler if there was one standard battery type. The JVC AA-P250U power supply/charger performed adequately, but only has one battery charging slot. I noticed that its 4pin XLR loaded voltage was uncomfortably low at 12.0 volts. I would recommend spending the extra money for a more powerful supply/charger. The KY-17/411 has a cutoff point around 11 Volts and therefore was more prone to early cut-out when using a gel cell. During continuous speeches we were able to change batteries while shooting, by simply plugging one of the gels into the 4pin XLR external power connection.

For conversion from 220 to 110 VAC we used a heavy duty step down transformer from Cinequip which handled all of our needs once we replaced the under-rated 2 amp fuse supplied with it. We also had a couple of high wattage Radio Shack #273-1404 voltage converters, but they are square wave rectified and designed only for non-electronic devices such as heaters and lights. If you use them on video or audio equipment it will induce noise. Fast chargers for the gels were standard automotive type with automatic current tapering.

Much of our shooting was outdoors with little or no time for set-up, so we kept the lighting simple. We used a 100 watt 12 volt Dedolight and an Acme 32 Twinlight (Flood) for our mobile indoor shots. A couple of 300 watt 120 volt Ambico/Safari V-0100's satisfied our indoor tripod shooting requirements. We had collapsible reflector screens to even out the harsh shadows from the strong sunlight during interviews, but always seemed to leave them behind when we needed them. Since the GY-X1 is equipped with one of the new-style internal focus lenses where the end of the lens barrel doesn't turn, I tried a 72mm polarizing filter. It dramatically reduced glare reflection on certain subjects such as perspiration or sunlight off water. To use a polarizing filter on a conventional zoom lens for video you need a bulky matte box which isn't practical for E.N.G. work. As internal focus video lenses come into wider use, there will be a substantial increase in the use of polarizing filters outdoors or on copystands. The 50 Hz frequency caused an unexpected flicker of fluorescent lights on our 60 Hz video cameras unless we used plenty of incandescent light. Incandescent 50 Hz light was not a problem. Fluorescent lights at home operate at the same frequency as NTSC video and therefore don't cause a flicker.

Because of our lack of familiarity with these new cameras and the rushed circumstances in which we usually found ourselves, both cameras had some improper white balances. The GY-X1 had continuous auto white balance circuitry which probably should have been used but wasn't, simply because I didn't have time to check out its reliability. In a follow-up issue on the post production of this video, I will explain how we salvaged the occasional off white-balance shot as well as describe the interformat editing and EMC2 nonlinear editing system that was used to sort through all of this coverage.

Both of these JVC cameras have 1/2" CCD image sensors which use a smaller, lighter weight lens than the more expensive cameras with 2/3" imagers. However, this smaller light gathering surface means a reduction of approximately one f-stop of light sensitivity. The KY-17BU is rated F5.6 at 2000 lux and has a clean enough signal-to-noise ratio that it can easily shoot at +9dB and adequately at +18dB as well. The GY-X1, however, is rated F5.0 at 2000 lux with a poorer signal-to-noise ratio, leaving you reluctant to boost gain beyond +9dB. These sensitivity levels were considered the industry norm only a year ago, but it was evident that we occasionally had difficulty getting properly exposed shots inside large rooms or other low light situations.

Personally, I like the 120 minutes of recording time on one tape, but find the 20 minute "C" size cassette to be less convenient for this kind of shooting and the tiny record tabs, difficult to remove. However, some users would argue that they prefer the shorter tapes for sorting and A/B roll flexibility in post production. The price of a "C" size tape is almost the same as a full size tape, which means that your tape costs are 4-6 times higher. The original idea of "C" size was to reduce the size and weight of consumer equipment. A professional cameraperson doesn't need or want a super light weight camera. Eleven pounds is about as light as you would want, before the reduction in mass starts to affect the steadiness of the shot. A 21 pound camcorder takes a pretty robust cameraperson to operate all day long, and 13-17 pounds is just about right. Recent developments have shown that it is possible to make a 13-17 pound, full featured, uncompromised, broadcast camcorder that takes full size cassettes. I hope the trend continues in this direction so that you have the choice of either size tape.

The very smooth remote zoom servo control option (HZ-ZS13U) for the KY-17, allowed us to zoom, pan and focus all at the same time on tripod shots. The GY-X1 lens, however, isn't equipped with a connection for remote zoom, but JVC has an optional update kit to accommodate remote zoom or focus. When I first saw a prototype of the feature packed 11 pound GY-X1 at NAB, I was impressed with the planning that went into it. JVC even put a genlock connector on the GY-X1, making it ideal for multicamera switcher configuration at the same time as recording iso coverage. It took a minimum of 27 (long) seconds for the GY-X1 to change tapes and start recording again, compared to about 10 seconds for a Betacam BVV5. Tape drop outs were not a problem except at the Bet She'an archeological site where the volcanic ash dust gets in everything that isn't sealed. Of the 72 tapes I shot with the GY-X1, one didn't record anything even though the tape was rolling with the tally light on and the record run time code was counting. This of course could happen to any camcorder that didn't have confidence heads for real time verification. If I were buying a broadcast camera and could afford the next level up, I would go beyond these entry level broadcast cameras to something like JVC's KY-27U and dock it with the new smaller BR-S422U. This would give me F8.0 at 2000 lux, lower power consumption, 2 hour tape, lower weight than the 21 pounds of the KY-17/411, and a host of other improvements.

Believe it or not, we actually brought along a 2 chip Panasonic AG460 S-VHS industrial camcorder for those occasions when we weren't allowed to shoot with professional cameras but could slip in with a camcorder that looked `consumerish'. I even brought a small Digital Processing System "V-Scope" (waveform & vectorscope) in an ES-2200 expansion box to verify that the cameras were working correctly. This unit doubles up on the use of your monitor as a scope screen, saving weight, space and cost. Since our crew often split up to cover more ground or go on separate buses, we coordinated activities using Motorola walkie talkies with a range of several miles.

Christians are a "minority group" in Israel, but are increasing in number. We visited with Arab children at a Christian high school and Bible college students in the Occupied Territories (West Bank), as well as met some Messianic (Christian) Jews. Israel is a fascinating place that has to be experienced in person to really be appreciated. The focus of this video, was to capture the reactions of the tourists as they experienced the New and Old Testament historical sights. We expect it will give potential tourists enthusiasm to visit Israel. The 25 minute program is tentatively scheduled to air on Vision TV March 27 at 11:30 PM Eastern Standard Time and a portion of it on "Discover Your World" Channel 11 CHCH in March or April. Since we have such a large selection of good footage, an entire series of programs on Israel may follow, if we can find the right market for it.

BIO

Doug Hembruff is the President of Impact Televideo Productions in London, Ontario, Canada (Phone 519 657-4505). He facilitates corporate and broadcast video production, as well as product evaluation, writing, beta testing and consulting. For more info contact Doug Hembruff