| The most recent NIB Basic Saver shoot in the northern NSW city of Newcastle was an ideal opportunity to explore the Panavision Genesis option for TVC production according to überhausfilms director, Karl Brandstater.
With DOP Brett Danton, producer Greg Hall and his crew, Karl set about creating a “sense of realism” supported by its presenter, former Knights captain and Footie Show co-host Paul Harrigan.
NIB is a vibrant Australian Brand that has regional origins, and is fast developing its national membership with empathy for the young health insurance market. “Hence the need to support NIB’s evolving national communication with the necessary quality,” Karl said.
“Our intention was to create simple visual narratives and symbolism to support a direct response retail campaign. Ironically, we wanted to avoid the ‘digital look’ by using a digital format. Accentuated colour grades were avoided to retain a sense of realism and Genesis did support a ‘clean’ uncontrived cinematic look and feel,” Karl said.
“We certainly put the camera through its paces. From intricate urban street set-ups to remote beach reserves, surf, sand, rain, wind, night, day… it soon became evident that this camera provided the agency Peach Advertising and the client with a level of immediacy and comfort that film has never provided,” Brandstater said. “Ultimately, it facilitates the whole process of realising the intended creative,” he said.
Pristine picture monitoring at an acquisition level, instant high-quality playback when required, high-end in-camera audio recording, increased light sensitivity, and of course the ‘film’ finish, makes Genesis very appealing, impressed Brett Danton and Brandstater alike. Danton said that given the demands of the brief, the team ended up shooting more than 2 hours of “footage”, translated to film, that’s 27 400' rolls.”
As for the cost of the Genesis system, Karl admitted that it was more expensive per day over a standard film camera but added “this was quickly off-set by the savings on stock and processing. We were able to work quickly and efficiently not having to load magazines and check the gate."
“By-passing the lab/processing/neg-cutting etc... it is a convenience that will be hard to ignore in the future.” Danton added: “The camera’s reliability was certainly beyond question, particularly given the difficult shooting environment the crew found themselves on the 2nd day of the shoot.” Brett added: “And the support shown by Panavision in the presence of Andrew Collier was invaluable.
And in a final comment, Karl said: “While we all have our attachment to celluloid, it is now irrational to ignore this new development. “I can see that the future is digital and there’s no point putting it off.”
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