Kevin Railsback on Capturing Wolves with the Panasonic AG-HVX200
The story began just prior to NAB when Railsback, who heads up the Fairfax, IA-based Pawprint Productions, a company which produces documentaries and narrative videos as well as supplying standard definition video stock footage, decided to create a new company with partner Julie Cox based on a demand for high-definition footage. The result was Silver Phoenix, LLC, an offshoot production company located in Fairfax and Bozeman, Montana, which is dedicated to building a new stock library based solely on HD footage-that’s been acquired with the HVX200.
Shortly after launching the new company, Railsback headed into the forests of northern Minnesota, armed with his brand new, never-before-used HVX200, and faced some extreme temperatures, which fell on some days to five below. Railsback thought he returned with some “pretty good” results. But it wasn’t until he started showing it to friends and family that he began to realize he had something really special. According to Railsback, when Green saw the footage, he was the one who insisted that Railsback should start showing it off. What Railsback wasn’t prepared for was the storm after the calm. “It’s amazing what a little wolf footage can do,” Railsback jokes. The rest, they say, is history.
STUDIO MONTHLY: How did this project come about?
KR: Well, it’s one of those things where when an opportunity comes up, you have to take it. It wasn’t like I said “I’m going to Minnesota and I’m going to do this; you could never predict something like that. For instance, I’ve been going to Yellowstone for more than 25 years and I can never say that I’m going to shoot some footage of wolves or grizzly bears. I didn’t go to Minnesota to do a piece on wolves. I went up to Minnesota just to see what I could get. Then, I come back with whatever I come back with and then I take what I have and make something out of it.
But I happened to come back with this wolf footage that, at first, I really didn’t realize what I had-not until I started showing it to people. It’s kind of insane; this wolf footage has sort of taken on a life of it’s own.
Also, I was heading to Minnesota because I thought it would be a good opportunity to try out a new camera. I had just purchased the Panasonic AG-HVX200 and I wanted to shake it out a bit.
So was that the first time you were using HVX200?
KR: Yes, it was, and I was really kind of nervous because nobody really knew anything about it. I ordered it right after NAB last year [2005] when [Panasonic] announced it. At the booth, there was just this dark shape covered with a cloth. They didn’t even give us specs yet on it, but I just went on faith that if it was the HD version of the DVX that it would be a killer camera. So, I put my order in right away and I got it in early February, right around Valentine’s Day, and I headed to northern Minnesota to shake it out. I figured what better way to try it out than trial by fire, in harsh conditions. And you know what? It was awesome. I loved it.
What made you decide to go with this particular HD camera-you didn’t have any prior experience with the DVX, did you?
KR: I was actually using the Sony PD150 and was reading so much about the DVX [camera from Panasonic]. I had seen a lot of the work that was coming out of it and I was completely blown away. I decided to make the transition [to HD] because I was getting so many requests for stock footage in HD. People would come to Pawprint Productions and say, “Oh, I love this Grizzly Bear footage that you have, can you send it to me in HD?” And I’d have to tell them, “Sorry, it wasn’t shot in HD.” So that was the big push that brought me to HD.
So, the reason I got the HVX200 camera was that I was going on faith that it was going to be the big brother of the DVX and turned out it was that and more.
Did you investigate any other cameras on the market?
KR: I did … and I was kind of leaning towards another camera. But then I started hearing rumblings about this Panasonic camera, with its variable frame rates and such and I just thought the Panasonic would do a better job of allowing me to take what I see in my head and translate it onto the screen.
Can you discuss some of the features that really stand out for you with this camera?
KR: The number one thing is variable frame rate. When I found out it had variable frame rate, I didn’t care about what else it was. As long as it was HD. If you look at most of my wildlife footage, it’s all 60fps. And that’s because wildlife happens so fast, at 24 fps, it’s over before you know it. But 60 fps is like poetry in motion. Just to watch those wolves running at 60 fps is incredible.
And here’s something I hear a lot of people say, about how variable frame rate is not a big deal because I could just shoot at 24 fps, or 29:9:7, and then just speed it up or decrease it in post. Well, the thing they don’t understand is that I can shoot 30 seconds of 60 fps and I’ve got 30 seconds of slow motion whereas if I want to slow it down or speed it up, I’m either going to have 15 seconds of fast motion or 60 seconds of slow motion-there’s just no comparison.
You can’t tell me that you can stretch out 15 seconds of normal speed footage to 30 seconds of slow motion and not degrade the image. The variable frame rate was definitely the biggest selling point for me.
How did the P2 workflow turn out for you?
KR: The P2 workflow is incredible. And, I think you either get it or you don’t get it. And if you don’t get it, you think it’s the most difficult workflow there is. But if you get it, it’s such a lifesaver.
I was on a shoot here a few weekends ago with the DVX and, to use the tape, it was just like stepping back in time. I did a shoot this weekend with the HVX200 and the P2 and we could instantly review any of the clips we wanted, we could delete clips and never worry about timecode breaks, and it’s easy to offload to a FireStore or a laptop. It’s one of the greatest inventions in video in a long time. I can’t say enough about the P2 workflow-It works really well for me.
People complain about the price of 4 gig cards or 8 gig cards, but I can spend two/three weeks out in Yellowstone with five 4 gig cards and never have a storage issue. I just bring my laptop [a Mac with the PC/MIA slot] with me and a couple of little 80 gig FireWire drives and I’m good to go.
Was there anything in particular that you had to do differently for a shoot like this?
KR: The only thing I really had to do differently was protect the batteries from the cold. Normally what I do is take a bunch of chemical hand warmers with me and stuff a bunch in my pocket to keep all the spare batteries tucked in there. And then I’ll try to rubber band one around the battery while it’s on the camera to extend the life.
What was the temperature there?
KR: Well, it was 9 below the one day we actually took the temperature, but there were other days it was probably a lot colder than that. When I first had it out, I had it planted down on top of the snow trying to shoot something. It was snowing really hard and it was all over the camera. All of a sudden the LCD started wigging out. I thought, “My God, I haven’t even shot this camera 30 minutes and I’ve broken it already.”
But it was just so cold the LCD screen was freezing. I just shut the LCD and used the regular viewfinder during those extreme temperatures. And then, later on, it worked just fine again.
But that’s another thing about the P2 workflow; there are no moving parts. So, you don’t have that problem in the cold of tape speeding up or slowing down or cracking because it’s brittle from the cold.
When is the best time of day to shoot wildlife footage?
KR: Oh, wildlife is always active in the predawn to just a little past sunrise, and then towards the evening they get stirred up again. So, for me, I get up about 4:30 or so, drive to where I want to go and then set up. And I just shoot whatever I can. By 9 or 10 o’clock, I’m pretty much done for the morning,.
Is there any danger of personal injury when you’re out there shooting wildlife?
KR: Absolutely! But for myself, I’ve been doing it for so long I’m more afraid of shooting stuff in downtown Chicago than I am with a grizzly bear (laughs). At least with a grizzly bear know how to read them.
Are there certain precautions you need to take?
KR: There are definitely rules you want to follow. The real secret is to find your spot and then let the animals come to you. You really need to let THEM become comfortable. That’s where the danger factor goes way down. I see so many people chasing after wildlife and that’s when problems happen. So, if I’m in Yellowstone, I just kind of wait and see where the bears are going. I pick my spot and then let the bear know I’m there so it can come to me on its own terms. If it doesn’t want anything to do with me, it’s just going to go off in another direction. I’m not going to get in its way. You just let the animal set the terms of the encounter.
What other gear do you bring with you?
KR: I try to shoot everything on sticks and I miss shots sometimes because I’m pretty adamant about shooting on sticks. Maybe it’s a quality thing for me; this goes back to my photography days. John Shaw, who’s a really famous wildlife photographer, showed how degraded an image can become by handholding as opposed to shooting on sticks, so I carry the camera on sticks with me all the time.
I use the Manfrotto 3192-510 and a Bogen 503 Fluid Head. I also use a Matte Box every now and then with some filters when I’m shooting some landscape shots.
What about the lenses?
KR: I just use the stock lens. I see that Century Optics is coming out with a 2x converter I’m really interested in. That would give me an awful lot of reach.
It doesn’t sound like there was a huge learning curve?
KR: No, there really wasn’t. It takes a little getting used to, if you’re going from 1x to 60fps or 12fps you have to think about it a little bit at first, like where you’re going in the menu, things like that, but I got some phenomenal footage, I think I shot two or three minutes with it before I headed up to Northern Minnesota, so it’s really easy to learn.
And that’s one of the nice things about the camera. I was really nervous, because some of the early reviews I’d seen from people who tested the prototype said if you’re familiar with the DVX you should have no problem learning the HVX-there are a few things about how to set the Interval Timer or the Variable Frame Rates, things like that. Well, me coming from a Sony background, I was scared to death. I had no clue how to run a DVX, let alone an HVX. I knew I wanted to go to Northern Minnesota, so I contacted Barry Green on DVXuser.com and said, “Hey Barry, I’m going up to Northern Minnesota, kind of hoping to film some wolves, kind of hoping you could give me some settings as a starting point.” So, he gave me some settings, and that’s what I shot everything on that whole trip. But nobody really knew anything about this camera, so they couldn’t give me any training or help or anything.
What were the settings Barry recommended you use?
KR: Basically, the only things I changed from normal was the Detail, which I set to -3, the Master Pedestal was set to -2, and the Detail Coring was somewhere around +4. And that was pretty much everything that was changed. Everything else was set at the standard, default settings.
Were you surprised with the amount of attention the footage is getting?
KR: Oh definitely. When I first got back with the footage, my friends and family wanted to see it. So, I did a quick edit, put it to some music and called it “In the Company of Wolves.” Barry Green wanted to see it, since he suggested the settings to me. After he saw it, he said, “You have to post this; this stuff is incredible. If you don’t, I will.” And it went nuts! Panasonic is playing it and showed it at NAB. I have people calling me from all over saying, “oh, you’re the guy that shot that wolf footage.” It’s amazing what a little wolf footage can do.
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