Updated: April 21, 2008
THE HDV EVOLUTION AND THE COOPERATIVE EXPERIENCE | Interview with Hazim Bitar
The Amman Filmmakers Cooperative has decided to endorse HDV as the next generation prosumer video production format. Suha Ali discusses with Hazim Bitar, founder of the Amman Filmmakers Cooperative, the significance of this decision for Cooperative filmmakers in Jordan and the background story behind this recommendation.
Was there pressure to make a recommendation in favor of HDV?
We have been receiving inquiries over the last year or so from fellow directors at the Amman Filmmakers Cooperative and friends in the industry about HDV and other new formats. They were hearing so much about it and some felt ready to make the move to HDV but were worried that it might be premature to make such an investment only to discover it's just hype. We still remember video format wars that left people with obsolete hardware and a hole in their wallet, with the recent battle between Blu-Ray versus HD-DVD being a prime example.
When HDV became popular, the cost of HDV cameras were still relatively expensive and the editing tools were not stable and ready for HDV. You have to bear in mind that in Jordan and most Arab countries, 1000 Euro is 2 to 3 months salaries.For the Cooperative, making the wrong recommendation could mean putting someone in debt for a good part of the year. A recommendation from the Cooperative means that we have considered all aspects of the migration from DV, our current video standard, to HDV from cost of camera, best cameras to buy within a certain budget, where to buy those cameras, who can support HDV at the Cooperative, who can train on HDV shooting and editing, who will update the training manuals, what video editing software to go with, how to distribute and project HDV film. We had to be ready with answers to our members' questions and solutions to their potential problems. We simply were not ready until recently.
Our recommendation at that time was to wait until prices dropped and until the editing tools matured. A couple of years ago, it seemed we needed two or three software tools to support the HDV production workflow. Having to use so many programs to make an HDV film means we had to adjust our training workshops to incorporate chapters on how to use these tools. That's too much of a burden for us. So we decided to wait for the Swiss knife of HDV editing. Recently, we came across video editing tools that were self-contained and did not require add-on tools to edit HDV.
What about you. When did you take HDV seriously?
For me personally, when I saw award-winning documentary Recycle by Jordanian indie filmmaker Mahmoud Massad, I was startled by the picture quality. He shot with a Sony Z1 HDV video camera before blowing it up to 35mm. As you know, his film won the Sundance Film Festival's International Cinematography Award. That's when I became a believer in the HDV format. Of course the original footage had undergone plenty of enhancements in post, but having a superb original and a talented cinematographer makes the difference. DV is quickly becoming a legacy format, to be replaced with HDV. After watching Massad's Recycle, I sensed it was time we move to HDV.
What HDV camera did the Cooperative use and why?
We used the Canon HV20. We had to shell out about 700 Euros for the HV20, which we used to shoot I AM READY by Omar Saleh. The resolution of HDV is impressive since it almost quadruples the DV frame size. The Canon HV20 has a 1/2.7" 2.96MP CMOS sensor found in higher end models, and 1920 x 1080 resolution at 25p frame rate. Compare that with PAL DV specs of 720 x 576 @ 25i. Even after we down-convert the HDV footage to DV, the picture still looks much better than a picture shot on a DV camera with comparable specs. Buying the Canon HV20 (its successor is the HV30) was a practical decision. We get to tryout the whole production lifecycle for HDV with a video camera that won't break our piggy bank but one that many Jordanian filmmakers can afford. Once we master the workflow, we will look into a higher-end HDV camera to accompany our workhorse, the indomitable Sony PD-170 video camera. As for DV, it will still be with us for quite a while so it's too early to read any eulogies.
Did you have any criteria for choosing the editing software?
Like I said, to be true to the spirit of the Cooperative, we wanted a format that's simple to manage and affordable to aquire. The editing software had to work on a regular PC not just high end systems only, and the video capture device had to be inexpensive. To edit Omar Saleh's short film I AM READY on HDV, we used a laptop with Intel Centrino Core Duo @ 1.73 GHz and 1.5 GB RAM running Windows Vista and equipped with a basic FireWire port. It worked without a hitch.
What editing tools did you look into?
For editing software, we looked into a few packages such as Sony Vegas, Adobe Premiere, Canopus Edius, and Ulead Media Studio. The latest releases of those software packages were relatively stable and easy to work with. Since we are an Adobe Premiere shop, we decided to use Adobe Premiere CS3 with the latest patches applied. Our personal preference was Sony Vegas. The availability of Premiere expertise within the Cooperative and the fact Adobe Premiere CS3 ran fairly well on our midrange laptop was a key factor in our decision to stick with it. But for those who are considering switching editing tools, Sony Vegas 8.1 is a solid HDV editing tool.
Can you describe your HDV workflow?There is the easy way, which we recommend. And then there is the old way, for those with older versions of Premiere. The easy way is not much different from what we are used to with DV production. We shoot with the Canon HV20 in Cinema mode, we capture HDV via FireWire, we edit with premiere using the built-in presets "HDV 1080p Timebase: 25.00 fps", then we render/export video in various formats. Where we start waxing nostalgic about the simplicity of the old DV format is at the final stage of production when we have to render the video.
Is it that complicated?
Rendering HDV to MPEG2 or AVI takes an excruciatingly long time on our laptop. The short film I AM READY is about 11 minutes long. It takes about 3 hours to render to MPEG2. We applied color correction but that's all. If this were a DV clip, rendering would not have lasted more than an hour. When you think of it, HDV 1080 is about 4 times the image size of DV. This may explain the long render time. Not to mention the interframe compression in HDV, versus the simpler intraframe compression of DV. Having to compress video across frames does require additional calculations and processing time.
And the old way?
As for the old way of HDV editing, we used to incorporate a few additional tools such as HDVSplit and Cinefrorm HD plug-in with Premiere Pro 1.x. So after shooting the HDV footage, we used a shareware utility HDVSplit to capture the footage with scene detection. This utility worked fine with the Canon HV20 and Sony video cameras, but users of other video camera models reported some problems. When you capture HDV, the footage has the extension of M2T, which stands for MPEG-2 transport stream. This is the nifty compression format that made it possible to fit almost 4 times the picture size of DV within the same file size of standard DV. Then we convert the captured M2T files into Cineform HD AVI. The captured files are imported into Premiere Pro via the Aspect HD project preset. When the editing is done, we rendered/exported.
Once you are done editing, how do you show your HDV film?
We are still struggling with the best way to screen and distribute HDV. We well let the market decide. HDV resolution can best be handled by the new Blu-Ray disc format. But not many people in Jordan or outside have Blu-Ray players let alone burners. We may have to wait a couple of years before Blu-Ray reaches the masses. For now, the easy way out is to down-convert HDV to DV PAL and burn on a DVD. To play HDV on a computer, we render from Adobe Premiere CS3 using the Adobe Media Encoder into MPEG2. There is a preset under the MPEG2 format that says "HDTV 1080p 25fps High Quality." This format works well on Windows Vista Media Player 11. And there is also another preset under H.264 names "1440 X 1880i 25 High Quality." Since the LCD display on our editing laptop is limited to 1280 X 800, it means Microsoft Media Player will not be showing the full details. But the image still looks more impressive than DV.
What if you don't have a state of the art PC?
If you don't have a fast PC, you can still render, but plan to take a long break during rendering/exporting. And by fast I mean a PC equipped with one of Intel's high end Dual Core or Quad Core processors.
How do you project HDV?
For best projection quality, we export the video from Adobe Premiere CS3 to MiniDV tape via the Canon HV20 FireWire port. Then we playback the tape directly from the Canon HV20 plugged into a projector via HDMI or AV outputs.
The Canon HV20 has HDMI interface. Where does HDMI figure into your production equation?
High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is another new exciting standard to go along with HDV. We have not tinkered with the HDMI interface yet but soon we will have to move in that direction since HDMI is being crowned by the industry as the next generation interface for HD audio/video to replace the existing consumer analog standards such as RF, composite video, S-Video, SCART, component video and VGA. HDMI cables and interfaces will accommodate the new generation of high definition video by supporting 1080i, 1080p, 1440p, and higher resolutions. It's even possible to capture HDV footage via HDMI for "lossless" video. At this time, the cost of working with HDMI is not justified by the benefits. When HDMI delivers what it promises at an affordable price, we will take a look at it.
Can we say that HDV is the future? Will it help filmmakers make better films?
A good picture is an important part of a complex and often mysterious equation that makes a good film. HDV is no panacea. Yet a great picture does make for a more enjoyable viewing experience. So yes, I do recommend the move to HDV. But for the Amman Filmmakers Cooperative, it's also about utility. Most HDV cameras are backward compatible with DV. Using our Canon HV20, we can shoot both DV as well as HDV and then transfer the footage to a PC via standard FireWire interface. We use the same MiniDV tapes to record HDV.
Why should a filmmaker learn all this stuff? It seems technology hinders the creative process.
Yes and no. For indie filmmakers in Jordan, there is no escaping the need to be technically literate. When no funding is available to make a film, it's time to pick up a manual and learn how to make a digital film from A to Z. A better approach is to share expertise in a film collective. The alternative is to wait indefinitely for funding. Even then, the strings attached will turn off most filmmakers I know who are pursuing a hard core humanitarian angle. A case in point is the success story of filmmaker Mahmoud Massad who benefited from the relatively small size of the Sony Z1 and its nice picture, to shoot his film secretively, with no budget and no permits (which would have been invariably denied considering the subject of his film).
Why is the choice of video format so important?
It's the low cost of ownership and the support infrastructure for a given video format that makes it popular. Before DV, there was analog video format confusion at the prosumer level. You had to be fairly technical and financially comfortable to put together an indie video production studio that delivered good quality masters. The quality of legacy video formats such as VHS, Hi8, S-VHS, left so much to be desired. There were dreadful color bleeding and generation loss problems that plagued prosumer analog video cameras. Few film festivals or broadcast TV channels cared for prosumer analog productions. The market for the legacy consumer formats was limited to mostly home videos, training, legal, and archival. All of these problems had vanished with the arrival of DV. A number of reasons were also behind DV's phenomenal success as the indie shooting format such as increase in computer processing power and reduction in cost of computer storage and drop in computer prices, bringing DV editing within reach of more indie filmmakers. Any successor to DV must also deliver low cost of ownership and a superior image that is compelling enough for existing DV filmmakers to give up their faithful DV format. The genius of HDV developers was their ability to maintain significant backward compatibility with DV while delivering superior resolution at similarly low cost. Basically, all the factors which led to the success of DV can be counted on to take HDV into prosumer video format supremacy. For the Amman Filmmakers Cooperative, this backward compatibility with DV and the increasing support by familiar video editing tools will translate into a short learning curve and less resources to help our filmmakers transition from DV to HDV.
You speak often of the role of technology in promoting independent filmmaking in Jordan and the Arab wold. .
Without technological innovation in multimedia production and communication, the Amman Filmmakers Cooperative and the digital indie filmmaking movement would not have existed in Jordan. The availability of affordable DV camera, consumer PC, editing software, DVD burners, and the internet, all of these mass produced and readily available innovations converged to help fuel the digital filmmaking revolution in Jordan and the South.
What's next?
If we look at the audiovisual innovation pipeline, we see impressive goodies like the RED video camera which delivers 4K and soon 5K resolution. Those who worked with RED say it captures a 35mm-like picture. While still out of reach for most indie digital filmmakers, we can expect to see such high-end camera features becoming mainstream over the next few years. Then we have Blu-Ray disc technology that will replace DVD. Blu-Ray can help unify video acquisition, distribution, and projection. Given the 50GB storage capacity and compression quality supported by Blu-Ray, it's possible to shoot with a video camera that records directly to Blu-Ray, edit and export to Blu-Ray discs, then project directly from Blu-Ray using H.264 compression which can support resolutions as high as 4096x2304. From an indie digital filmmaking perspective, the future looks good.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Hazim Bitar is the founder and coordinator of the Amman Filmmakers Cooperative. Suha Ali is a regular contributor and translator who does pro bono work for the Amman Filmmakers Cooperative.
RELATED LINKS
Indie Filmmaker Omar Saleh Wraps Up Short Film, Impresses Critics
http://ammanfilmmakers.alif.com/mar-31-08-iamready.htmMahmoud Massad: All Hail the Zarqawi Filmmaker
http://ammanfilmmakers.alif.com/dec-15-07-massad-recycle.htmFilms Online - Amman Filmmakers Cooperative
http://YouTube.com/JordanianFilmsAmman Filmmakers Cooperative
http://JordanianFilms.com