temperatures and the mud and rain of Scotland, to the dry and dusty heat of the Israeli desert, the F3 held up well, and the combination of the F3 and Ultra Prime lenses ensured the look of the fi lm was very close to shooting on real fi lm stock.”

The kit was hired from Pro Motion Hire’s Brighton offi ce, with Pro Motion’s Andy Holland working closely with Animal Monday to help create the perfect shooting package. Staron shot at 50Mb/s to Compact Flash using an external recorder backed up on SxS media, with Lavis transferring rushes onto separate drives daily, a process simplifi ed by the F3’s XDCAM workfl ow, which also allowed the crew easy access to daily rushes with playback on the camcorder’s viewfi nder.

“In the dust and the heat of Israel, fi le-based production was the best solution,” says Lavis, who, transcoded to ProRes 422 for edit on FCP. Initially

Staron considered shooting the fi lm’s reconstruction sequences on 16mm fi lm but settled on the F3.

Lavis explains: “With the F3 we would be able to give the reconstruction scenes a fi lmic look, plus there was going to be a lot of compositing so it would be a big advantage for it to be shot digitally.”

Pro Motion Hire’s Holland adds: “It was a pleasure to be able to see the fruits of all of those pre-production kit discussions. I’m very happy Animal Monday went with the F3 and Ultra Primes. The fi lm looks sensational – an intriguing story, imaginatively told with visual fl air, which really needed a set up which was up to the job.”

One of the most satisfying virtues of the F3 for Lavis was the ability to pair it with the best lenses via its PL mount adaptor. “Being able to use the Ultra Primes in combination with the F3 was a real killer combination – it produced beautiful results.”

Animal Monday combined the PMW-F3 with Ultra Primes to tell the story of Wojtek – a bear who was enlisted into the Polish Army. Co-director Adam Lavis describes how the camcorder offered a killer combination of fl exibility, and affordable fi lmic good looks

army bearThe PMW-F3 equipped with the Exmor

Super35 CMOS sensor specifi callydeveloped for digital cinematography

brings a true ‘fi lm look’ and superior imagequality into reach for independent movies, poppromos and commercials, as well as making theF3 an ideal B-camera for high-end feature fi lmproduction. The PMW-F3K comes with threehigh quality Sony Prime lenses, while the PMW-F3L is also available without lenses for those with their own 35mm glass. Based on XDCAM EX’s high-speed workfl ow it offers seamless integration with leading NLEs.

THE SHOOT SPONSORED BY SONY

PMW-F3

The Producer publishes four times a year. You can register for a free subscription atwww.pro.sony.eu/theproducer

To fi nd out more about Sony cameras, formats and media, go to www.pro.sony.eu/media

Above: The F3 has two memory card slots for recording ontoboth SxS PRO and SxS-1 cards using the PCI Express interfaceto achieve high data transfer. The cards can resist considerablevibration and have a unique salvage function which can restorecontent damaged by power loss or memory disconnection duringrecording. There is also the option of the new 64GB card givingeven greater recording times.

Sony specialist_x2.indd 20 27/01/2012 15:08