High Definition Cinematography, 3rd Edition

CHAPTER 9

Crewing

There is an unfortunate misconception rife among some producers that if you shoot digital High Definition (HD) you can work with a much smaller crew than with film. To make the judgement simply on the recording format is, in my view, foolish and comes from looking at the history of the HD medium from the wrong perspective.

Historically, video shoots have used smaller crews. This is because they have been conceived from their beginnings as low-budget productions and, had the decision been made to shoot them on film, it too would have been done with the smallest crew possible.

There is another significant and unfortunate result of these misconceptions. With some rare exceptions tape has not, in the past, been scheduled for many ...