Paul Santoni
LOS ANGELES
When you're capturing footage for a television show, the last thing you want is a battery dying in the middle of the shoot, especially when you have another three or four hours to go. A dead battery is an inconvenience for everyone on set, costing precious time and money.
With TNT's Los Angeles-based cop drama, "Southland," we shoot each episode during an eight-day period, regularly working for hours to capture key scenes. As "Southland" is a "run-and-gun" production, we don't spend a lot of time rehearsing or setting marks with the equipment off. Our equipment is powered up for long periods of time as the script unfolds, and a significant amount of power is consumed in the process.
HIGH CAPACITY BATTERIES ARE KEY
With such a requirement for batteries that could perform over a long period of time with absolutely no failure, we turned to Anton/Bauer and the Los An-geles rental house, Keslow Camera, for high-current-draw batteries. I'd previously used the Anton/Bauer Cine-VCLX battery with the Sony F23 camera and had experienced great results, so I knew they'd be a great fit for the RED cameras we were using on "Southland." Our crew's experience with these batteries confirmed their excellent performance. The word "confidence" quickly comes to mind when you're thinking about the Cine-VCLX 560 Watthour powerhouse. During a shoot, I'm never worried about losing power in the middle of a take, and have never felt restricted by the power constraints of the battery. The Cine-VLCX batteries, charged with the corresponding Cine-VCLX charger, are good all day—up to eight full hours of use, even when the cameras are loaded with accessories.
The Anton/Bauer batteries are primarily used when we're shooting car scenes for "Southland." As this is a cop show focusing on the daily patrol duties of the Los Angeles police, many car chases and scenes are involved. To capture them, we cram ourselves into the backseat of a car with the Cine-VCLX bat-teries rigged to the camera from the trunk. We could be driving around all day in such situations and it's crucial that I have a battery that I can rely on without having to periodically open the trunk and double-check it. If I do want to check that battery's charge state, I can rely on the RealTime display for an accurate readout of remaining runtime.
TWO OUTPUT VOLTAGES MAKE LIFE EASIER
We also often jump between different cop cars during our work and the Cine-VCLX allows us to leave all of our equipment powered up, saving us a lot of time when we switch the camera from car to car. The Cine-VCLX has a 14 Volt port and two 28 Volt ports, allowing us to use different equipment si-multaneously without any switches.
I've worked on a lot of different productions and have used batteries in all shapes and sizes, but the Anton/Bauer Cine-VCLX units have more power than any other batteries in their class. They will be seeing a lot more service as we continue to use them in completing the second season of "Southland."
Paul Santoni is the "A" Camera first assistant cameraman for TNT's "Southland." He began his career in 1993 and has worked on both feature films and broadcast TV shoots. He may be contacted atpaulsantoni1@gmail.com.
For additional information, contact Anton/Bauer at 800-422-3473 or visitwww.antonbauer.com.
