At the premiere party for the fourth season of “Star Trek: Enterprise,” executives from Sony and Paramount discuss how Sony’s HDW-F900 digital camcorders and CineAlta 24P technology created a more efficient production workflow on the set.
Like its intergalactic namesake, the production team of "Star Trek: Enterprise" has gone where it has not gone before - fully into the digital domain.
The UPN series is shooting its fourth season with Sony Electronics' HDW-F900 digital camcorders and CineAlta 24P technology.
After executive producers Rick Berman, Brannon Braga and Manny Coto decided to use this new technology, director of photography Marvin Rush determined that moving from film to high-definition video would in no way compromise quality or practicality. Rush had been hesitant to shoot digitally in the past, not totally convinced that digital lived up to its promise. However, the evolution of both the technology and the HDW-F900 led him to believe the time was right for adopting it for "Star Trek: Enterprise."
"Just in terms of aesthetics, it's at least neck-and-neck with film," Rush said. "And the camcorder's ease of use and flexibility give us the additional benefits and advantages that we don't get with film."
For example, Rush's team was able to shoot more footage than planned in less time than budgeted. When the footage was shown to Berman and Braga, their response was essentially, "Why weren't we doing this before?"
According to Rush, several features of the HDW-F900 were just too compelling to resist, such as the ability to capture detail in the extremely bright areas of a shot or when pyrotechnics are used.
For more information, visit: http://news.sel.sony.com/pressrelease/5224.
