The second season of Twentieth Century Fox Television’s hour-long thriller, “Dollhouse,” is being shot with the Panasonic VariCam 3700 solid-state P2 HD camcorder.
The AJ-HPX3700 combines VariCam’s filmic-look, variable frame rates and subtle tone control with master-quality, 10-bit 4:2:2 AVC-Intra recording as well as dual-link RGB 4:4:4 output.
While the first season of “Dollhouse” was shot on 35mm film, season one’s last episode, which was not broadcast but is available on DVD, was shot in HD.
The “Dollhouse” production team rents two HPX3700s outfitted with Panasonic’s new AJ-CVF100G color viewfinders from Panavision in Hollywood, CA. An AJ-HPX3000 is used for second unit photography, and the production relies on an AJ-HPX2700 P2 VariCam for high-speed shots and an HPX170 1/3in P2 HD camcorder for specialty shots, such as those conveying an apocalyptic vision of the future. The series is shot in 1080p AVC-Intra 100, and uses wide and long Zeiss DigiZoom lenses for each HPX3700 as well as small Zeiss DigiPrimes.
The production takes advantage of the HPX3700’s enhanced Film-Rec 600 percent setting, which provides additional latitude in shooting, particularly for daylight exteriors with white production design.
