When former filmmaker, Grammy-winning record producer and CEO of Mi Casa Multimedia Robert Margouleff saw an opportunity to add DVD bonus documentary production services to his company’s repertoire, he began researching video cameras.
Noting that DVDs often include bonus documentaries, Margouleff’s quest for cameras led him to Hollywood camera rental and equipment vendor Birns and Sawyer, which introduced him to the Canon XL H1 HD camcorder. Satisfied with the camcorder’s image quality, features and price, his next step was to put it to the test in the rough-and-tumble world of documentary production.
Encouraged by the results of a preliminary test of the XL H1 HD camcorder, Margouleff turned his attention toward the Pacific Ocean and those who sail its waters. Margouleff plans to produce a series on tall ships and the people who sail them. Recently, he shot footage on the Lynx, a replica of an 1812 American privateer.
Using “every button on the camera,” Margouleff said he put the camera through its paces and found it to be easy to use and “very adaptive, especially working in the automatic mode.” Margouleff found the camera to be good in low light and impressive in its color fidelity and clarity.
Margouleff plans do a documentary on 12 tall ships for a major cable network and is currently at work with the XL H1 HD camcorder preparing a pilot. For the production, Margouleff will use a Wafian HR-1 HD video recorder and CineForm editing software. He plans to produce the shows entirely on board the ship. The director and the crew will live together on the ship and by the time they return to port, Margouleff anticipates the film will be virtually finished, with the exception of a little bit of post.
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