“Martin Lawrence Presents 1st Amendment Stand-Up,” a hit comedy series on the Starz network, captured a series of live comedy concerts with 10 Panasonic AJ-HPX3700 P2 HD VariCam solid-state recording cameras.
Rush Hour Productions (from Hollywood, CA) handled the live production of 10 concerts featuring more than 30 of comics at the historic Chicago Theatre. Camera Support, in Burbank, CA, supplied the equipment.
Production gear also included Panasonic’s AV-HS400A multiformat HD/SD live switcher and AJ-HPM200 P2 Mobile recorder/player. Rush Hour’s Michael Bohusz was executive producer/director/editor for the assignment, and Camera Support’s president Gary Taillon served as technical supervisor.
The comedy concerts were recorded in the 1080p HD format. Episodes were edited at Rush Hour Productions on Avid workstations and finished at Deluxe (Hollywood). Material was delivered to Starz in 1080p.
The VariCam 3700 is a 2/3in, 2.2-megapixel CCD camera that features full native 1920 x 1080-pixel acquisition and independent-frame recording with 10-bit, 4:2:2 color subsampling. It records in full-raster 1920 x 1080 resolution in AVC-Intra 100 for the highest quality, in lower-bit-rate AVC-Intra 50 for extended recording and in DVCPro HD for added flexibility. The HPX3700 outputs a 4:4:4 RGB dual-link live signal (via HD-SDI) to deliver images for uncompressed workflows and composition of visual effects, while simultaneously recording 4:2:2 HD video in camera. The HPX3700 also offers variable frame rates from 1fps to 30fps in single frame increments for overcranking and undercranking.
