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All Aboard The XDCam Recycling Service

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For many television producers, archiving content is a fairly simple process. It generally goes something like this: 1) Pick up tape/disc/hard-drive. 2) Extend arm across to wall area. 3) Put tape/disc/hard-drive on shelf. 4) Retract arm. 5) Rinse and repeat. And that’s about it. Some people might add labels and go as far as adopting a cataloguing s...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 October 2012

How location audio changed with the birth of reality TV

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In the twenty-plus years that I’ve been a sound mixer/recordist I’ve witnessed countless changes in our industry from the introduction of digital multi-track recording to the arrival of 5.1 surround sound. But the biggest, most dramatic paradigm shift I’ve seen is much simpler than that – and it’s a social thing. For many years, when it came to rec...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 June 2012

An Authentically American firm with an Englishmans heart

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America has always been a land marked by pioneers and trailblazers, by entrepreneurship and vision. So, in 2004, when London based equipment hire firm HotCam sought to expand, founder Trevor Hotz could think of no better place to be. “Back then a lot of our competitors were opening up in Manchester and Glasgow but that didn’t appeal to me,” says Ho...

Submitted by Will Strauss#

Published 01 May 2012

Andrew McLeans Guide to Lenses

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Andrew McLean, an experienced cinematographer and now vice president of business development at broadcast equipment hire company HotCam, details some of the basic things to consider when it comes to choosing and using camera lenses. What’s the first thing you do when choosing lenses for a shoot?First I consider the creative direction – the aestheti...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 March 2012

HotTips on how to be a better lighting cameraman.

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First up, don’t worry too much about HDFor most of my early career I shot with film, not video, so I usually approach things from a film point-of-view. This means I don’t see an awful lot of difference between SD and HD. In my opinion, the extra definition has more of an impact on the make-up team and the set designers because, regardless of what l...

Submitted by Bob Pank#

Published 01 January 2011