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Oct 11, 2007
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The Power Of HD
Salt River Project video team keeps busy schedule
by Nancy Caronia
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Serving more than 900,000 retail customers in the Phoenix area, the Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District (SRP), a political subdivision of Arizona, is one of the state's largest and oldest electricity and water suppliers. Founded more than a century ago, SRP also includes Salt River Valley Water Users' Association, a private corporation.
Over time, SRP has accumulated an extensive collection of archival photographs and film footage of historic Arizona. It formalized its photo/audiovisual department in the late 1970s. What began as a three-person operation has grown into a 16-person department.
Community Efforts
While staff has continually documented the Arizona landscape for official broadcast use to internal sources, the resources of the department also are used for community-based projects. The department offers support to organizations such as the Governor's Arts Council and Valley Forward, as well as SRP's partners, including the Central Arizona Museum Association, Arizona Humanities Council, and Library of Congress Local Legacies project. In addition, various in-kind video productions are done in conjunction with local nonprofit organizations such as the Nature Conservancy, Junior Achievement, and Amblyopia Foundation.
The department tackles more than 300 video jobs and 350 photo jobs each year, according to Mark J. Kenger, supervisor, photo/audiovisual department. "We started out using early Sony single-tube cameras. We've grown considerably since that time to a point now that we produce 75 percent of our productions in HD.
"SRP has a rich heritage. Maintaining that heritage and our stature within the community through our communication is something we take seriously."
The four videographer/producers write, shoot, and edit each of the various video projects. Additionally, the department has three senior photographers who work completely in digital to handle all the photo requests. Plus, three AV support team staff members coordinate everything from live events for 25 to 2,500 audience participants to video projector and PA setups, teleconferencing requests, and custom AV installations.
All 4,000 SRP employees have access to in-depth safety and training pieces as well as internal video memos, hosted by SRP's current general manager, which are produced in-house. And while SRP does not have any Web streaming right now, Kenger said the department has experimented with it and sees it coming. "The SRP Web team recently hired someone well versed in streaming applications," he added, "so we'll be looking to pursue that outlet for our productions very soon."
Outside the purview of in-house projects, the department takes on a number of projects for nonprofit organizations. "We feel we're part of the community fabric and we like to help whenever possible. As such, legitimate news organizations or educational institutions know they can count on us to help if they're in need of some footage that they might not have access to or don't have the time or resources to acquire," Kenger explained. "We don't provide any footage/photos to for-profit companies or advertising agencies. We won't compete with any outside production houses or stock footage companies. That's not our role and it shouldn't be."
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| Arizona's Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District keeps busy with hundreds of video projects annually, including aerial shoots. |
Ron Harrison, director of photography, added that SRP does a lot of nonprofit projects that " wouldn't get done if SRP wasn't committed to corporate contributions. We don't like to compete and take business away from production companies, but some of these nonprofit organizations don't have the finances to hire a production team."
The Move To HD
Productions are shot mainly on location, but the department does have an in-house production studio -- a 30x30-foot space with 15-foot ceilings and a lighting grid that is shared between photographers and videographers. One wall is a painted for chromakey shoots and the other three walls have a fabric/sound deadening texture. The studio has its own air-handler and breaker to cut noise as much as possible. Other than backdrops and a Panasonic BT-LH2600W 26-inch HD LCD monitor, gear is not left inside the studio, but instead is brought in as needed.
"As technology permeates the workforce, we're being asked to provide better and more advanced methods for delivering our product. Also, we've always tried to be flexible with our internal business partners to provide the best customer service available," said Kenger. "I think we've been successful for a number of reasons: our attitude, our knowledge of the company and its strategic direction, and certainly not least of all, our technical capabilities."
To that end, SRP most recently purchased Panasonic's AJ-HDX900 multi-format DVCPRO HD camcorders and AJ-HDC27 VariCam camcorders. "HD was just a natural progression from our early days of 3/4-inch through Betacam and DVCPRO50," Kenger noted. "We had the opportunity in 2003 to produce a showcase piece for SRP's centennial celebration. We did our research and were able to convince management that for such a momentous occasion, we had to do something out of the ordinary. We produced a two-minute trailer that sold the idea of HD and the 16:9 format.
"We rented the Sony CineAlta F-900 camera along with a frame rate converter and hired a tech from Fletcher of Chicago to help us out with the production. It was beautiful stuff, but we knew we'd never be able to justify anything close to the cost of that gear to produce forklift training videos. Along came the Panasonic Varicam and the ease of editing our HD footage in Final Cut Pro. Now we're hooked."
The department has six Final Cut Pro 2 stations in the Mac-based NLE suites. Narration, sound effects, and audio sweetening, plus 2-D and 3-D animations, are all done in house. "Rough cuts are shown and corrections are made with input from both internal and external clients until a finished piece is locked and ready to be duplicated," noted Kenger. "All jobs are tracked internally and we chargeback our costs to our in-house business partners."
Most video projects are distributed on DVD -- SRP has two duplicators from Primera Technology and Disc Makers, plus a Rimage 50-disc duplicator has been ordered because of its ability to be able to burn productions from any of SRP's edit suites. If clients need 200 or more copies, SRP sends the job out to be replicated. There are still a few "old-school clients" who want their projects on VHS, so SRP keeps VHS machines around for their needs as well.
A View From Above
Once the HDX900 was acquired, it was used to update the SRP's extensive library of aerial footage from SD to HD. The video crew is called on to shoot aerial footage about a dozen times a year -- the Phoenix canal system is large, and other systems along the Colorado River are miles long and often in remote areas (and sometimes caked with snow). In addition, nonprofits such as the Nature Conservancy often need footage in remote or pristine areas that is best captured through aerial footage.
"There is definitely a learning curve that goes on when you begin to shoot from a helicopter," Kenger noted. "Most of our shooting has been done from a Bell JetRanger. You need to make sure the high skids installed to the camera mount, if you're using one, will clear the ground when you land."
While SRP has used a number of mounts over the years, the Tyler nose mount is the current choice. The camera sits on the Tyler, which is bolted to the underside of the front of the helicopter in order to fly over the landscape or object being filmed. A video tech sits in the rear with waveform and video monitors, along with a remote control for shading the camera. The video operator sits next to the pilot with the control box controlling the tilt axis. Neither the video operator nor the video tech control the pan -- the helicopter does.
"The best tool you can have along is a good pilot," added Kenger. "We have some of the best pilots in the business here at SRP. And you have to trust them or you can't concentrate on the shot."
"The pilots are all safety conscious and understanding of what we're trying to accomplish. They'll tell us whether it's a good idea or a bad idea -- it's a good working relationship," added Harrison. "We learn from each other and feel comfortable going back and forth. It's a bit of a challenge getting the right speed and angle with the right lighting conditions and sky.
"It's like shooting anything. You have to wait for the right conditions, but when we have to bring the mount system, we hope the weather is going to be good. Sometimes you luck out and sometimes it's not so great."
The helicopter becomes an egalitarian environment with the entire crew offering suggestions for angles and vantage points. As Kenger said, "It's great to have three sets of eyes looking for other traffic and power lines. We tend to fly with a wide lens and let the pilot get us where we need to be to frame the shot. Shooters always want to go lower and pilots always want to stay high, so you compromise. Also, any zooming will add vibration to the shot, but you won't see it sometimes until you get back on the ground and then it's too late."
In spite of those obstacles, Harrison said the camera has performed well, even in hazy conditions. "From the eye it doesn't look that good, but the footage is great," he said. "Going to HD has been all around great for us."
MORE INFO
Apple apple.com
Primera Technology primera.com
Disc Makers discmakers.com
Panasonic panasonic.com/broadcast
Rimage rimage.com
Salt River Project srpnet.com
Sonysony.com/government
Tyler Camera Systems tylermount.com
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