Alister Chapman Prepares For Another IBC

DoP Alister Chapman is certainly no stranger to broadcast shows. As he prepares to fly off to Amsterdam for this year's IBC, Alister took the time to tell RFV about his past experiences and this year's plan of attack.

So IBC is approaching fast. It will be the 4th trade show of the year for me, having attended NAB in Las Vegas, Cinegear in Hollywood and Broadcast Asia in Singapore. On the whole all these shows are similar; lots of exhibitors trying to sell you their latest and greatest products. My first visit to IBC was in the '80s when it was still held every other year in Brighton. I wanted to take a look at the new fangled Betacam units that comprised of a camcorder head and separate recorder that docked on to the back of it to make shoulder mounted camcorder. These 8kg beasts cost around £15,000 if I remember right; that's the equivalent to about £40,000 today. They had some very impressive features. The horizontal resolution was an impressive 320 lines. You could even record for 20 minutes on a single tape and then play back the footage (drop-outs and all) in glorious black and white! No colour viewfinders back then. On the post production side there was "Harry". Harry was the size of a large refrigerator and could edit digitally. It was one of the very first non-linear edit systems and paint-boxes. Again, some impressive features - it could store 80 seconds (yes seconds) of SD video. The cost? Half a million pounds (about £1.5m today). My how things have changed! My phone can do everything that the Betacam camcorders and Harry could do, plus a lot more and in HD.
Since the beginning of the '90s we've see the introduction of mainstream satellite TV, widescreen broadcasting, Pal-Plus (anyone else remember that?!), NICAM stereo TV, digital shooting and production, digital broadcasting, 5.1 surround sound and High Definition. Now we are looking at 4K for acquisition and future broadcast and distribution. The very way television is watched is also changing, with more and more content delivered via the internet instead of traditional over the air broadcasting.
Over the years, trade shows have been used to launch the next big thing. The problem with trade shows, for me at least, is that in general you are seeing all these different products in very different and often unrealistic scenarios so trying to make any meaningful assessments of image quality, functionality or practicality is often very difficult. One of my biggest gripes is the number of exhibitors that have dark stands with moody low key lighting. That's all well and good, but you can't actually see the products you want to look at.
Last year Sony introduced a new concept to their booth. It's known within some parts of Sony as the "ICE Bar".
"ICE" because it's largely manned by some of Sony's "Independent Certified Experts". To some degree the idea has been borrowed from Apple and their in-store genius bars. Primarily focusing on cameras and shooting the ICE Bar will have many of Sony's latest products on display alongside as many 3rd party accessories as Sony can lay their hands on. The idea is that you can try all of these different things together. Ask the ICEs about real world experiences with the kit and get hints and tips from those that make a living with it. I think it's a great idea. You can try different combinations of cameras, lens, recorders and shoulder mounts to see what might work for you. I'll be there at IBC spending much of my time on the ICE bar, so do come and say hello and please, please ask questions; that's what we are there for. I wish more manufacturers would run similar areas.
So what will I be looking for at IBC? 4K is likely to be one of the big buzz words at this year's show. There are now plenty of cameras to choose from and 4K editing and post production is getting quicker and easier. Even if you are not going to deliver in 4K in the immediate future there are many benefits to be had by shooting in 4K. Right now though, while we have the cameras there is a shortage of monitors for use in 4K production. So I'll be looking into 4K monitors. I'll also be looking once more at lenses.
A 4K camera needs decent glass to perform well, yet I'm not working with feature film budgets. A lot of what I do is with minimal budgets so I'll be looking for high quality lenses that won't break the bank and in particular I'm looking for lower cost zooms in the 20mm to 90mm range as well as budget prime lenses.
One thing I've learnt from the many trade shows I visit is to go with a plan. Figure out what you want to see and which stands to visit before you go. But don't just focus on the capital purchases. If you're going to drop £10k plus on something you'll find the time to go and see one before you buy. But with accessories it's sometimes hard to justify traveling miles just to see a £100 battery or bracket. But at IBC all the main players will be there, so its worth spending some time looking at all those little odds and ends that you may not have the opportunity to see elsewhere. Remember those comfortable shoes, plenty of business cards and if you're staying in Amsterdam overnight don't forget your favorite hangover cure.
One final shameless plug: I don't just write stuff and teach video production skills. I'm a DoP and DiT, so do consider dropping me a line if you need some help on your next project.
Read the article in the online edition of Regional Film & Video here.
(IT/JP)