Keith Michael Productions, LLC

HD and Blu-Ray are things on that are on everyones mind these days. And just the other week, Blu-Ray discs seems to have beaten HD DVD as the new format in the format wars. Many people, including myself, have HD TVs for viewing our TV stations, and I do have to say that I really enjoy the History Channel in HD. The real question I see HD asking those of us in the wedding industry, and those looking to higher videographers is when are we going HD?

This past weekend I was reading an article about this, and it seemed to share a lot of the same opinions that I have, and that is it does not make sense or the local videographer to go HD just yet. For my justification, I like to take a look at the history of HD. HDTV came out first, and in the beginning, only a couple of major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX) started to broadcast in HD. And when they did, only some shows and some events were being shown in HD. Only recently have more channels been going HD, and are becoming available on more cable and dish providers. Just this week, the WWE went HD.

The thing to consider here is the budget that these networks and companies have and how long it took for them to become HD. My last example, the WWE, is a multi million dollar company that is seen around the world. So why did it take so long for them to go HD?

First, we look at the cost to go HD. It’s not just buying a new camera, for shooting things in wide screen. It’s also having the media to store the content on, and then your viewers having the ability to watch the HD content. The article I referred to earlier had another good point. They basically said that a bad story in HD is still a bad story and people will stop watching it.

Now to relate this to Keith Michael Productions, LLC. I am one person, recording weddings part time. The majority of my clients do not have the ability to view HD. They may have a HDTV, but they may not have the all important HD or Blu-Ray Player to play the Disc. Also, I am more concerned about creating great content right now, and I don’t need HD for that. Am I intending on going HD in the future. I sure am going to HD as soon as I can afford it. When I go HD, I want to go full HD all at once, and that will not be cheap. Until then, I am still recording in broadcast quality, and will continue to do so until HD is ready for me.

People often ask me, and I’m sure other videographers, what kind of equipment I use. In today’s world there is a lot of talk about HD video across the market from consumer to the pros. And to be honest, I can’t wait to buy my first HD camera. However, I’m not there yet. I purchased my current camera about a year ago, and I really do love it. The sad thing that since I bought it, Canon has come out with and HD camera that is the same price range for what I paid for a SD (Standard Definition) camera.

With all of that said, I still have a great camera. It is a Panasonic AG-DVX100B.
This camera is a work horse, and I’m sure that I will be keeping it for at least 5 years. It has XLR microphone inputs, and manual volume controls. In fact, the whole camera can either be in auto or in manual mode. This is great for shooting live events so that I can fine tune things on the fly. The picture quality on it is amazing. It may not be HD, but it’s as close as you can get with out being a big TV camera. I still record everything onto tape. This isn’t like VHS, they are MiniDV tapes. They record a digital signal that I later import into my computer.

After the camera, the most important piece of equipment I have is the computer. Like many video people, I am editing on an Apple computer using Final Cut Pro. I am using version 4.5 which came out about 2 years ago. The only thing that it is really missing are some newer codecs for rendering the final movie. I hope to have the new version (which was just announced) by the end of the summer.

For those that don’t really know what Final Cut Pro, or any editing software is, the important thing to know is that this software that I, and others in my field are using, is the same software that more and more Hollywood films are being edited on.

The final step is of course your copy. VHS is has died. It cost more to make VHS copies, and the quality and longevity is not good. DVD is the format that output too. The DVDs will last many more years than a VHS, and I can also print labels right onto the disc to make it more personal for each project.

I hope that this has answered any questions that you may have about my equipment and if you have more questions, please e-mail me keith@keithmichaelproductions.com.