Projects Range from HBO Web Series to Inaugural YouTube Live! Show
(SECAUCUS, New Jersey--July 2, 2008) Matthew Mills, an Emmy-nominated Producer/Director/Director of Photography, has made Panasonic’s solid-state AG-HVX200 P2 HD camcorder the exclusive acquisition tool for his New York-based production facility, TV by Mills, Inc., shooting for CBS Sports, HBO, MTV and more.
Since purchasing four HVX200s last year, Mills has shot several major projects including the World Series of Video Games (two one-hour specials that aired on CBS Sports Saturday); HBO's "Fan Life," a short-form documentary web series; viral videos promoting Virtual MTV, an on-line world; and a feature short, “15 Below Zero,” that premiered at the Fear No Film Festival in Salt Lake City earlier this month. TV By Mills is in production now on an untitled feature-length doc about subculture in Branson, Missouri; a spec pilot, “Married to the Music,” about married couples who play in bands; as well as several promotional spots for Nickelodeon and ancillary content for "F'N MTV."
Mills is also the Supervising Producer on the inaugural "YouTube Live!" show, to be streamed to a global audience of potentially10 million viewers on November 22, 2008. Several taped elements for segments or packages for the YouTube project will be shot on the HVX200, and Mills plans to have some of his cameras roving at the event.
“I haven’t shot on tape since the day I bought the HVX200s,” Mills said. “The cameras have been workhorses and are very versatile, tailor-made for the wide variety of productions that we handle. I’ve had the cameras on 24’ jib arms, on a Steadicam in the streets of Manhattan, held one in my lap to shoot surreptitiously on the subway, even shot with it while scaling the side of a building.”
The World Series of Video Games, the first video game tournament to air on one of the four major networks, comprised competitive games of Fight Night, World of Warcraft and Guitar Hero played internationally, in China, New York City and other American cities. Mills utilized all four HVX200s in a multi-cam set-up, with the cameras placed on sticks, pedestals, jibs and Glidecams, and outfitted with wide-angle zoom lenses. “This complex assignment proved to me that the HVX200 is a handheld that can play up to varsity level,” he said. “You can shoot in either 720p or 1080i and the resolution is amazing!”
TV By Mills used two HVX200s to shoot the entire HBO “Fan Life” series, a web-based program of short films about NFL superfans. “We traveled around the country in search of professional football’s most fervent fans, and our gear consisted simply of the two cameras, a Lowel light kit and two Sennheiser mics,” Mills said. “The HVX200s afforded us the ability to shoot run-and gun and very cost-effectively yet achieve a level of quality that garnered us a Sports Emmy nomination.” (The series was also designated as a Webby Award Honoree.)
Mills travels with 16 P2 cards (eight each 16B and 32GB), and uses an AJ-PCD20 five-slot P2 drive to offload the cards for hot swapping. An assistant editor typically ingests material into a 17” MacBook Pro, and backs-up material on a hard drive. “The workflow has been seamless, and we’ve never had a single problem with the cards,” Mills noted.
Mills edits exclusively in Final Cut Pro HD. His deliverables to various clients range from electronic project files (HBO) to hi-res QuickTime files on DVD (MTV) to mini-DV tapes. “The HVX200 provides internal downconversion to mini-DV tape, and the material still looks pretty,” he noted.
“I’ve never been able to do as much with any other camera, and the HVX200 has boosted our production value tremendously,” Mills said.
About Matthew Mills/TV By Mills
Matthew Mills has accrued more than 500 television credits at almost every network in America and numerous web sites. The bulk of his work has been with MTV Networks where he has created and developed a wide array of programming. From "Britney: In The Zone & Out All Night" to "Rock-n-Jock Super Bowl," "Spring Break" to "Tattoo Theater," Mills has left a strong imprint on pop culture. TV By Mills, Inc. was founded in 2006 as a boutique production company specializing in "variety" and "documentary" specials and features. Paxton Films is Matthew's newest company, founded in 2007 exclusively to finance and produce fictional and documentary films. For more information, visit
www.tvbymills.com.
A selection of Mills’ HVX200 work can be found at the following links:
Married To The Music (trailer)
http://www.tvbymills.com/M2M/D&B_TRAILER.mov
Fan Life: Full Tilt - Full Time (Emmy Nominee, Best New Approach)
http://www.hbo.com/sports/emmy/full-tilt.html
Virtual MTV "Viral Video" series
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/978009/its_on_dance_off/
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/978011/give_us_a_kiss/
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1262064/virtual_mtv_model_citizen/
About the AG-HVX200A
Panasonic recently introduced its new AG-HVX200A, an enhanced version of the HVX200. The 1/3” 3-CCD handheld P2 HD/DV camcorder now features improved progressive 3-CCD imagers, a DSP that increases sensitivity while lowering noise and smear, and a new 13X zoom lens. The ultra-versatile HVX200A records in 1080i and 720p in production-proven 100 Mbps DVCPRO HD quality, with the ability to capture images in 21 record modes. The DVCPRO HD format offers users cost-effective, intra-frame compression, where each frame stands on its own for editing, and its full 4:2:2 color sampling allows the image to hold up under color correction. The camera records video on a P2 card as IT-friendly MXF files in 1080/60i, 30p and 24p; in 720/60p, 30p and 24p; in 50Mbps DVCPRO50 and in 25Mbps DVCPRO or DV. The HVX200A can capture fast or slow action in 720p at various frame rates: the shooting frame rate in 720p native mode can be set for any of 11 steps between 12fps and 60fps including 24fps and 30fps. For more information on the HVX200A, visit
www.panasonic.com/P2HD.
About Panasonic Broadcast
Panasonic Broadcast & Television Systems Co. is a leading supplier of broadcast and professional video products and systems. Panasonic Broadcast is a unit company of Panasonic Corporation of North
America. The company is the North American headquarters of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (NYSE: MC) of Japan, and the hub of its U.S. marketing, sales, service and R&D operations. For more information on Panasonic Broadcast products, access the company’s web site at
www.panasonic.com/broadcast.
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