The Magic of the F3

Features in Televisual August 2011

Billed as the exciting new face of British street magic Dynamo, aka magician Steve Frayne, is an unassuming illusionist with a talent for amazing everyone he meets, including the odd Hollywood celebrity. Now everyone can see the 28-year-old's jaw-dropping stunts thanks to a new four part series from Phil Mcintyre TV.

From walking on water at Westminster Bridge to moving a woman's tan line on Miami Beach and changing snow into diamonds in Austria, Dynamo: Magician Impossible provides a globe trotting insight into Frayne's work on TV network Watch.

The way the show was filmed was very different way to most other shoots, says series director Simon Dinsell. "With magic you always need to shoot multicamera so you get everything that happens, with the magic at the centre of the shot," he explains.

"And every magiC trick, no matter how amazing, is only ever sold by the live audience reaction so you need to make sure you capture all that as well. In addition to keeping to these golden rules Dinsell insists he wanted the show to look good. Hire company Procam Television recommended the PMW F3L, a compact camcorder with a Super35 CMOS sensor and PL mount lens compatibility for the job.

Procam Television's John Brennan recalls: "Street magic requires the cameraman to follow the action and react quickly to the audience. The choice was down to the F3 and one other file-based camera, with the workflow management and ease of use of the F3 on this multicamera shoot winning the day."

Dinsell insists the F3 is a marked step forward over the large format DSLR cameras he has been using. "I've been looking for a camera capable of generating high quality images, but which can also handle the rigours of professional production schedules and which can connect more smoothly with peripherals - particularly with audio. Not only does the F3 take the type of film lenses that I am familiar with (Ultra Primes, Super Primes and Zeiss) but it also has a very practical media workflow."

Shooting onto 32GBG1A SxS card Dinsell was able to take advantage of the media's longer record times compared to DSLR. Plus offloading the media onto portable hard drives at transfer speeds of up to 1.2 Gb/s provided a simple route for back up and delivering rushes to the edit for loading overnight into Avid. "SxS memory really is the way forward," says Dinsell, "brilliant in terms of quality and ease of use, it works particularly well with Avid and the AMA plug in for easy conform."

The XDCAM EX footage also combined well with XDCAM HD material generated by the PDW-F800 which was used on the Miami and LA legs of the shoot.

But best of all for Dinsell was the look he was able to get from the F3. "The single biggest thing that the F3 excelled at was its image. For those people who can't afford film it's the holy grail. Its big selling point is that big Super35mm sensor which enables shallow depth of field and the ability to shoot wide to get a video image which is so close to film. Oveall, It's a very capable manoeuvrable camera which is super easy to use. You can give the F3 to a runner for ENG style shooting, or give it to a director of photography and they can shoot a feature film."

Brennan concludes: "With packages to suit all budgets it can adapt to anything from light drama to daytime television. The camera ticks all the boxes - affordable, adaptable and user friendly. Proven SxS recording technology and workflow methods only go to further promote this all-rounder."

Find out more about Magician Impossible on the UKTV website.