The big question in most DPs’ minds when they consider shooting with the Viper high-res electronic camera is how to record. Now they can look to the camera’s maker. After depending on third-party suppliers for the last several years, Grass Valley Group has built its own portable recording unit, the Venom FlashPak.
GVG’s move was well-timed, coming on the heels of the shuttering of Bay-Tech Technologies, whose CineRAM was one of the first camera-mountable RAM recorders for high-res and HD cameras. At a press introduction in late January, GVG’s Viper wrangler Mark Chiolis said that Venom would continue to facilitate workflow for the ultra high-end camera. "One of the goals that we’d be working to was five minutes [of] recording time. We needed to get to a 400-foot film load for DPs to start using something like this." GVG’s engineers actually exceeded that objective, allowing for recording of 10 minutes of RGB FilmStream data and 18 minutes of HDStream.
Building the $58,000 recorder around flash technology safeguards picture data when power is lost, which Chiolis indicates had been a big problem with RAM-based recorders. Sketching out the workflow for Venom tandemed with the Viper, Chiolis says, "We’re cutting the cord," referring to the tether that has traditionally connected the Viper to bulky disc recorders or VTRs. He indicates that two Venom units would be alternated, one sitting on the back of the camera recording while the other dumps into an S.two recorder. The Venom makes for easier handheld shots, and will potentially ballast the camera with a little extra heft.
A smart production assistant with a Bluetooth interface could annotate and edit metadata on set. The day’s footage can then be taken as DMAG reels to a post facility, where data is input to the Specter Datacine.
As it turns out, the Venom isn’t just a snake-bite kit. It will also dock to GVG’s LDK-6000 mkII camera, making it more agile in location shooting. Production models of the new recorder will be shown at NAB this April.
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