“Our feature film GRAY IN WHITE AND BLACK is constructed as three separate yet connected stories, each offering different cinematic elements and styles. We collaborated with Steve Weiss and his great team at Zacuto Films on the first part of our film (Cast In Gray) in 2004, choosing the Panasonic AJ-HDC27 Varicam cinema package, which proved versatile in achieving a film look with overall image quality and colors in dominantly tertiary spectrum, sometimes more in a gray tonality, with black and white accents in lighting, production and costume design.

We sat down with Steve again in Summer 2007 as we prepped for shooting the second story of our film (More Like Black). At that time, the director and I were developing more choreography, with camera movement and angles driven by the dramaturgy of the story and character development, yet still continuing the overall image quality and color tonality.

Our budget was limited and we were prepping for a two-camera shoot on this one. Steve recommended the new Panasonic AG-HPX500. Zacuto’s package included superior optics with Canon HD cine zoom lenses, plus prime lenses, and Zacuto’s famous support systems. This package, with camera setups for film look, and some effects filtration to soften the video edges, gave us satisfactory results on our Panasonic 17” HD monitor as our image reference. The four on-board 16GB P2 cards (40 mins. of uninterrupted recording in 720/24p mode) gave us 160 mins. of filming capability. The cards were immediately downloaded and first rough cuts were done on location for dailies and other needs. During prep and testing, I discovered that the camera’s relative sensitivity put it at an 800ASA rating which helped in night exterior scenes including available lighting and adding minimum film lighting to preserve the atmosphere and style of the scenes."


"The next and final shoot for our film is in the works and we are confident the pros at Zacuto will see to our needs in what is of utmost importance for me… image quality delivered in tandem with the cinematic goals of our entire team."

“Once again Sasha proves that it's people and not equipment that make great images.  Sure, It's great when you have fantastic technology and the tools and accessories to be able to make the camera do what you want it to.  But it is his skillful work as a DP, a painter with light and movement, that makes his images beautiful to watch, no matter what camera he uses. Don't believe me, check out the clips.”

“Cast of Gray-The first production was shot with the Varicam. Gray in White and Black-The second part was shot with the HPX500. To me each has the look of film and I think Sasha did a wonderful job of pushing each of these camera platforms into producing the images he needed."