Rocha, who also worked as an animator on LOS ANGELES NOW, is one of the most talented young cinematographers and animators working in independent cinema in the Americas. He has photographed numerous award-winning American and Mexican films, including Maldano Miracle, The Velocity of Gary, Skipped Parts, Picture Bride, The Whole Wide World, Principio y Fin, Bajo California: Limite de Tiempo, and Ancient Cities of Mexico, a documentary series produced by C/Producciones in cooperation with the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. Rocha has also collaborated with LOS ANGELES NOW director Phillip Rodriguez on Mixed Feelings: San Diego/Tijuana. His most recent project is shooting Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, a feature film starring Dame Joan Plowright.

Quotes from Claudio Rocha, Director of Photography

By employing a high-definition format, LOS ANGELES NOW uses creative visuals and computer-generated imagery to evoke L.A.’s vast array of moods and rhythms. In making LOS ANGELES NOW, Director of Photography Claudio Rocha used a Panasonic Varicam HD cinema camera to push the boundaries of video, turn L.A. into a horizontal city and capture its famous sprawl. Find out more about Rocha’s photography work on LOS ANGELES NOW by reading his thoughts about the technique below.

On location
In making LOS ANGELES NOW, Rocha shot both in a helicopter and in moving cars: “In the cars, we used a bungee cord rig to stabilize the camera, and fed the camera through the car’s 12V battery. We were really able to explore and make decisions as we went along. I don’t think I’d ever shoot a documentary on film again, not when HD lets you economically shot more than 100 hours for a 60-minute show.”

On style
“We had three different interview styles, all facilitated by the camera: very controlled, traditional sit-downs; interviews shot against a green screen, where we’d play with a fantastic backdrop in post; and shorter, on-the-street interviews.”

On color and creativity
Shooting in high-definition "produces colors that are really true to life. It’s easy to play with the menu, and it encourages your creativity. The camera is so sensitive to light—with a little bit of gain, the camera sees things you wouldn’t see with the naked eye. In one instance, we shot at night with available light, using long 35mm lenses—we got results that couldn’t even be achieved with film.”

On form
Shooting in high-definition would “allow us to play with the form as much as possible, plus give us the flexibility of shooting from 4 to 60-fps in one-frame increments. We made great use of in-camera effects, shooting at low speeds, then speeding it up by playing through the frame converter. We’d shoot at 5-fps, then play in real time for strobe-like effects.”

Learn more about high-definition television >>

Source:
Panasonic News: “Independent Lens’s Los Angeles Now, Upcoming PBS Documentary, Captured With Panasonic’s Varicam HD Cinema Camera”