(PARK RIDGE, N.J., Dec. 13, 2006) The concept of the new reality show/documentary "Dream Science Classroom" is to deliver one teacher's wish list of technology for the classroom. The show's producers also got their wish with Sony’s XDCAM® HD Professional Disc™ System.
The program debuted on The Science Channel in November. It will be re-broadcast on Wednesday, Dec. 13 in high definition on The Discovery Channel’s HD Theater at 9 p.m.
Before production began, the producers searched for outstanding middle school science teachers across the country. They ultimately chose Brad Edwards, a seventh grade teacher in Rahway, N.J. Once chosen, the show’s premise was set in motion.
Edwards’ students worked during their off-hours to help completely gut their classroom and construct a new state-of-the-art facility, revealed in the final episode. Through the course of production, interviews were conducted with students and school personnel using Sony XDCAM and HDV™ camcorders, with footage inter-cut for the final broadcast.
Director Eli Kabillio of Mad Dog Films, the production company for the show, said using the professional XDCAM HD system was highly effective, especially since it is a preferred format for the Discovery Channel.
Kabillio and his team, including Dave Sperling, director of photography, said the blue laser disc-based system’s file transfer feature and use of proxy video made the production process faster and easier.
“I’ve never had this much freedom on the set,” Kabillio said. “We would shoot that day’s footage, I’d transfer the files into my laptop as proxy video, and then I’d take those proxies home with me and review what I had. I could start building the storyline in my head while the editors were working with the high-res content, and when we’d all meet the next morning, we could sync everything up.”
Kabillio said the system also allowed for multiple members of the crew to share the footage.
“I could be reviewing clips, the composers could be working on the soundtrack and the editors working on dialogue,” he said. “Plus the images that the camera produced using the MPEG codec looked great.”
Kabillio said the camera’s flexibility was a perfect match for the show’s “on-the-go” style of shooting.
“We recorded interviews in the classroom, in peoples’ cars, around town – we were constantly on the go,” he said. “We needed to be mobile and the ability to quickly review what we just shot as thumbnails on the LCD screen, without having to lug a separate monitor around, was a huge benefit.”
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