Sensory Productions Acquires New Production Package

Sensory Productions' new Production Package (click for full size)

As a growing company, we felt that it was time to step up our production value to the next level. Shooting standard definition, interlaced footage is quickly becoming a thing of the past, especially for a professional film and video production house like Sensory Productions. After a year and a half, we decided that it was time to upgrade to a broadcast quality HD package. After shopping around for suppliers, we chose Able Cine Tech after talking with Gregger Jones.

Sony PMW ex3

The lifeblood of this package was of course, the camera. Careful consideration went into choosing a camera that would fit our needs and our budget. In the end, we went with the Sony PMW EX3 for the following reasons:

1. 3 full 1920×1080 pixel sensors.
2. ½ inch sensors
3. switchable lenses
4. broadcast quality
5. frame rates from 1-60 frames per second
6. tapeless recording

Arri light kit

But no matter how good a camera is, an image won’t look great without good lighting. We chose an Arri 3 light kit with one 650 watt, one 300 watt, and one 150 watt Fresnel light. With the 300 watt Altman we already had, we now have a nice variety of lighting for most shooting situations.
As supplemental lights, we picked up 4 clip on lights from Ace Hardware for $10 each. With 150 watt bulbs in them, they put out some good fill light for backgrounds at a great price.

Field Recording Package

In film and video, the sound is just as, if not more important than the image. We put together an audio bag for external sound mixing and recording. The kit includes a Sound Design 302 3 channel professional field mixer, a Sennheiser ME66 Super Cardioid Shotgun Condenser microphone, an Samson wireless mic system, a Zoom H4N Mobile 4 Track recorder, and a power distribution system to power all of the gear from one battery. Along with a boom pole, a bag, and all of the cables we would need to make everything work nicely together, we now have a complete mobile sound recording studio.

With the main components taken care of, we could then focus on rounding out the package. For camera support, we chose the Sachtler 0750 FSB-8T tripod for it’s professional grade fluid head. We also invested in a hard camera case, lots of audio, video and electric cables, and plenty of extra batteries and SxS cards (which the Sony records to, and are still pretty pricey at $800 for 32 GB). Although there will always be more equipment to be acquired, we now have what it takes to create some stunning image and sound. Mix that up with Sensory Productions creativity, and you’ve got a recipe for cool.