Documenting Rock Stars in the Making at Paul Green's School of Rock Music
PHILADELPHIA, PA (Oct. 01, 2003) -- Fledging rock musicians traditionally begin by taking music lessons, then join friends to start a band, and finally set off playing in front of tiny audiences at local clubs. In center city Philadelphia, the route to rock-and-roll stardom is being perfected at the Paul Green School of Rock Music.
The six-year-old after-school school, with an enrollment of 135 kids from ages 10 to 17, is run by 30-year-old Paul Green, an accomplished guitar player, former rebellious teen and new Ivy League graduate (University of Pennsylvania). This interactive music school charges $100-a-month in tuition to teach kids the hard work of playing old- fashioned rock'n'roll. During the kids' rock schooling, they learn how to play instruments, follow an arrangement, play with others, and perform before large, live audiences. The school's goal is to train the kids to perform the songs of rock's legends - the Beatles, Journey, Foreigner, Styx, Boston, Frank Zappa, Santana, Kansas, Peter Frampton, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, The Who -- before well-attended student concerts, which are well-known citywide.[an error occurred while processing this directive]
"I saw these bright, attractive, wheat-plastered posters all over Philly promoting the Rock School's concerts and I wondered what the school was about. When I met Paul Green and learned that he was teaching kids how to be rock's next stars, I knew it would make an interesting subject for a documentary," said Don Argott, producer/director of photography of 9.14 Pictures, Philadelphia, who is producing the full-length documentary on the rock-stars-in-training school. Argott, who has extensive experience shooting short films, commercials, and corporate videos, owned a JVC GY-DV500 DV camcorder at the time he began shooting "Rock School," but decided to leave that camera at home in favor of Panasonic's AG-DVX100 24p mini-DV camcorder. "With months of shooting involved, there's no way I wanted to create this documentary to 'look and feel' like it was shot in video. So I went with the -DVX100 and its 24p look, and my shooting experience has been outstanding. I cannot say enough good things about it. For its low cost and the film-look it produces, it's just amazing," he added.
Shooting for the "Rock School" documentary started in January and culminated at the end of July, when Argott traveled to Germany to capture the kids playing a Frank Zappa tribute concert in that country. Over this seven-month period, Argott shot more than 90-plus hours with the AG-DVX100 (with Century Optics wide angle lens) at the school, at concert venues and in the kids' homes. Argott's documentary will profile eight kids as they learn from and train with Paul Green in their quest to be rock performers. "The nine kids being profiled are serious musicians; these kids can perform note-perfect renditions of some of rock's most classic songs," Argott explained. "When I'm shooting at the school or in the kids' homes, it's run-and-gun type shooting, but when the kids perform in concert before hundreds of people, I've increased my production values. I've tried to model the concerts' production after the high values of the classic rock movie, 'The Last Waltz.' I've attached film-style accessories, like dollies, cranes and jib arms, to the AG-DVX100 during shooting."
Selecting the AG-DVX100 for "Rock School" In describing his selection of the AG-DVX100, Argott, said, "I saw a sample of the AG-DVX100 at NAB 2002 and was intrigued, so when my local rental company acquired one, I did a test by shooting a local political spot. My mouth dropped open when I saw the quality of the pictures this compact camcorder produced. I was blown away. "I have shot film for many years and have always been good at being able to pick out the differences between what was shot in video and film. But I was amazed by the image quality of the AG-DVX100, my filmmaking colleagues were completely fooled; they were certain I was shooting film." Argott said one of the -DVX100's most impressive features is its low-light capabilities. "Most days, I'm shooting run-and-gun with the DVX100 in rooms with less-than-perfect lighting situations, but I'm continually impressed with the camera's performance under these conditions." Argott intends to market the documentary as a feature-length film, but he would also re-cut it into a mini-series for television if there's interest. His biggest challenge is editing his 90-plus hours of footage down to a cohesive feature-length documentary. He's currently using Final Cut Pro 3.0 for editing, and will upgrade to the new 4.0 version to finish the project.
In addition to "Rock School," Argott is shooting two other documentaries with the AG-DVX100 this year. He recently returned from Las Vegas, where he shot footage for a documentary on celebrity impersonators.
Argott, who earns his "bread and butter" by shooting commercials and political spots, said he's shot seven local political spots with the -DVX100 and for every candidate he's shot a commercial for, they've won. "Yes, it's most likely a coincidence, but people who watch TV nowadays are accustomed to seeing million-dollar commercial spots and as soon as a low-budget, shot-on-video cable spot comes on the audience can see the difference. The DVX100 allows me to produce national-looking commercials on a local cable budget."
"The -DVX100 is able to capture the subtle film look, and its extensive features allow me to manipulate the image so well that it becomes really difficult to tell the difference between video and film. For television spots and documentaries, the -DVX100 is the perfect camera."
In conclusion, Argott said the -DVX100 allows him to be a highly-effective one-person production team. "Because the DVX100 is so non-imposing, I'm able to be virtually invisible to acquire those really intimate moments that wouldn't be possible with a larger film camera."
To see the trailer for "Rock School," visit www.914pictures.com. With a suggested list price of $3,795, Panasonic's ultra-compact 4.2-pound AG-DVX100 offers entirely new features and price performance levels, and is engineered to give shooters a single camcorder that captures in 60i to acquire standard video projects and in 24p to add the "look and feel" of film to their productions. To acquire stunning digital pictures, the AG-DVX100 is equipped with newly-developed 1/3" progressive-scan 410,000-pixel 3-CCD imagers to deliver more than 500 lines of horizontal resolution (nearly double that offered by VHS analog), low smear and flare, a low light performance of 3 lux (at +18dB) and a high sensitivity of f11 at 2000 lux. The native progressive CCDs eliminate interlace artifacts including horizontal jaggies and motion-edge tearing.
The well-balanced, ergonomically-designed AG-DVX100 features a precision wide-angle zoom lens (4.5mm to 45mm with a 56-degree viewing angle) and a host of manual controls to make subtle picture adjustments. Shooting with the AG-DVX100 is a breeze from overhead or from low angles with its two, easy-to-view displays - a large, centrally-located pivoting electronic viewfinder for left or right eye use, and a flip-out, 270-degree, 3.5" LCD panel. For more information on Panasonic's complete DV Cinema product line-up, visit www.panasonic.com/dvcinema
Panasonic Broadcast & Television Systems Co. is a leading supplier of broadcast, professional video and presentation products and systems. Panasonic Broadcast is a unit company of Matsushita Electric Corporation of America, the principal North America subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (NYSE: MC), one of the world's leading producers of electronic and electric products for consumer, business and industrial use. For more information on Panasonic Broadcast products, access the company's web site at www.panasonic.com/broadcast
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