Macs and DV cameras were used to produce a new special airing on The History Channel this weekend entitled The Personal Experience, Helicopter Warfare in Vietnam . That’s the word from Nancy Eaton, writing for Apple in a recently posted feature called Pilots Document Vietnam War.
Storyteller Films, which produced the special, used source material shot by soldiers fighting the Vietnam War more than 30 years ago using amateur Super8 cameras. They also used a JVC DV camcorder to record interviews with Vietnam vets who recounted their experiences in the war-torn country.
The show was put together on a Power Mac G4 equipped with Final Cut Pro, and some material was also culled for the special using a PowerBook and a scanner. The Super8 source was transferred to DV-cam and Digi-Beta just as a backup, in case the DV-cam footage turned out to be unusable. Producer Jamie Thompson said that the Digi-Beta transfer turned out to be unnecessary.
“It was all pretty seamless and out of the box using the Macintosh. I digitized it in, edited, made a print to video, made a master on DV-cam. I took that, had that transferred to Digi-Beta, which is the medium you have to deliver in, because networks aren’t set up to broadcast from DV yet. I did a Digi-Beta to Digi-Beta color correction and that was it. Sent in the tape, and everyone was delighted,” said Thompson.
If you don’t get The History Channel, the show is also available to purchase on video. More details can be read on Apple’s Web site.