OverDrive Media Group

We have received numerous requests from people inquiring about our filming and editing equipment, and we have therefore decided to create this page to help people for research purposes or just plain curiosity.

All videos produced by OverDrive Media Group are filmed in full 1080/50i HD (1080 lines of vertical resolution, 50 interlaced frames per second - PAL format) using a Sony HDR-SR12 camera (a Sony HDR-SR10 was also used as a second camera for production of 2WO FO4R ZER0). The Sony chosen for their small size and good overall picture quality, making it very versatile and easy to transport in-the-field. The SR12 records to a hard disk drive (HDD) which allows us to capture hours of footage without changing tapes, and enables us to transfer files to a computer quickly and easily. We are planning on purchasing a Sony NXCAM or a Red Scarlet in the future for even better picture quality, and we will keep the Sony SR12 as a B-roll cameras where a small size is vital (such as filming from trees or underneath Northshore structures. Our HDR-SR12 is set up to record at HD FH @ 16MBps in the AVCHD format, which is the highest available bitrate for this camcorder, and it also records in the xvYCC colour gamut, which offers better colour reproduction than can be obtained by using the standard RGB gamut.

Felix's Sony HDR-SR12 shown above and below - the main camera used for our videos. Fitted with a Rode Stereo VideoMic and shown on a Manfrotto 028B tripod with Manfrotto 701HDV video head (click on picures to view them full-size). 

A 37mm Fujiyama Circular Polarizing Filter is fitted to Felix's SR12, to increase colour contrast and saturation, which helps create more visually pleasing videos. Also mounted is a Mennon DV-S 37mm Lens Hood, which prevents light from entering the lens at unwanted angles and reflecting inside (creating distracting video artifacts), as well as protecting the lens itself from damage.

A Rode Stereo VideoMic is also fitted to our camera for better clarity for in-field interviews and a more immersive overall viewer experience by capturing ambient sound in full stereo. Voiceovers are done in Felix's Recording Studio using a host of different hardware and software, the details of which are beyond the scope of this article.

We use a GoPro Helmet Hero Wide camera for on-board and helmet-mounted shots. The GoPro has a wide-angle lens and records to 2GB SD cards which enables easy footage transfer to a computer.

Our main tripod is a Manfrotto 028B with a Manfrotto 701 HDV Fluid Video Head. This extremely versatile tripod allows us to shot from as low as 85cm to as high as 2.2m, giving us a lot of creative freedom. It is also the basis of our crane. We also have an assortment of small keyring-type tripods designed for desktop use, which are only used for static shots that need to be extremely low to the ground, such as underneath jumps. We have a variety of other rigs available to us, including a cable cam, dolly, and crane. These are all hand-built by Felix, and are constantly being upgraded and improved. These three rigs allow us to shoot very professional and interesting shots, enhancing the viewer experience. 2WO FO4R ZER0, our first video, was filmed with our old tripod - a Velbon P-Max with still photography head, which is why our active (moving) shots were not smooth and precise.

Once we have captured our footage, we download the raw AVCHD files via USB to Felix's editing platform - a custom-built Quad-Core Dell Precision T5500 designed for video editing, running on Windows 7 with 12GB of RAM. All the footage is edited using Adobe's Master Collection CS4 Suite, which includes Premiere Pro, After Effects, Encore, and more industry-standard software for video editing, without which none of our videos would be possible. Once editing is complete, the videos are then encoded in full 1920 x 1080 HD 25p in the MPEG2 encoding format at 15,000KBps as a master for viewing on TVs. For online playback we encode the videos in 1280 x 720 HD 25p in MPEG2 at 8,000KBps. (we also use different formats for burning to Blu-Ray Discs or DVDs).