This past weekend, I had the pleasure of once again making the trek out to Metuchen, NJ to participate in a Misplaced Planet production. This was notable for a few reasons. This marked my first time in front of the camera in almost 5 years (that’s me with the astronaut). Also, when its finished, “Security Deposit” will be the first Misplaced Planet production to be shot entirely in High Definition.

When I was in film school, my camera, a Sony TRV900, was the envy of all of my friends. But that was almost a decade ago! I’m talking way back in the day when people rode to the market in their horseless carriages and cameras used things like “video tapes”. Back in the late 90s, if you wanted to transfer your footage to your computer, you first needed to go through and log whatever clips you wanted. Then you had to wait as your computer played through it all in real time. Hell, why do I even bother? Most of you probably weren’t even born yet!

The camera we used this Sunday, a Panasonic AG-HVX200, uses solid state p2 cards, not tape. Every hour or so, we would take a break for a few minutes and they would dump all the footage to a laptop. When our director got home, he didn’t need to sift through hours of tape. He just pulled up the clips and started reviewing them right away. He hopes to have us a rough cut in another day or so. With any luck, we may have a final cut in the same amount of time it used to take us just to capture the footage!

Now, I’m a fairly tech savy person, so its pretty hard to make me feel old. Still, as I watched the director and DP review takes by scrolling through thumbnails on the camera’s LCD screen, I have to admit it made my angina act up.

Such is progress.

About The Author - My name is Stirling McLaughlin. I am married. I am an Art Director, Designer and Illustrator. I work at Atmosphere BBDO. I have lots of ideas. I have a baby girl named Nika Bean. I live in New York City. When I was in college, they put me on TV because I wore a mask and yelled at people. I have a reality show that I wil be starting… any day now. - See My Portfolio