BINGO! was shot primarily with a SONY VX-1000, a CP-16, and several Hi8 and 8mm video cameras.

Originally the project was to be shot and edited on film, using the CP-16 and a Steenbeck Flatbed. But when the owner the production camera, (the CP-16) took it to LA to finish his feature we found ourselves in a bind. With only one week before we were to set sail on the World Championship Bingo Cruise, we were without a camera.

At this time the VX-1000 was begining to make a name for itself as a surprisingly good prodution camera for the cost but firewire technology was more hearsay and gossip than anything tangible. We were able to get a VX-1000 rental through a local grant in Seattle and we spent 7 days in the Caribbean introducing ourselves with the medium that was soon to make our documentary come to life.

The results were impressive. Our shooting ratio skyrocketed. We could now shoot and record synchronous sound with our Audio Technica 4071a long shotgun mic hooked directly into the camera (via a phantom power box) and leave our DAT behind. Our interviews became more intimate, and gaining access to events and locations was never again a problem with this small unassuming camera.

Shortly after we returned from the cruise firewire had arrived and a new Digital Editing program from Radius(now Digital Origin) called EditDV 1.0 was now available. We decided to go ahead and invest in our own VX-1000 and loaded EditDV onto our Mac (at that time a UMAX C500) effectively creating our own post facility.

We continued to shoot the rest of the project with the VX-1000 and edited it completely on a Macintoch beige G3 running EditDV software. Audio was edited in BIAS Peak le as well as within EditDV. The only process done outside of the computer was a Tape to Tape Color transfer done at Flying Spot in Seattle.

For more specs on the equipment we used to make BINGO! Click Here.