"24-7 Drama deliver a fantastic service” Sean Van Hales, Director of Photography

The second series of BBC One’s glossy drama Hotel Babylon commenced shooting in the summer, repeating the American style production values that made it so popular with the 16-24 market as much as older audiences. It is due to air in January 2007.
Production company Carnival Films has again assembled a strong crew and cast and has created all eight episodes of the new series in high definition.
HDW-750P camcorders were supplied by drama specialist outfit, 24-7 Drama, part of the Visual Impact group.
Hotel Babylon is shot on a set in a former supermarket warehouse in Buckinghamshire, which was specially built to allow Carnival to shoot scenes quickly and cost effectively. “The look is fast, simple and sexy,” says producer, Christopher Aird. “We treat HD almost identically to film. The only significant difference is that we have rushes immediately. The assistant editor does overnight dailies on Avid and it is there for the editor when he comes in the morning.”

Choosing HD was a no-brainer in the end

Aird says the move to go to HDCAM was first and foremost an aesthetic decision by him and executive producer, Graeth Neame, managing director of Carnival and former head of drama commissioning at the BBC. Financial considerations also played a part, as creating the same look with film would have been prohibitive.
“It was a no-brainer in the end,” Aird says. “As soon as we were thinking HD, if we’d gone back to film, we would have had to go to 35mm.”
Aird and Neame also choose their director of photography carefully; Sean Van Hales is one of the leading experts on shooting with HD in the country, having pioneered the BBC’s first outing with HDCAM in Rockface, and being responsible for several features and TV projects shot with the format.
Van Hales says he does not use an HD monitor on set. “I light through the viewfinder and that’s good enough for me. I think with HD, stand by the camera and look with your eye and if it looks bad with the eye, it will look bad with HD.”

They deliver exactly the right kit at the right time

Van Hales also praises the support provided by 24-7 Drama. “24-7 Drama deliver a fantastic service. Claire Wiles and Graham Hawkins are experienced in providing equipment for film and HD dramas. Graham can take an HD camera to bits and put it back together. And, because they are fully trained on film and HD, they know what production crews need and therefore deliver exactly the right kit at the right time.”
Aird sums up: “From the producer’s point of view, the good thing about using these cameras is they allow us to do the job quickly and shoot on schedule, as well as getting great looking results. It’s been a great eye opener and the one thing everyone said about this show is how good it looks.”