House Season Finale Filmed Entirely with Canon 5D Mark II

by Michael Zhang on April 9, 2010
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The season finale of the popular TV show House, which will air on May 17th, was filmed entirely with the Canon 5D Mark II. cinema5D overheard the plan last month and Greg Yaitanes, the director of the show, has confirmed it through a tweet in which we made himself open to questions.

We’ll republish some of the interesting questions and answers here, interview style:

@MVRamunno: What is the difference in how it looks on a TV screen compared to a regular camera?

Greg Yaitanes: richer. shallow focus pulls the actors faces to forground [sic]

@oamad0101: How many frames per second and why a Canon 5D Mark II?

GY: 24p and wanted it for ease of use in tight spaces.

@unikissa: Ok, seriously. Can you tell us something about the lenses you used?

GY: all the canon primes and the 24-70 and the 70-200 zoom

@sarabury: Did you have to change any of your working practices to fit in with differences between the 5D and a typical setup?

GY: some. focus was hard with these lenses but more “cine-style” lenses are being made as we speak.

@marykir: were you using CF cards for storage or some sort of mass storage mod? seems like you would need a lot of cards :)

GY: some 18gb or something like that card. gave us 22 min of footage.

@Drdiagnostic: How was the quality as compared 2 the traditional camera used in shooting?

GY: i loved it and feel it’s the future. cameras that can give you these looks

@klizma: How did you manage to stabilize the camera in tight spaces? Any special kind of brackets?

GY: no. mostly gave it a hand held feel. or on a small tripod

This is quite an endorsement for Canon, with a network giant entrusting the finale of one of its most popular shows to the 5D Mark II (which happens to be the first digital camera to take the Presidential portrait as well).

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about the popularity of the show:

In 2008, House was distributed in a total of 66 countries. With an audience of over 81.8 million worldwide, it was the most watched television show on the globe and far surpassed the viewership figures of the leading TV dramas the previous two years

If you haven’t yet, check out the short film, The Last 3 Minutes, which we posted earlier today. It was filmed with the same camera.

(via Canon 5D tips)

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QuBe 3 days ago
Oh man, studio camera companies must drop a pantload on this kinda news.
LOL!
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Genoskill 3 days ago
cool
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jeffdolan 2 days ago
This is exciting news for sure! It also made me remember that having this camera (or any) does not put my skill level on par with the folks of this caliber of show.

In other words, we can all get excited about getting the same golf clubs as Tiger Woods, but the clubs are not going to make up for a lack of skill or craft. They sure help us dream though!
1 person liked this comment.
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Michael 1 hour ago
We are all well aware that the director & cinematographers of this season's finale of House & those of the short film "The Last 3 Minutes" probably have a higher skill set than us.
I say if a camera like this can be put in the hands of every novice filmmaker or student filmmaker with no money to spend on the higher-end production cameras, we would really see wonders in the art of cinema. I just don't appreciate these types of comments that are judgmental and negative. And I'm sure if we all practiced with Tiger Woods' golf club we would all, in fact, become better golfers--because using a better tool will only produce better results, whether it is the novice using it or the professional.

This part is to you, jeffdolan, but just a little rant of mine:
I would also like to say--and this is mostly for all the film professors out there--that there is no harm in starting out with the best of the best. Don't give excuses for working with mediocre equipment so that it gives us the general understanding of the camera. Just admit that it costs too much to put the more expensive equipment in the hands of the novices because of the higher probability of damaged equipment. I completely believe in educating the student on the camera basics, and I also believe that film cameras should be used when starting to learn, because you can--in my opinion--walk away with a much better understand of lighting and how the lens works. But when you move to digital, it just makes sense to work with the best you can. Why give a film student a Canon G2 to use in his first digital film class when there much better cameras available--rant to Univ of Michigan film department, specifically
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Michael 1 hour ago
sorry, i meant "not to you, jeffdolan".
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jeffdolan 1 hour ago
Michael, I'm sorry you felt my comment was judgmental and negative. Not at all. I agree with you that we should use the best camera we can get and that the 5D Mark II is a groundbreaking camera that will certainly raise the art of cinema. I love this camera and am thrilled to see professionals embracing it.

I also know, however, that many starting off think it's all about the camera, the chip, the glass, etc, and they entirely miss the craft of filmmaking. I am more speaking to myself. My comment simply stands as a reminder. I'm sorry it struck a sensitive nerve for you. I meant it to be a positive encouraging kick in the butt.
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Geoff 22 minutes ago
Obviously, Michael, you're not a golfer.
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Splitterwiese 2 days ago
Great news. Can't wait to see the result.
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ebernik 4 hours ago
Over one year ago I shot a series of regional TV spots for local music store "World of Music" on the canon 5d mk11, before there was 24p added on and you had to fool the camera into holding exposure and all those other little work arounds. At the time DP's where saying, its not a video camera, it doesn't look pro, it's not this, its not that.
But it was what it was, a camera that image wise, was capable of producing some great stuff if used in the right context. Great to see its being used creativley and being embraced by Greg in a major show context. Can't wait to show this post to the nay-sayers. And cant wait to see one of my favorite shows, shot on my favorite camera.
Thanks also to my friend Joe@Blacksheep Mediafor the link.
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Daniel Brady 4 hours ago
Was sound handled the same? Could Greg comment on sound system used in combination with the Canon?

Certainly a great development for shooting flexibility and quality.
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Matt Perrott 3 hours ago
though maybe not applicable to this show, sound traditionally is handled by a separate and dedicated sound recorder/ist..
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Marius 2 hours ago
Any reason you don't like Capital letters.. capital - that's what they're called if you didn't know.
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Jim 2 hours ago
I wonder how they handle the soundman ie. keeping their boom out of the frame. Most big production cameras have a safe area inscribed on the display, so if the boom starts to wander into the frame someone can tug at their shorts. How is this handled with the 5DII?
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Scalesusa 1 hour ago
Many "How To" questions can be answered here.

http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/2010/02/24/so-wh...
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Tomas Gallucci 1 hour ago
I hope that there is a real featurette dedicated to the shooting of this episode included on the boxset.
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Fireye 1 hour ago
I don't believe that there is any "safe frame" in the regular 5DII firmware. I'm pretty darn sure that you can add it with the modified video-friendly firmware Magic Lantern:
http://magiclantern.wikia.com/wiki/Magic_Lanter...
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Andrew Higgins 35 minutes ago
Lets not forget the huge equipment cost saving that shooting with a £2k Canon will have. Could be a milestone moment for TV 'Hollywood' production. Leno on a D90 next? ;-)
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Name 17 minutes ago
...this smells awful bad. "Something like an 18GB card"? Come on.

The responses are awful trite and simplistic for a guy who is head of cinematography for one of Fox's leading shows.
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Jesse 15 minutes ago
Leno could be shot on a Flip video camera. Bring back Conan and bill it as the first late night show shot on a DSLR. haha
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Reactions

hcpizzi5 hours ago
house season finale filmed with canon 5d mark ii http://bit.ly/cKVjb1
From twitter via BackType
than_antho5 hours ago
Dr. House shot entirely with Canon 5D? I am going to start my own series i think! http://tinyurl.com/ya7ge25
From twitter via BackType
dchest5 hours ago
RT @alley_oop: RT @petapixel House Season Finale Filmed Entirely with Canon 5D Mark II http://bit.ly/9W4rfk
From twitter via BackType
DennisLaumen5 hours ago
@pmjdebruijn omdat je House en Canon fanboy bent. http://bit.ly/bHiCk0
From twitter via BackType
SThunder5 hours ago
RT @petapixel House Season Finale Filmed Entirely with Canon 5D Mark II http://bit.ly/9W4rfk
From twitter via BackType
One more retweet from alley_oop
AdrienBrault6 hours ago
RT @CanonFrance: Dr House: le dernier épisode de cette saison tourné entièrement en EOS 5D Mark II ! Itw du réal: http://j.mp/cb0Lri (vi ...
From twitter via BackType
don_s6 hours ago
How cool is that... The big boys starting to shoot video with Canon's 5D http://bit.ly/cb0Lri
From twitter via BackType
Umpa6 hours ago
RT @autoy: El capítulo final de la temporada de House será grabado íntegramente con 5D MKII http://bit.ly/cb0Lri
From twitter via BackType
welshtog6 hours ago
House Filmed Entirely #Canon 5D MkII - http://bit.ly/cLnL3b #togs
From twitter via BackType
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