Harvesting the High Plains

Producer Sydney Duvall and cinematographer Jay Kriss, part of the production team at Inspirit Creative are currently in production on Harvesting the High Plains, a feature-length documentary being shot for public television. A period piece focusing on the development of the wheat industry in western Kansas, it tells the tale of how the great American desert was transformed into the breadbasket of the world.

With 32 years of DP and camera experience, cinematographer Kriss purchased a Fujinon HAe10x10 E-Series digital cinema zoom lens with this project and others like it in mind. He’s using the HAe10x10 primarily with the Panasonic AJ-HP3700 P2 HD VariCam.

“With the Fujinon HAe10x10, we’re changing the way we produce our work for features and television,” says Kriss. “The glass is where it all begins, and this Fujinon lens raises the production value our work by a factor of 100. For a project like this, depth of field is very important along with the speed of the lens. The HAe10x10 is an extremely fast lens and it opens opportunities for us that are amazing.”
 

Duvall is enthusiastic about the dramatically different look the new lens is providing. “It’s unprecedented,” she says. “Hopefully, with this lens, we’re going to be a trendsetter and bring some new energy into the industry by getting back to what filmmaking is all about – the quality of the image.”
 


Inspirit Creative bought the camera package through Digital Video Group out of Mechanicsville, Virginia. For Kriss and Inspirit Creative, capturing the highest quality image is of paramount importance.

“We want to adjust our image at the lens as opposed to using programs inside the camera – or worse, fixing it in post production,” says Kriss. “The only way to do that is with an extremely high quality lens. Our goal is to develop a lens package, led by the Fujinon HAe10x10, that allows us to take the image to the next level.” 
 


In addition to documentaries and features, Inspirit Creative shoots an enormous amount of stock footage for cinematic purposes. For the next two years, Kriss will be shooting all over the country for stock clients including Framepool and Global ImageWorks.

“The Fujinon HAe10x10 allows us to shoot images that can easily be integrated with 35mm film, 16mm film, or any of the HD formats that are out there in standard compression,” he says. “The nice thing about having this package is that is makes us independent. We don’t have to go down to the rental house for a lens. We’re set and ready to roll.”

Digital Video Group www.digitalvideogroup.com
Fujinon www.fujinonbroadcast.com
Jay Kriss Film www.jaykrissfilmhd.com