Reel World: Paul Middleton Talks Canon 7D and the Future of Documentaries

                                                                      Photo Courtesy of Jon Connor

I sat down with television director/producer Paul Middleton on the set of the documentary "The Greatest Ever" which was being filmed in New York City exclusively on the Canon 7D. Stay up to date with his latest and follow Paul Middleton on twitter @middster.

Canon Filmmakers: Tell me a little about your background in television

Paul Middleton: I presume you could say my background is old school. Started as a runner in  a post production house not having much of a clue what I was doing. I then managed,somehow,to wangle my way into the BBC where I moved up the ranks: runner, researcher, AP until,I finally got my dream job working in the sports department. I worked there for a few years in London. I got to work on amazing sporting events from the Olympics to boxing in Las Vegas.
I then moved to Bristol where I worked on a variety of sports documentaries.After more than 10 years at the BBC, I thought it was time to venture into the big bad wide world on my own."
 
CF: On your latest project "The Greatest Ever" what made you want to shoot it on the Canon 7D?

PM: The executive producer on the project David McConachie (Queensbury Media) had told me he wanted to shoot on DSLR's to give a filmic look to it. We also wanted to give it a feel to take it away from the standard look of these types of documentaries. He showed me some work by Philip Bloom which looked fantastic and had been shot on DSLR's, which helped us make our decision."
 
CF: How did the Canon 7D work out in your opinion?

PM : "The 7D was fantastic and gave an amazing look! The one limitation, which I was aware of, was the lack of constant recording time. Most of the shooting was interview based, so the break in recording did not pose too much of a problem."

CF:  Do you plan on using the 7D for future shoots?

PM: "Wherever possible, I would definitely use the 7D again without question! I think shooting on the 7D is  a bit of an unknown concept, which I actually like. I am not sure if everyone used it, that it would be that exciting to film on it. I think at the moment the more 'risky' film makers would use it and have confidence in the end product."

CF: Do you feel that DSLR's are going to have an impact in your line of work?

PM: "They may, but I think on specific programmes where a limited recording time is not a problem. They would certainly make amazing promos, short films and with the right planning could be used on full length documentaries."

CF: If you had to rate the 7D from one to ten on this shoot what would you give it?

PM: "I personally would rate it as close to 10 as you can get (nothing is perfect!) As I mentioned earlier the only limitation I found was the stopping every 12 minutes when recording, which could possibly interrupt the flow of an interview. However, the look it gives is simply stunning and more than compensates for any small limitations. I think especially in a city like New York the portability and unobtrusiveness of the camera allows you to film  in places a larger camera may not, due to the attention it may draw. Also in low light the 7D outperforms any video camera I have used which is another bonus and saves carrying a massive lighting kit. Of course, one other super important thing is to have very good filmmakers operating the camera."