March 31, 2009
Judi Krant's directorial debut feature Made in China won the Grand Jury Award in the narrative feature competition at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival, which ran through March 21 in Austin, Texas. The project was shot in its entirety with a Panasonic AG-HVX200 P2 HD handheld camcorder on location in Texas and Shanghai. 
Krant and videographer Petter Eldin set up with the HVX200 in a Chinese factory.
Made in China, which premiered at the festival, follows a Texas novelty inventor, Johnson, who travels to Shanghai. Determined to bring his big idea, a humorous “domestic hygiene product,” to an awaiting public, Johnson journeys to the mecca of the novelty world, where anything is possible and everything has its price. 
“Shooting a low-budget indie in mainland China guerrilla-style is a fairly dicey proposition,” said filmmaker Krant, who shares the screenwriting credit. “The HVX200 allowed us to be nimble and efficient while filming in the busy streets of Shanghai.”
“We shot for 15 days in Shanghai and five in Texas, and everyday we were constantly moving,” Krant continued. “We covered at least 25 locations in Shanghai alone, and about 10 in Texas. There was a lot of sweat involved.” 
“My DP (Petter Eldin) and I did considerable research before choosing the HVX200,” Krant said. “I was thrilled to find a camera within our budget that would shoot HD quality and at 24 fps. You always want the best image acquisition you can afford and, working on a micro-budget, we were delighted by the picture quality we achieved with the HVX200.”
Made in China was shot at 720/24fps, with many of the set-ups using natural light. The feature was edited in Final Cut Pro, and digitally projected at SXSW.
“Throughout the festival, we had very favorable comments on how high the production values of Made in China are, and the Grand Jury Award was, of course, the ultimate compliment,” Krant added.
| COMMENTS (1) | | 04/05/2009 | | Hopefully this is first of many awards for Made in China. Wonderful article and it is good to say that HVX-200 is still hanging in there after all these years (technologically speaking). |
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