Portapak

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Portapak was the first portable video recording device. The first Portapak-type video recorder was the Sony DV-2400 Video Rover, which allowed a single person to record video in the field. From A History of Camcorders:

"The first ”portable” video system, this two-piece set consisted of a large B&W camera and a separate record-only helical ½” VCR unit. It required a Sony CV series VTR to play back the video. Even thought it was clunky and heavy, it was light enough for a single person to carry it around. However, it was usually operated by a crew of two - One shot the camera and one carried and operated the VCR part."

Some credit the advent of the Portapak with a blossoming of Video art.

Lord of the Universe (documentary), which won a 1974 DuPont-Columbia_Award^[1]^[2]^[3], was the first Portapak documentary produced for national television^[4].

[edit] Bibliography

"History of Camcorders," by Mark Shapiro, Internet Video Magazine, 2002

[edit] References

^ DuPont-Columbia_Award, Columbia University, The Journalism School, The Lord of the Universe
The Lord of the Universe, Subject: RELIGION, News Organization: TVTV, Awarded: 1974, Summary, Silver baton. 16-year-old Guru Maharaj Ji and his American following at a three day spiritual festival. Producer: David Loxton., Jurors' Comments, TVTV and WNET/13’s "The Lord of the Universe," a 60-minute report on Guru Maharaj Ji, was, according to the jurors, hectic, hilarious and not a little disquieting. With a heavier and less sure hand, the subject would have been squashed beneath the reporters’ irony or contempt. As it was, cult religion was handed to us, live and quivering, to make of it what we would., Original Air Date: 2/24/1974 Total Running Time: 01:00:00, Archive Number: 1973/74.9.TV
^ Lord of the Universe, Video Data Bank, retrieved 1/18/07.
^ Electronic Arts Intermix, "The Lord of the Universe", 1974, TVTV, retrieved 1/18/06.
Awarded the Alfred I. du Pont/Columbia University Award in Broadcast Journalism, The Lord of the Universe is a forceful expose on the sixteen-year-old Guru Maharaj Ji and the national gathering of his followers at the Houston Astrodome -- Millennium 73, billed as the "most significant event in the history of humanity."
^ Top Value Television, biography, 2007, Electronic Arts Intermix.
TVTV's innovative verite journalism included an award-winning expose on the Guru Maharaj Ji and his followers, The Lord of the Universe (1974), which was the first Portapak video documentary produced for national television.