Do cellphone batteries come precharged, or do you have to charge them up yourself? Is it the same for video cameras?
The video camera used was a Panasonic HVX200. Our friends at IMDB have kind of answered the question in regards to its battery life.
QUOTE
How does the camera's battery last for seven hours or more? It doesn't. The camera is turned on and off many times throughout the night (a seven-hour period), which preserves the battery life for a cumulative recording time of about 74 minutes.
The entire movie is (within the fictional realm of the story) nothing but raw footage from digital video card(s) recorded on a single video camera (the camera used, a Panasonic HVX200, uses 1 to 2 digital P2 cards for recording -- although many high-end cameras, like the Sony F23, were used during filming, they were not the ostensible camera in the movie universe). No one has edited the footage we're seeing. The cuts occur when Hud turns off the camera. We see pieces of "old footage" whenever Hud checks the recording, rewinds or fast-forwards it.
The battery only needs to last for as long as the movie does without credits--again, 74 minutes. A fully-charged camcorder battery will last longer than that.
>>>>This can be discredited due to the fact that P2 cards create new "files" for each new start and stopped clip. Thus the camera does not rewind when using P2 cards,. A clip is simply selected and then played, old existing footage is not overwritten, it is either uploaded to a computer or deleted to make more room. Furhermore P2 cards are VERY expensive, making it unlikely Rob would buy 2, let alone one large sized, which at their largest hold 16 gigs worth of video. Even on standard definition at the lowest recording quality this does not equal 84 mins of recording time. However, the HVX200 can be used with both standard definition and high definition tape (length up to 90 mins). This is how the footage would have been shot according to the film. Making the "one chunk" style we see in the film possible, making the length possible, and allowing for old footage to show through. More than likely the original tape was digitized, compressed and uploaded onto an SD card after the military had found it and that is also how the title footage was added onto the tape. This would be done as the tape would be reviewed many times and would eventually wear out. Transferring it onto an SD card would allow the footage to be watched over and over again without compromising the integrity of the footage.<<<<<<
I saw it, it was alright, I wouldn't want to see it again.