CAPTURE SPECIAL P44
THE NEW FACE OF ACQUISITION IS HERE
February 2020
£4.99
AVENUE 5
Armando Iannucci’s multicam space comedy
TALENT SPOTTING
Are our skills keeping up with our content?
KIT & CONSERVATION A DEEP DIVE INTO SEVEN WORLDS, ONE PLANET
ALSO BSC EXPO PREVIEW | RETAIL SUCCESS | SSDS FOR DITS INSIDE JUST MERCY | ROSCO’S MIXBOOK REVIEW | CAMERA LISTINGS
definition_FEB20.indd 2
17/01/2020 14:52
W E LC O M E
BRIGHT PUBLISHING LTD, BRIGHT HOUSE, 82 HIGH STREET, SAWSTON, CAMBRIDGESHIRE CB22 3HJ UK EDITORIAL Editor Julian Mitchell julianmitchell@bright-publishing.com Staff writer Chelsea Fearnley Contributor Adam Duckworth and Adam Garstone Chief sub editor Beth Fletcher Senior sub editor Siobhan Godwood Sub editor Felicity Evans Junior sub editor Elisha Young ADVERTISING Group ad manager Sam Scott-Smith 01223 499457 samscott-smith@bright-publishing.com Sales manager Krishan Parmar 01223 499462 krishanparmar@bright-publishing.com Key accounts Nicki Mills 01223 499457 nickimills@bright-publishing.com Key accounts Helen Coston 01223 499461 helencoston@bright-publishing.com DESIGN Design director Andy Jennings Designer Bruce Richardson Ad production Man-Wai Wong PUBLISHING Managing directors Andy Brogden & Matt Pluck DIGITAL Head of digital content Daisy Dickinson MEDIA PARTNERS & SUPPORTERS OF
44
A quiet two-header shot circa 2020 – capture evolves
WELCOME
I
’m coining a new phrase and it’s ‘capture’. OK, it’s a word not a phrase, but its meaning perhaps reflects how high-end TV and movies are dealing with high-resolution video with a VFX element. De-ageing was a theme last year with Will Smith’s younger self chasing him around Cartagena in Gemini Man, Samuel Jackson being smoothed over in Captain Marvel and perhaps the most newsworthy de-ageing of them all was of those mean Italian American actors, De Niro, Pacino and Pesci. The Jackson and Smith captures followed a well-trod path, but The Irishman had to think outside the box. Also, don’t forget the ‘capture’ of the cinematography in The Lion King production and the ‘face-off’ technique used in Welcome To Marwen earlier last year. It’s a collective word that encapsulates all the techniques that funnel into that moment when ‘Action!’ is called. With virtual production, however, capture can be extended to changing the moment through game engine efficiencies. Capture can also describe camera-tracking techniques, LiDAR scanning and photogrammetry. You can also include previs, post-vis and tech-vis; even blocking scenes with Unity or Unreal engines can be seen as capturing a virtual set, for instance. You can throw AR and VR in there as well. I think it’ll be a while before a director shouts ‘Capture!’ as opposed to ‘Action!’ but the worlds of cinematography and VFX are continuing to merge.
JULIAN MITCHELL EDITOR
Definition is published monthly by Bright Publishing Ltd, Bright House, 82 High Street, Sawston, Cambridge CB22 3HJ. No part of this magazine can be used without prior written permission of Bright Publishing Ltd. Definition is a registered trademark of Bright Publishing Ltd. The advertisements published in Definition that have been written, designed or produced by employees of Bright Publishing Ltd remain the copyright of Bright Publishing Ltd and may not be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. Prices quoted in sterling, euros and US dollars are street prices, without tax, where available or converted using the exchange rate on the day the magazine went to press.
F E B R UA RY 2020 | D E F I N I T I O N
03
definition_FEB20.indd 4
17/01/2020 14:52
16
CONTENTS S E T- U P
06 TITLE SEQUENCE
Production shot from movie Just Mercy, a classic courtroom-battle talkie.
08 RETAIL SUCCESS
One year on from CVP’s experiment with its five-floor retail showroom.
10 BSC EXPO PREVIEW
For your journey around the year’s first highly anticipated trade show.
W I LDLI FE
16 KIT AND CONSERVATION
How technology and the art of field craft combined for Seven Worlds, One Planet.
32
CO M E DY
32 SPACE BLAST
Avenue 5 is a futuristic space comedy shot in a cinematic, multicamera world.
FE ATU RE S
44 CAPTURE SPECIAL
Discover the very latest cameras, the latest virtual techniques and the latest shooting platforms.
54 MAD SKILLS
It’s great that the UK is experiencing a glut of content creation, but is there enough skilled crew to cope with it?
6
44
54
10
63
G E A R TE S TS
63 ROSCO MIXBOOK
What if you could have a colour swatch book that actually generated light? It’s here.
66 CAMERA LISTINGS
Our unique camera listings now offer kit essentials and recommended accessories.
F E B R UA RY 2020 | D E F I N I T I O N
05
S E T- U P | P R E V I E W : B S C S H OW
BSC EXPO O N E S TO WATC H
PREVIEW 2020 Our first big show of the season is an important one where increasingly major product launches are happening
PICK UP A COPY OF
FROM OUR NEWS RACK OPPOSITE MOVIETECH, GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION AND OPTICAL SUPPORT
ANTON/BAUER antonbauer.com On Vitec’s stand is Anton/Bauer’s range of Titon ‘smart’ lithium-ion batteries, a good choice for filmmakers on the move, powering a wide range of gear on-set or out in the field. Titon batteries are available in V-Mount or Gold Mount and 90Wh and 150Wh models. They use Anton/Bauer’s mobile power technology, regardless of battery mounting or charge choice. With the on-board LCD or through your camera’s viewfinder, you will know exactly how much runtime remains, down to the minute. Titon smart technology considers and calculates everything being powered, even devices powered by the high-speed USB and P-Tap ports, leaving crews free to focus on the shoot. The batteries are lightweight, reliable and travel-safe. And high-quality cells in a tough and rugged case deliver consistent power to even the most demanding users in temperatures ranging from -20°C to 60°C.
ARRI arri.com The big news for Arri at the moment is the huge impact its Alexa Mini LF has had, especially as the main camera for the movie 1917. On its stand, there is going to be the new Mini LF and the Signature Primes – the combination that was used in the world war one film by DOP Roger Deakins. The renowned DOP often visits the BSC Expo if he isn’t working, so look out for that shock of silver hair bobbing around the show. Also on the stand is Arri’s new directional light unit, called Orbiter. The light has lots of firsts for the brand including the use of manually changeable optics, a new six-colour light engine called Spectra and its own operating system called LiOS (Lighting Operating System). Orbiter’s processor is four times as powerful as the SkyPanel’s with 125 times more memory. Get ready for plenty of new feature upgrades.
10
D E F I N I T I O N | F E B R UA RY 2020
P R E V I E W : B S C S H OW | S E T- U P
GFM g-f-m.net GFM has worked hard to become one of the leading manufacturers of high-end camera support equipment, catering to the needs of the international production community. With great passion, GFM produces its products in its own factory, which is based in Munich. This year, GFM returns to BSC to showcase its simple, yet elegant strap-bracing kit. On its booth you’ll see the GF-Multi Jib, GFM dollies, the popular GF-Slider System, shock absorbers and many more of its state-of-the-art products.
HAWK-WOODS hawkwoods.co.uk New for 2020 from Hawk-Woods is its Sony FX9 V-Lok camera mount 4x D-TAP. The VLM-FX9-15 is a 15mm bar adapter suited for the popular new camera from Sony, the FX9. Users have the benefit of 4x power-con (D-Tap) outputs 11-17 volts, allowing further equipment/accessories to be powered. A 1x 5v 2A USB is also available for powering or charging accessories, such as mobile phones. Power is provided via a short DC jack cable via the FX9’s DC input, which is regulated to 19.5v.
CANON canon.co.uk
RED red.com Available exclusively at Red authorised rental houses, Ranger is an integrated large format 8K camera system offering an all-in-one system for production use. Available in a Gold Mount or V-Lock variant, it features all of the benefits of the Monstro 8K VV sensor within a less complex platform for filmmakers. Features like integrated I/Os, 24v power out, shimmed PL Mount and improved thermal performance offer great versatility, as well as peace of mind in challenging shooting environments. The camera ships complete with necessary rigging and support for improved set-up time. With dimensions of 40.96x21.60mm (diag 46.31mm), Red Ranger is designed for fullframe lens coverage and its 8K resolution offers creative flexibility for content creators everywhere, giving cinematographers the cleanest and most natural imagery with unrivalled creative options. Also, a potential first on the stand could be the first look of Red’s new Komodo 6K camera, but this was to be confirmed at time of press.
Canon’s BSC booth this year is featuring two new cameras, the EOS C500 Mark II and the very new EOS-ID X Mark III. You’ll also be able to see Canon’s other cinema products, including the recently announced Sumire Prime cine lenses – the brand’s first prime cine lenses with a PL mount – offering a delicate, velvety nuance when the aperture is wide open, subtly modifying the textural renderings of the human face close-up. Visitors will also be able to get their hands on the UHDgc series of portable zoom 4K UHD broadcast lenses, the CJ18ex28B and CJ15ex8.5B; and highly compact 4K camcorders, XA55/50/A40. As always, experts will be on hand to answer any questions about all the exciting products on show at the Canon booth.
F E B R UA RY 2020 | D E F I N I T I O N
11
D O C U M E N TA RY | S E V E N WO R L DS , O N E P L A N E T
ON LOCATION Singing rhinos, skydiving walruses and jowl-thwacking seals. Producers Fredi Devas and Emma Napper reveal how they filmed the weird and wonderful for Seven Worlds, One Planet WORDS CHELSE A FE ARNLE Y / PICTURES BBC
16
D E F I N I T I O N | F E B R UA RY 2020
S E V E N W O R L DS , O N E P L A N E T | D O C U M E N TA RY
F E B R UA RY 2020 | D E F I N I T I O N
17
A DV E R T I S E M E N T F E AT U R E | S A M S U N G
LIFESAVER
FROM THE FUTURE The Samsung Portable SSD X5 is known for its speed, robustness and portability – and now it can add lifesaver to its USPs, as DIT Thomas Patrick discovers
THE WORLD OF the digital image technician was created by digital cinematography, but not by filmmaking. From this skewed start it became a crew job that defied categorisation, vilified by some but supported and nurtured by others. Now there are calls for more standardisation and accredited training as DITs look to practise their art further up the signal chain. The role of the DIT starts with the camera – working with the DOP and camera team to ascertain the objectives they have in choosing the specific camera system they’re planning to use. This includes assisting with camera set-ups, inspecting the images coming out of the camera, recording the data, making back-up copies and ensuring the right metadata is captured – checking all through the process that all the media recorded is in good order and correctly logged – it’s all part of what the DIT does.
CATS MOVIE Thomas Patrick is a very experienced DIT and works on a mixture of movies, highend television shows and commercials. One of those movies, Cats, is currently on worldwide release and was a very complicated shoot with terabytes of data being recorded and wrangled. Production took place at Leavesden Studios between December 2018 and April last year with cinematographer, Christopher Ross BSC, shooting with multiple cameras, and DIT Thomas Patrick working alongside him. Alec Garner and Patrick King operated the digital lab near-set and a digital service company supplied VFX pulls to the many companies around the world working on the visual effects. “Unfortunately, I didn’t have the Samsung Portable SSD X5 with me on the Cats shoot, but now I’m using it and love everything about it. I will definitely get some of these; it’s a great form factor,
30
looks very futuristic and is lightning fast,” says Patrick. The Samsung Portable SSD X5 design is actually inspired by a supercar, emphasising its performance and elegance through its dynamic and streamlined shape. With technological synergies between NVMe and Thunderbolt 3 technology, the Samsung portable drive offers incredible read/write speeds up to 2800/2300MB/s respectively. These are 5.2x/4.5x faster than Samsung’s SSD (SATA) and up to 25.5x/20.9x faster than a standard HDD. Patrick is also impressed with the security available for the Samsung Portable IMAGES DIT carts are rugged and mobile for on-set use, such as for colour grading, and is a home for high-end drives like the Samsung Portable SSD X5
D E F I N I T I O N | F E B R UA RY 2020
SSD X5 as this is very important for a high-end transfer drive such as this. With Samsung’s portable SSD software, the product securely protects your data. It provides optional password protection through its AES 256-bit hardware encryption.
LIFESAVER As the DIT on-set, Patrick has a vital ‘quality control’ role during production and is relied upon to flag up any problems with what’s being recorded. A thorough knowledge of cameras, recording formats and back-up systems is, therefore, essential, as is a full
S A M S U N G | A DV E R T I S E M E N T F E AT U R E
IMAGES The Samsung Portable SSD X5 was the fastest way Patrick could transfer his rushes
“The Samsung Portable SSD X5 was a lifesaver. I’ve decided to get at least one of these drives” understanding of the science of image capture, in terms of spatial and temporal resolution, how colour space works and can be manipulated. As we all know, you have to expect the unexpected in a production environment, but fortunately for Patrick he managed to come out of a recent highly stressful moment on a commercial shoot looking like the hero – and it was down to the Samsung Portable SSD X5 . He explains what happened: “I was using a system to transcode files and at the last minute the client on a commercial decided they wanted higher resolution files for review. To make high-resolution files for them, I had to move some rushes over to another system that was much more powerful and quicker to transcode from. It
was a lot quicker to move them and do them on another system than to just go slower on the original one. “These were big camera original files, which normally would have taken a while to move over and would have the client waiting to review them, which is never a great feeling. But with the Samsung Portable SSD X5, I was able to make a back-up and then move the files over to the new system very quickly. It definitely was a lifesaver and got me out of jail. You also then have a happy client, which is very important. “To add to the drama, I needed to get out of the location very quickly so without the Samsung portable drive it would have been an issue. This moment alone has made me decide to get at least one of these drives.”
Patrick is also happy with the Samsung Portable SSD X5 thermal management technology. Featuring Dynamic Thermal Guard, the portable drive maintains optimal temperature by operating speed. Its heat sink prevents overheating while the portable drive is in use, keeping the surface temperature below 45°.
FUTURE-PROOFING Patrick can see that the Samsung Portable SSD X5 would be of major use as an almost instant transfer of rushes to heads of departments. “We have to understand that the effects of different kinds of compression is important, too – knowing what can be used in certain applications – and what must be avoided. So we know which files and at what resolution have to go to people like the DOP,” he explains. “Selection of rushes takes a while, so to quicken that up with such a fast, portable drive makes you look impressive, especially at the end of the day.” Whatever Patrick goes on to next, whether it’s commercials, movies or TV shows, you can bet the smart-looking, secure and superfast Samsung Portable SSD X5 will be there with him.
MORE INFORMATION:
samsung.com/uk/portable-ssd
F E B R UA RY 2020 | D E F I N I T I O N
31
C O M E DY | AV E N U E 5
32
D E F I N I T I O N | F E B R UA RY 2020
AV E N U E 5 | C O M E DY
SPACE BLAST When DOP Eben Bolter got the job on Armando Iannucci’s new space comedy, he went from his normal single-camera drama to multicam cinematic improv W O R D S J U L I A N M I TC H E L L / P I C T U R E S H B O
F E B R UA RY 2020 | D E F I N I T I O N
33
F E AT U R E | C A P T U R E
STATE OF CAPTURE
AS THE VIRTUAL WORLD GAINS PROMINENCE IN OUR INDUSTRY, POINTING A CAMERA HAS NEVER BEEN SO COMPLICATED. WE LOOK AT THE LATEST WAYS TO CAPTURE TO HELP LIGHTEN THE LOAD W O R D S J U L I A N M I TC H E L L / P I C T U R E S VA R I O U S
44
D E F I N I T I O N | F E B R UA RY 2020
C A P T U R E | F E AT U R E
F E B R UA RY 2020 | D E F I N I T I O N
45
F E AT U R E | S K I L L S S H O R TAG E
SKILLS
WITH A PRODUCTION BOOM CURRENTLY UNDERWAY IN THE UK, WE ASKED SCREEN SKILLS – THE INDUSTRY-LED JOBS AND LEARNING ORGANISATION – IF THE TALENT POOL IS FILLING UP FAST ENOUGH W O R D S J U L I A N M I TC H E L L / P I C T U R E S VA R I O U S
I
n our last issue, we took the lid off the current production boom in Britain. On the swings and roundabouts of TV and film production, this is a good time; the SVOD movement is gaining a head of steam and whipping up all parallel industries, not least the crew and specialists we need to make this huge amount of programming. We wanted to find out if the pace of skills creation was in step with content creation, so we talked with head of Highend TV (HETV) at Screen Skills, Kaye Elliot, about what the organisation is doing to meet demand – and whether the industry has been caught on the back foot... “We are very busy and that’s brilliant – it’s fantastic that the industry is on such a growth trajectory. Obviously that brings challenges, and one of those is skills and having enough people. But it’s not just about
54
having more people, as we need to fill skills gaps concerning the new technologies emerging; and there are soft skills, jobs in people management or HR, for instance. “We’re looking at a whole host of skills in terms of gaps and, obviously, shortages,” explains Elliot. “Since this trajectory has gone at such a huge pace there haven’t been many pauses, so there hasn’t been an opportunity for people to have a re-stocking, to say, ‘Let’s get ourselves galvanised for the next stage’. This growth has been constant. She continues: “Some grades or jobs have been in demand more than others, roles such as accountants, location managers, line producers. Also in post and edit, particularly outside of London; it’s quite far- reaching as far as what the need is.”
D E F I N I T I O N | F E B R UA RY 2020
GALVANISING SKILLS Screen Skills operates hand-in-hand with the industry and ostensibly fill the skills gaps through its relationships with industry sectors. It runs numerous schemes through its site, which include courses (such as assistant directing) and events that promote key careers – like post and edit. Elliot explains the thinking: “We’re encouraging new entrants, and also people who may not have imagined the skills they have could be transferred into a career in post and edit. Our ‘working with post and edit outside London’ event concentrates on what the job actually entails, for example, and how people could move over. “We’ve done this for other grades, and at times realised placement opportunities and some classroom training to prompt that. We are trying to be as multi-faceted
S K I L L S S H O R TAG E | F E AT U R E
Screen Skills runs numerous schemes, which include courses and events that promote key careers as we can in terms of not just looking at traditional classroom training, but also experience of hands-on work. “We manage this by providing a subsidy to the production company, which we do a lot of. Actually, in HETV – the area I specifically look after – we have something called ‘Make a move’, which is here for any grade, post and edit included. It allows individuals in a company to step up in to a more senior role with some financial support. We find that this allows companies to unlock that risk, where they would like to try someone out in a higher position but haven’t the budget for it. We provide a bit of cash incentive and also oversee a training plan, whatever that might be – it could just be mentoring, it isn’t heavy handed.
F E B R UA RY 2020 | D E F I N I T I O N
55
R O S CO M I X B O O K | U S E R R E V I E W
ROSCO MIXBOOK PRICE £80/US$99/€89
In the new world of programmable LED lighting, having a quick and portable way of previsualising colours – like a digital swatch book – is a great idea W O R D S A DA M G A R S TO N E / P I C T U R E S R O S C O
n the 30 May 1916, British radio detection equipment noted a 1.5° movement in signals from the German naval fleet. It had set sail, hoping to lure out ships of the British Navy and destroy them. Forewarned, the British fleet slipped past the Kaiserliche submarine snare before it was ready, and engaged the Germans the next day at the Battle
IMAGES Rosco’s Mixbook is only 110g and fits in the palm of your hand
of Jutland. The man responsible for setting up the vital early warning radio equipment was Captain Henry Joseph Round. For his service, he was awarded the Military Cross. After the war, he became chief engineer at Marconi, where he discovered electroluminescence, and kicked off the technology that would become the light emitting diode (LED).
LED ORIGINS Despite the early start, it wasn’t until high-intensity blue LEDs were developed in 1993 that broadspectrum lighting LEDs became possible (the inventors, Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2014). There has been a massive explosion in LED lighting fixtures since then, from both new
players in the game and incumbent manufacturers. Gel pioneer Rosco – itself now a manufacturer of LED lights – has recognised that the possibility of generating virtually any visible colour with these new fixtures causes an issue. In the ‘good old days’, to get colour you stuck a gel in front of the light, and you chose the gel from a swatch book. Now, you programme the light to generate the colour, but it would be useful to have some quick and portable way of seeing what the colour looks like beforehand – a kind of LED swatch.
MIXBOOK Enter the Rosco Mixbook (which is written stylised in all capital letters, for some reason). It’s basically a tiny, portable, Li-ion battery-powered
F E B R UA RY 2020 | D E F I N I T I O N
63
definition_FEB20.indd 64
17/01/2020 14:52
DEFINITION’S CAMERA LISTINGS
BASED ON:
DJI INSPIRE 2 DOCUMENTARY Drones were instrumental in capturing unique perspectives and wildlife filming firsts DJI drones were used to augment the scale and powerful impact conveyed by the rest of the footage the teams obtained for Seven Worlds, One Planet. In particular the Inspire 2, which has a rumoured flight time of up to 33 minutes and integrates a heating system that allows it to fly in -20°C, was used in Antarctica. This drone, alongside the Mavic 2 Pro, was able to capture the holy grail of wildlife filmography: an aggregation of great whales. More than 150 humpback whales feasted on krill off the coast of Elephant Island in one of the biggest feeding frenzies ever caught on camera. The footage is now being used to inform a scientific study. Advances in drone technology also mean that drone image quality now matches that of other high-end production cameras. The Inspire 2 uses the DJI Zenmuse X7 Super35 6K camera, which has a colour profile that is especially close to Arri Alexa LUTs. DJI product manager, Andre Becker, explains: “We didn’t want to create our own camera with our own look, we wanted to have a camera that complements other footage.”
66
D E F I N I T I O N | F E B R UA RY 2020
SPECIFICATION: DJI ZENMUSE X7 SENSOR – FORMAT AND SIZE
23.5x12.5mm (max recording area)
FRAME RATES
30fps at 6K (full FOV), 59.97fps at 3.9K (narrow FOV) in CinemaDNG and 30fps at 5.2K (full FOV) in ProRes formats
LENS MOUNT
DL-Mount
RECORDING OPTIONS
CinemaDNG, ProRes Raw, ProRes Raw HQ, ProRes Raw 422 HQ, ProRes Raw 4444 HQ
EXPOSURE LATITUDE
±3 (3 stops of light)
DRAMA KITS
I N A S S O C I AT I O N W I T H
RECOMMENDED KIT The kit recommended to accompany the DJI Inspire 2 from the experts at CVP DJI TB50 BATTERY STATION A fantastic power hub for the Inspire 2. You can charge up to eight TB50 batteries as well as other accessories including the Cendence battery, CrystalSky & the Inspire 2 remote controller.
POLAR PRO SHUTTER 5 PACK
Has you covered no matter the lighting conditions with ND4, ND8, ND16, ND32, and ND64 filters that are light enough to not affect your aircraft’s stability.
DJI CENDENCE REMOTE CONTROLLER
Features a bright LCD monitor for vital data readout, a removable battery with longer run times, customisable function buttons and a broadcast-ready SDI output.
ESSENTIAL KIT
Discover key components from the CVP camera kit, including an optical low pass filter and a camera housing
DJI CRYSTALSKY 7.85IN MONITOR
A maximum 2000 cd/m² of brightness means this monitor is more than four times as bright as typical mobile devices; great for varied lighting conditions.
DJI ZENMUSE X7 GIMBAL CAMERA The Zenmuse X7 is a compact Super35 camera with an integrated gimbal made for high-end filmmaking that delivers stunning resolution and image quality. Its compatibility with the Inspire 2 offers the best in next-level professional aerial cinematography.
DJI CINESSD 480GB & CINESSD STATION
The DJI CINESSD uses an incredibly fast NVMe drive which means you can record the very data-heavy Cinema DNG and ProRes formats. These formats are available with a paid licence key and unlock the drone’s true potential.
DJI ZENMUSE X7 DL-S 16MM F/2.8 LENS
DJI DL/DL-S lenses are professional prime lenses specially designed for aerial photography. The four available lenses in the set are built of lightweight carbon fibre which in turn improves the stability of your drone.
BUILD YOUR PERFECT KIT AT CVP NEWMAN STREET CVP’s flagship showroom is home to a full spectrum of production equipment ready to see, combine and evaluate. Visitors are supported by creative and technical staff who are committed to finding the right solution for every production need. To arrange a visit to the Newman Street showroom in London, call 020 8380 7400 or visit cvp.com
SEE MORE ON THIS MONTH’S KIT:
cvp.com/definitionkit
F E B R UA RY 2020 | D E F I N I T I O N
67
definition_FEB20.indd 68
17/01/2020 17:10
DRAMA KITS
S PECI A LIST O PI N I O N HOW HAVE ADVANCES TO DRONE TECHNOLOGY TRANSFORMED WILDLIFE FILMING? JA K E R ATC LI F F E
T E C H N I C A L C O N S U LTA N T
Drones allow shooters to capture interesting and unique perspectives and, with the introduction of smaller and higher-quality options, they are more widely available than ever. Helicopters have their benefits but for most wildlife productions the cost and logistics behind shooting with one are often not worth it. Drones like the DJI Inspire 2 give productions a fantastic option for capturing great imagery with a small physical and environmental footprint. The design of the Inspire 2 makes it incredibly flexible for both small and larger crews. The drone itself is relatively light and easy to carry with the right bag. The TB50 batteries it uses are fantastic and can power a huge range of kit with the correct adapters. This means that if
you need to cut down on weight you could run with just these and use them across your whole kit. The battery life is also improved, allowing you more time in the air to explore for your shot or track wildlife movements. The Inspire 2 takes all of the best features from DJI’s consumer drones and pairs them with the powerful and professional body design of the Inspire series. This means the Inspire 2 is much nicer to fly than the original and will be much more forgiving to less experienced drone operators. It can now also be operated by two separate remotes, so you can separate camera movement and controls from the operation of the drone itself. The X7 is DJI’s flagship gimbal camera for the Inspire 2. It has a 6K
Super35-size sensor that is stated to capture 14 stops of dynamic range. The image quality out of this camera is fantastic for its size and the ability to record D-Log in either Cinema DNG, ProRes or ProRes RAW means it’s extremely easy to cut and match with most widely used cinema and broadcast cameras without a huge shift in image quality. The cinematography in Seven Worlds, One Planet is breathtaking, and drones are used in such a fantastic way. The operators have used unique perspectives to show off the scale of some of the wildlife as well as capture scenes that haven’t been possible before without this technology. The show is a fantastic insight into parts of the world often not seen, with an underlying message that’s more relevant than ever.
I N A S S O C I AT I O N W I T H
F E B R UA RY 2020 | D E F I N I T I O N
69
definition_FEB20.indd 76
17/01/2020 14:52