Definition - September 2019 - SAMPLE

IBC SHOW GEAR PREVIEW ALL THE GREAT NEW LAUNCHES INSIDE P14

September 2019

£4.99

HIGH POWER

LED technology gets intense

REVIEWS Fujifilm GFX100

Atomos Shogun 7

WIN

A CANON EOS C200 worth over £6490!

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REAL OR CG? SIMBA VS THE SERENGETI

ALSO SIGGRAPH AND VIDCON SHOW REVIEWS | MIDSOMMAR MADNESS INSIDE MORE WINNER STORIES | BEST LF GLASS | BATTERY MARKET POLARISES

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44 BRIGHT PUBLISHING LTD, BRIGHT HOUSE, 82 HIGH STREET, SAWSTON, CAMBRIDGESHIRE CB22 3HJ UK EDITORIAL Editor Julian Mitchell 01223 492246 julianmitchell@bright-publishing.com Staff writer Chelsea Fearnley Contributors Adam Duckworth, Adam Garstone, Phil Rhodes, Robert Takata Chief sub editor Beth Fletcher Senior sub editor Siobhan Godwood Sub editor Felicity Evans Junior sub editor Elisha Young ADVERTISING Sales director Matt Snow 01223 499453 mattsnow@bright-publishing.com Sales manager Krishan Parmar 01223 499462 krishanparmar@bright-publishing.com Key accounts Nicki Mills 01223 499457 nickimills@bright-publishing.com DESIGN Design director Andy Jennings Designers Bruce Richardson Ad production Man-Wai Wong PUBLISHING Managing directors Andy Brogden & Matt Pluck SOCIAL MEDIA Instagram @definitionmags Twitter @definitionmags Facebook @definitionmagazine

A vulture from the natural history series Serengeti…or is it?

WELCOME

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isney could have made the 2019 remake of The Lion King without the help of a dedicated filmmaking team, but it’s the fact they did use such a team (with their real and virtual tools of the trade) that is so inspiring. It’s easy to get jaundiced with VFX-heavy movies, but this collaboration bodes well for future VFX and non-VFX productions.

However, VFX supervisors do hanker after experiencing the real thing. In this issue, that is represented by our story about the production of Serengeti, which is about a bunch of inhabitants from the plains of Tanzania. But even here the main characters are manipulated – this time by planted robotic players which illicit behaviour that might upset the purists. Are we affecting animal behaviour, or recording it?

As virtual production pushes the barriers of fake realism, we have to start learning a new language and recognising new disciplines, like virtual scouts. These are people who work in a virtual location designing a set, but also blocking a shot with repositioned props and virtual cameras. Also: stuntvis, which is a type of techvis tailored to the planning of stunt work.

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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.

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IBC SHOW O N E S TO WATC H

PREVIEW 2019

Europe’s biggest event showcasing the latest gear in film is upon us once again. Here’s our exclusive show preview

STAND: MP6 BETWEEN HALL 7 & 8

ANTON/BAUER antonbauer.com New to IBC and on stand 12.E65, Anton/Bauer’s range of Titon lithium-ion batteries are a great 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 travelsafe. And high-quality cells in a tough and rugged case deliver consistent power to even the most demanding users in temperatures from -20°C to 60°C.

SONY pro.sony/ibc Sony’s IP Live Production showcase will include a range of IP, 4K/HD and HDR-capable products, from servers and XVS series switchers, to system cameras, including the HDC-5500 – the 2/3-inch 4K CMOS global shutter sensors system camera launched at NAB. Content creators are increasingly investing in solutions that provide them with the flexibility and creative tools needed to capture incredible images that engage their audiences.

At IBC 2019, Sony will showcase its portfolio of solutions that support every step of the content creation workflow, including the globally recognised PXW-FS5M2, PXW-FS7M2 and PXW-Z280 camcorders. The CineAlta Venice, with its recently announced version 5.0 firmware and currently available version 4.0, will also be on display at IBC. Sony will be exhibiting at stand A10, Hall 13 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Centre.

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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 based in Munich.

This year, GFM returns to IBC to showcase its simple, yet elegant strap-bracing kit. On its booth (12.

A37) you will see the GF-Multi Jib, GFM dollies, the popular GF-Slider System, shock absorbers and many more of its state-of-the-art products.

BLACKMAGIC DESIGN blackmagicdesign.com Blackmagic Design will showcase the latest updates to its collection of digital film cameras on its booth (7.B45). This includes the new Pocket Cinema Camera 6K and the Ursa Mini Pro 4.6K, which offers 15 stops of dynamic range and can shoot at up to 300fps.

Visitors can also get hands-on with the DaVinci Resolve 16 and play around with new features, including a cut page designed for speed and fast turnaround work such as television commercials and news. This will be demonstrated on the main booth, but visitors can also register for free training at the Blackmagic training booth (5.B23).

Blackmagic Design will be covering all aspects of the DaVinci Resolve 16, so the training sessions will be useful for novices and seasoned professionals alike. Registration begins at the start of each day on the main booth and is on a first come, first served basis.

ASPECTRA aspectra.nl Aspectra offers a varied range of professional camera accessories by combining distribution brands with a number of products developed inhouse. Brands featured on its booth (12.B30) at IBC include Camgear, camRade, PAG and TVLogic.

Camgear is in the business of creating high-quality fluid heads and tripod systems and Aspectra will be showcasing its ‘hit series’ products, including the new Elite series with 3S-Fix Quick Lock tripods.

For camRade, Aspectra will introduce new rain covers for Arri, Sony and JVC, and an innovative collection of versatile camera bags called travelMates.

TVLogic, manufacturer of high-performance monitors, will be represented with a nice selection of its latest and best field production and multi-format monitors. PAG is the manufacturer of extremely safe broadcast battery ranges. Noteworthy is the new MPL50G Mini PAGlink battery and the introduction of 2A USB modules for PowerHubs (V-Mount and Gold Mount).

Finally, two new robust (on-camera) LED lights from the Tristar brand will be showcased on the Aspectra booth.

CANON canon.co.uk Canon’s IBC booth (12.

D60) will feature its latest broadcasting products, including the recently announced Sumire Prime cine lenses – the company’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, the XA55/ XA50 and XA40. As always, experts will be on hand to answer any questions about all the exciting products on show at the Canon booth.

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DRAMA | THE LION KING

NOTHING BETTER THAN THE REAL THING? MPC’s animation aimed for the most realistic effect; but real filmmaking tools were needed to help this virtual production achieve greatness W O R D S J U L I A N M I TC H E L L , D I S N E Y / P I C T U R E S D I S N E Y

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here was the movie Babe, with real animals talking with animated mouths.

There was Avatar, with a few motioncaptured aliens mixing it with real actors, then Disney’s Jungle Book turned the tables and reduced the human count to just one child in a photorealistic jungle world.

Now, with The Lion King, we have everything as real as the computer technology can muster circa 2017-2019 and the animals are still talking (and singing). So realistically in fact, that one of the film’s VFX Supervisors mistook a render for a still from Kenya where the crew spent some time referencing the real world before any virtual production started. Where do we go from here? It’s only going to get more realistic. At least when all the real lions have gone, we’ll have a memory of them singing and having fun.

For us, the interest is the element that’s been added to the new production of The Lion King, the virtual side, taking keyframe animation and handing it over to the acquisition experts to ‘real’ it up. The term ‘virtual production’ is a catch-all phrase, but this movie is perhaps closest to the true meaning; when it strove for photoreality it knew that cinematography had to be a major

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part of the capture, and that people who shoot the real world for a living had to be involved.

MARCH OF THE 600 Elliot Newman is a VFX Supervisor at MPC in London who had the job of animating The Lion King. After spending two years of his life working on the movie, he was in the mood for reflecting on this huge endeavour.

“You do end up in a bubble and you can’t see it any more, but now is a good time to look back at how it was done. For instance, the virtual production aspect was something that was totally new to us but the scale of it is impressive. There were no plates, it was all CG so the closest thing to it was The Jungle Book – but it was still a different beast really.

There were practices that we had refined since then; like how we broke down the sequences within the company, how review iterations worked and how we presented the work back to Disney.”

15 years ago MPC was just a couple of floors; for The Lion King, more than 600 people touched the movie for the company at some point. “There were plenty of people coming in and out while the movie was in production depending on what skills

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THE LION KING | DRAMA

Everything we do is about how you mimic reality, photography and real light

IMAGES Young Simba in The Lion King: all stills © Disney

they had. The movie was also delivered in IMAX and in stereo so there were more dimensions to organise. It was creatively and technically challenging.”

The mainstream press has tried to encapsulate what the movie is, and photorealistic is a term that is commonplace. But Newman thinks that the striving for this level of reality opens new doors to the movie making industry.

“Everything we do is about how you mimic reality, photography and real light. We decided to have a film crew bring their knowledge of reality to the fore, if you like. Caleb Deschanel was our DOP and even though he was on a virtual stage with

VR goggles and a virtual camera with a monitor on it being tracked in real time, he could have easily done near impossible camera moves because he could, he had no constraints as he didn’t need to figure out how to make a crane big enough or a platform that was high enough so he could shoot where he wanted to.

“But he wouldn’t do it for the sake of it and always grounded himself in reality; as in, if you couldn’t have achieved that shot in real life, you shouldn’t do it in the virtual world. What we’re trying to achieve here is something that makes you think you’re looking at a real photograph. That’s often a pitfall with visual effects and computer animation; it’s too easy to do the impossible.

Things become overworked very quickly, there’s a concept that ‘more is better’ but something that director Jon Favreau was often reminding us about is that actually when you look at real photography, sometimes it is boring, sometimes you haven’t got the perfect sky, sometimes the light isn’t ideal on the day but you just have to shoot. If you’re running out of light you have to increase your ASA perhaps as you have a window to capture something, especially when you’re on location.

“In CG there’s this beautification pass that happens and immediately you get taken out of the experience and it potentially breaks your reality. I think what’s special about this movie is that yes, there’s a lot of design and compositional considerations on a shot-by-shot basis; we certainly made sure that when you’re looking at the images they look pleasing. We didn’t want people

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S I G G R A P H | F E AT U R E

START YOUR ENGINES WE LOOK AT THE RISE OF THE GAME ENGINES AT SIGGRAPH 2019 AND REPORT ON THE WIDER TECH INTROS AT THE SHOW W O R D S & P I C T U R E S R O B E R T TA K ATA

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s game developers released once proprietary game engines into the wild, users ran with them in all directions – and not just down the path to making more games.

Users have found new applications in architecture, engineering, live events and education. The possibilities seem endless for anyone who can utilise visual, virtual and interactive media. Most visible are film and television producers.

The two engines currently getting the most attention from producers are Unreal Engine and Unity. Unreal Engine began its life in 1998 as the platform for Epic

Games’ shooter, Unreal. Unity was created originally by Unity Technologies as a game engine exclusively for Mac OSX.

BIRTH OF ADAM

Engine use in traditional linear entertainment is relatively recent. In 2015, filmmaker Neill Blomkamp created his short film Adam with Unity, after which the company partnered with the filmmaker to create two more episodes.

“I have just been obsessed with real-time graphics since I was 16,” says Blomkamp. “I love the idea of environments that you can explore at 60

frames per second. Real-time simulation, real-time lighting… Unity is what real-time virtual cinema is.”

In 2018, Disney and Unity collaborated on three episodes of the short Baymax Dreams, a companion piece to Big Hero 6: The Series. The speed and efficiency of using the Unity game engine saved the Disney production somewhere between 40 and 50% on the budget.

The biggest selling point for using game engines in film production is their ability to render virtually final pixel graphics in real time, allowing for final creative decisions to be made at

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It requires a mindset change, as we’re now saying ‘fix it in prep’ rather than ‘fix it in post’

IMAGES Unity and Unreal are the two ‘big dogs’ of the game engine world

With the ability to design, light, shoot, edit and produce effects all in a game engine, it is reasonable to ask how traditional filmmaking and filmmakers fit into this new dynamic.

CINE TRACER

any point during production. Once the environments and characters are brought into the engine, scenes can be played out and shot with any camera from any angle, and lighting can be changed on the fly.

Traditional storyboarding gives way to 3D previsualisation. Since the previs is essentially happening ‘on set’, creative decisions, usually made during production, can now be made during what has been a preproduction process. Editing, FX and compositing are occurring at the same time as the previs, so producers now have preproduction, production and postproduction all happening simultaneously in-engine.

UNREAL PRODUCTION TOOL At the Unreal Engine Users Group event during this year’s SIGGRAPH conference in Los Angeles, Epic Games’ executives, partners and users praised the Unreal Engine as a production tool.

Sam Nicholson, CEO and founder of Stargate Studios, explained: “A lot of shows we do are experimenting with how to move these things into principal photography. What can you do and what can’t you do by taking the power of an entire post-production visual effects facility, like Stargate Studios, and moving it onto set? It requires a mindset change, because we’re saying ‘fix it in prep’ rather than, ‘fix it in post.’”

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Cinematographer Matt Workman strives to maintain filmmaking craft and art in the digital realm. Workman created Cine Tracer, a real-time cinematography simulator, which gives users access to real-world based cameras and lights in Unreal Engine. “With Cine Tracer, I want to preserve and honour and respect the traditions of the traditional film industry,” Workman told the user group.

“The techniques, the practices, I’m building all of that, especially regarding cinematography, directly into the core of Cine Tracer.”

Producing in the virtual space saves time and therefore money, but it also brings together departments that have, traditionally, never worked together.

Director and producer Jon Favreau used Unreal Engine and Unity for Disney’s 2019 remake of The Lion King and is using it on The Mandalorian, which he is producing for the upcoming Disney+ streaming service.

“We do this on The Mandalorian in preproduction,” said Favreau at the Unreal Engine Users Group gathering. “We get to

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IMAGES There was plenty of new capture tech at SIGGRAPH, including InviziTrak for cleaner keying

make the movie, essentially in VR, send those dailies to the editor and we have a cut of the film that serves the purpose that previs would have. So you’re using it in The Lion King in lieu of layout, and in the case of The Mandalorian or other live action productions, in lieu of previs, but it allows for collaboration.”

Epic Games announced at SIGGRAPH 2019 that Unreal Engine 4.23 is available now in preview.

SIGGRAPH AWAY FROM THE ENGINE SIGGRAPH is the annual conference celebrating computer graphics as both art and industry. The convention centre, which covers over two city blocks near downtown Los Angeles, hosted this year’s conference.

Additional events and programming took place at the nearby LA Live entertainment complex and JW Marriott hotel.

In the 20 years since my first SIGGRAPH, some things have changed, but a lot has stayed the same. Attendance has declined, but a second annual conference in Asia has recovered a lot of the lost attendance at the US show.

The event still has a great energy, like that very first week at university — lots to see and learn, but also a great sense of community. It is an over-used term that often lacks meaning or sincerity, but

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PLAYING THE FIELD Disney drama is one thing, but there’s no substitute for the theatrics of day-to-day life in Tanzania WORDS PHIL RHODES / PICTURES BBC

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he wildlife of Africa is no stranger to the idea of foreigners bearing cameras.

Few visitors are quite so determined, though, as producer-director John Downer and his crew, the people behind the natural history series Serengeti, which began airing on the BBC in July 2019. Shot in the Grumeti Game Reserve in Tanzania, the series of six one-hour episodes creates what Downer calls an “immersive look at natural history”. There is a narrative for

each of several named animals, highlighting nuances of their behaviour that aren’t always revealed by a more conventional approach to filming wildlife.

With a background in natural history and documentary stretching back to the early eighties, Downer has always been keen to leverage technology in pursuit of something other than, as he puts it, “the long-lens look” at animals. “It’s cameraoriented,” he explains. “Part of my role is

trying to develop camera systems and work with incredible cinematographers to achieve that immersive view inside the animal world. I’ve always been trying to get this immersive look but, up until very recently, it was almost impossible.”

Downer credits several recent inventions with moving production closer to his immersive ideal. “One is drone technology, which has allowed us to get cameras where it was difficult to get them BELOW It’s not a lion breaking the fourth wall, but a part of John Downer’s animal engagement technique

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If we could shoot at 8K, we’d shoot at 8K. That’s just part of the process now before – and the cost is lower. The other thing is the stabilisation systems.” All of this technology, Downer says, adds up to “a huge array of camera systems that we tested for about a month before we even started shooting properly, to see what we would need to get this more dramatic style”. He wanted to get subjective viewpoints and multiple angles of the same event, “so we could film it more the way you would film a drama”.

RED 8K Serengeti was principally shot on 8K Red Helium cameras. Other cameras,

particularly the Panasonic Lumix G7, were used for situations where the Helium was too bulky. “We had remote cameras triggered by the animals themselves,” Downer continues. “The Reds are sometimes a bit too big.” With all the cameras capable of at least 4K, the crew shot at the highest resolution they could to better facilitate reframing and stabilisation in post. “If we could shoot at 8K, we’d shoot at 8K. That’s just a natural part of the whole process now. We can creep into the heads of the animals when they’re reacting to something. That’s where the extra headroom you get if you shoot 8K was really useful.”

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A DV E R T I S E M E N T F E AT U R E | C A N O N

COLOUR ME CANON

Discover the world of the Canon EOS cinema system with founder of Korro Films, Ollie Kenchington, and be in with a chance of winning a superb Canon EOS C200, worth more than £6490!

AS AN AWARD-WINNING FILMMAKER, colourist and highly respected postproduction trainer, Ollie Kenchington knows the importance of good kit. He’s an assured practitioner across all areas of filmmaking, but, by his own admission, he’s not an engineer. And that’s fine, because filmmakers using Canon EOS cinema cameras don’t need to be. Canon knows filmmakers simply want a tool that helps them turn creative ideas into striking footage, not a camera that gets in the way.

The Canon EOS C200 is Kenchington’s preferred weapon of choice, as he explains: “I’m more interested in the technical aspects than most people, but your average person doesn’t want to know what’s going on inside the camera, they just want a tool that allows them to do their job. The C200 is a perfect example of that.”

Kenchington set up Korro Films in 2008, with the UK-based film production agency now producing brand films, commercials and documentaries for global clients. He is also the founder of Korro Academy, where he is lead tutor, teaching thousands of aspiring filmmakers.

He’s been using the C200 for about two years, because of how it deals with colour and contrast.

“I was blown away by how easy it was to get accurate skin tones. With very little effort, I can get beautiful results every time,” he says.

Colour consistency and image quality are vital for many reasons. Not least because it means a colourist like Kenchington can concentrate on the creative aspects of their job, instead of wasting time fixing footage that’s noisy or unbalanced. “What some cameras give you,” he explains, is “a plasticky or lifeless look”. It then takes a lot of skill to grade it back to an acceptable image. “You can struggle like hell with other cameras just to get to the kind of starting point that the C200 provides. It’s actually very difficult to get bad results from the camera, whereas some cameras can give even experienced operators bad results.”

Several features on the C200 align to improve image quality, but the camera’s heat management is one thing many don’t consider, according to Kenchington.

“The little fan was one of the first things I noticed when I moved to the C200. All higher-end cinema cameras have this kind of ventilation, and those below do not.

Heat management is an important part of controlling colour and noise in an image, so you need metal housings and good cooling systems. On top of that, Canon develops its own sensors, which allows them to take complete control of the image.”

Although the C200 shoots 12-bit Raw internally, for a recent campaign Kenchington did for Byron, the burger restaurant chain, he shot in UHD at 50p in MP4, with the C200’s neutral colour matrix Ungraded

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ABOVE The C200 was tested on a recent shoot, but even when Kenchington shot into the sun and in low light, all the models’ skin tones looked great

BELOW Kenchington proves how important grading is in a campaign he shot for Byron using the Canon EOS C200 Graded

C A N O N | A DV E R T I S E M E N T F E AT U R E

“You can struggle like hell with other cameras just to get to the kind of starting point that the C200 provides. It’s actually very difficult to get bad results from the camera”

and C-Log 3. He’s thrilled with the results.

“We tend to shoot compressed MP4 for our work, because the camera’s 14-bit internal processing is so good, even though it encodes it to a 4:2:0 8-bit codec, it somehow ends up more than the sum of its parts,” he explains. “We used MP4 even in bright sunshine, pointing the camera straight into the sun, and for the low-light sequences – all the things that are pushing it to its limits – the stuff we got is amazing. All the six models had different skin tones and all look great. It’s excellent that the C200 can shoot this way, as it saves time, keeps costs down and increases profit, which is vital when you’re shooting commercially.”

COMPACT WITHOUT COMPROMISE: EOS C200

If Kenchington is saving time in grading, what does that allow him to do instead? “Any colourist will say their main goal is to create depth and use contrast to guide the viewer’s eye,” he answers. “So in the same way a DOP would light an image, the colourist develops it to create layers and add colour to control the mood. There’s so much creative power in grading that to waste time trying to get accurate colour, or noise-free images, is dispiriting, because you know you could’ve spent that time creatively. With the C200, you can spend minimal time on the primary grade and maximise developing colour and depth.”

He adds: “I went away from Canon for a few years, but it was the image quality and colour of the C200 that brought me back.

“I know I can rely on Canon to develop products that prioritise image quality over gimmicks in spec. We also use the EOS R, and because it has been engineered by Canon to match precisely with the rest of the EOS cinema system, it’s easy to match up the footage in post. It’s this approach to image quality and colour reproduction that make us stay within Canon’s EOS ecosystem.”

MORE INFORMATION:

The Canon EOS C200 packs pro-level features into a small, light and mobile body and, as it’s compatible with the full range of Canon EF and EF cinema lenses, it’s ready to open up all sorts of creative possibilities for your production. Harnessing its dual DIGIC DV6 processors, recording options are impressive with internal 4K recording at 10-bit 50p and 12-bit 25p using the Cinema Raw Light codec, which offers the flexibility of Cinema Raw, but at smaller file sizes. You can also shoot Full HD 120p without crop for dramatic slow motion so, when combined with its wide built-in NDs, 100-102,400 ISO range and Dual Pixel CMOS AF, it’s ready for whatever you’re shooting.

COMPETITION TIME! Canon is offering you the chance to experience the EOS cinema system by winning your very own camera – an EOS C200, worth £6499.99 RRP! The closing date is 31 October. To enter and for full terms and conditions, visit canoneveryanglecovered.co.uk

Visit canon.co.uk/pro

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POLARISING POWER INCREASINGLY, BUYING BATTERIES DEMAND THAT YOU CHOOSE BETWEEN SMARTER OR CHEAPER MODELS, BUT YOU CAN HAVE BOTH 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

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attery manufacturers are facing a fork in the road as far as their research and development plans are concerned. Due to the huge amount of cheap battery solutions available online, manufacturers that need to build-in client loyalty, are now making their products as smart as possible and, in some cases, lowering prices.

Ross Kanarek, CEO of CoreSWX, sums up the current situation: “If you’re not careful, it becomes a race to the bottom.

Our industry at the moment is flooded with a lot of low-cost products. There are a few manufacturers producing more premium

products, then all the factories from China are packaging battery cells. There are ten to 15 different companies with just their name on the same basic battery product.”

CoreSWX is, therefore, looking at a more feature-packed and ‘smarter’ battery product to potentially polarise the market in its favour, separating itself instantly from the ‘cheap and cheerful’ products.

“Anyone can compete on watt-hours and on price, but what we’ve done on our NEO packs that we’re showing at IBC2019 is more of a modular design, so there’s much less cabling,” explains Kanarek. “Everything interlocks together, which also allows us to

bring down our labour costs. In addition, we’ve managed to program the packs and are working with camera manufacturers to make a bespoke firmware package, where people can actually take the packs, connect them to their PC or Mac through USB and just drag a camera package on to the pack. The pack will then communicate with the camera on various settings, based on what the camera manufacturer requires.”

ABOVE Hawk-Woods has launched a super-efficient DC-to-DC converter that’s capable of delivering 48v to 500w

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A DV E R T I S E M E N T F E AT U R E | G -T E C H N O LO G Y A N D S A N D I S K

MONSTER CARDS SanDisk and G-Technology demonstrate how their world-class products can be used on any film production – even a commercial for a monster car – but how do you do that? Why not make them part of the story?

SANDISK AND G-TECHNOLOGY are two of the biggest names in digital storage, helping filmmakers all over the world capture, edit and store their precious footage. As well-known and respected as their products are, though, greater visibility is always desirable.

But how do you make a campaign about something so instrumental to the process, yet so embedded within it? It’s easy to glorify cameras, lenses and lights. Even rigs and supports, as they’re big and dynamic, but hard drives and memory cards? That’s more difficult. Despite everything in filmmaking being reliant upon them, they’re virtually invisible by design. They’re part of the machine.

LIGHT-BULB MOMENT Then a clever idea was hit upon. Why not create a series of ‘making of’ shorts?

Shorts showing G-Technology and SanDisk products for what they really are – an essential part of filmmaking. The short

behind-the-scenes films would show the entire workflow and processing chain of various storage media, from SanDisk’s MicroSD, SD and CFast2.0 Cards to G-Technology’s portable SSD RAID.

The idea was simple, effective, but… missing something. There was another problem. How do you make a ‘making of’ without an ‘of’? Fabricated behind-thescenes content would quickly be spotted

by G-Technology and SanDisk’s discerning users, so something real was required.

A subject was quickly found in the shape of German TV station DMAX (Discovery Networks Germany) and the US car importer and refiner Karl Geiger of GeigerCars.de, who has a show on the channel. The show was set to feature the first of only two 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demons, the world’s most powerful production car to come to Europe.

The concept of shooting a commercial promoting the show was a perfect fit for the TV channel, and it allied SanDisk and G-Technology to a proper ‘influencer’,

IMAGES Various media would be shown like SanDisk’s MicroSD, SD and CFast2.0 cards

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increasing the impact of the storage campaign. DMAX could use the spot on TV, online and on its social media channels, while Geiger could also distribute the clips on his social media channels. Now it was time to shoot, with filmmakers Holger Frick and Florian Wolf of Superama Creative Services taking the reins.

THE SHOOT Filming was slated for a single day with two camera crews and two directors – the target being one 35-second image spot for DMAX, two seven-minute ‘making of’ clips, and eight product videos for SanDisk and G-Technology. All the products shown were actually used during the shoot, so the statements in the behind-the-scenes clips were spontaneous, a true testament to the functionality of the gear being used.

With the idea of the TV spot and ‘making of’ clips clear, the set had to be visually appealing, not only in front of the camera but behind it, too. So the lighting was planned in detail not only for the shots that were created for the actual commercial, but also for the ‘making of’ cameras. Good planning of the colourful lighting also made grading a lot easier via DaVinci Resolve, so that the ‘making of’ and TV spot shared the same aesthetic.

The main camera used for the TV spot was a Blackmagic Ursa Mini Pro 4.6K, shooting in ProRes 4444 and using anamorphic zoom optics. And for the behind-the-scenes segments, a DJI Inspire 2, DJI Phantom 4 Pro, several GoPro Hero6 Blacks, a GoPro Fusion 360° camera and two Sony A7s IIs were used – the latter on DJI Ronin gimbals. This meant a large volume

of data was recorded and was backed up to multiple G-Technology SSDs simultaneously, which was possible within minutes thanks to the high transfer speeds of the devices.

QUICK EXCHANGE At the set’s digital imaging technician (DIT) stand, the production used a MacBook Pro 2018 connected to several drives. The main disks were a 24TB G-SPEED Shuttle XL with Thunderbolt 3 connection, which was used for the behind-the-scenes section and a 2TB G-DRIVE Mobile Pro SSD with Thunderbolt 3, on which the spot was cut. In addition, there was a 2TB SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD, on which the entire project between Final Cut Pro and DaVinci Resolve could be exchanged without further copying.

The TV spot was cut in Final Cut Pro X, using a MacBook Pro and external 21:9 monitor, while the ‘making of’ clips were edited and finished on an iMac, also in Final Cut Pro X. Finally, for colour grading in DaVinci Resolve, which was achieved

on a modified Mac Pro 5.1 with Titan X, a reference monitor was used in the shape of a Flanders CM250.

As well as this high-spec editing kit, it was the high speed of the G-Technology and SanDisk storage used that helped the postproduction run smoothly, as it was possible to run many post-production elements simultaneously. The SSD disks, with their high data throughput, are ideal for this, because they can be worked from directly, in full-quality and high resolutions.

MORE INFORMATION:

g-technology.com sandisk.com

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SPECIAL | SPORTS CAPTURE

A TALE OF TWO TOURNAMENTS DEFINITION SPOTLIGHTS THE ACTION DELIVERED LIVE FROM THIS YEAR’S HENLEY ROYAL REGATTA AND WIMBLEDON WORDS CHELSE A FE ARNLE Y

B

ritain’s summer of sport plays a crucial role in lifting the spirits of the nation after the long and arduous winter. The weather may not always be perfect, but the whole population seemingly emerges to attend these hotly anticipated events.

Those who missed out on a ticket can always find refuge among other sport fans in beer gardens, with TVs displaying live events coverage. After all, it’s often thought that the sport-spectating experience is much less about the event and more about sharing the experience with other people over a Pimm’s – or two.

Still, the latter would not previously have been an option for rowing fans unable to attend Henley Royal Regatta, which wasn’t broadcast live until 2015.

Andrew Preece, executive producer at Sunset+Vine, recalls when he, in

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collaboration with the Henley stewards Matthew Pinsent and Neil Chugani, laid the foundations for producing a live broadcast of the rowing competition. “We spent days during winter on the snow-clad banks of the River Thames,” he says, “trying to work out a camera plan that would fit our strategy of delivering every single race on to YouTube, so rowing audiences worldwide could watch the five-day event.”

“That was what the first year was all about, and we won that tender so, in the second year – in 2016 – we made a deal with BT Sport and it came in as a broadcaster.

We’re now sending out a live global feed of the races on YouTube and creating a programme for BT Sport,” Preece explains.

CAPTURING LEGACY Rowing rookies are likely unacquainted with Henley’s Royal Regatta, so it is

important to divulge that its origins in fact date back to 1839. It is both a competitive rowing event and a chance for the well heeled to don their pinstriped blazers and frocks for a spot of traditional summer fun.

“My impression of Henley has always been this sea of blazers drinking champagne, and then somewhere in the background you can catch a glimpse of a boat going past between someone’s legs. I wanted to reverse that for the broadcast, so the sport was in the foreground, but you still had this image of Henley in the backdrop,” says Preece.

“What I also really didn’t want,” he adds, “was to have the cameras panning from left to right as the boats went past.

I wanted to tell the story of Henley, and we spent a lot of time trying to work out a camera plan that had a variety of types of picture – and actually, that plan hasn’t changed much over the years. I think we got it pretty spot on from the beginning.”

Ten Sony cameras are speckled along the rowing course, which is just over two

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SPORTS CAPTURE | SPECIAL

I wanted to reverse that for the broadcast, so the sport was in the foreground, but you still had this image of Henley in the backdrop kilometres long and straddles Berkshire and Buckinghamshire on either side of the River Thames.

Crafting a sense of excitement before the races begin is camera one, which is mounted on a jib on a stationary pontoon at the start line.

Preece explains: “The jib is able to glide over crews as they prepare for the

start of the race. You can see the rowers getting into the zone by slapping their legs to warm up their muscles, and there’s virtually no sound as spectators wait patiently for the first whistle to blow – it’s a really powerful moment.”

Cameras two and three are fashioned on to boats that motor alongside the rowing boats. The first is the umpire’s launch: on

that is a Cineflex gyro-stabilised system comprising a Sony HDC-1500. Preece reveals that getting the system (which he describes as a “massive ball”) to fit inside the boat took some negotiating. “You’re more used to seeing it on a helicopter, alongside the 100m in a stadium.”

“We came up with the solution of creating a piece of teak for it to sit on.

IMAGES Two great British summer sports traditions – Wimbledon and the Henley Royal Regatta

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U S E R R E V I E W | F U J I F I L M G F X1 0 0

FUJIFILM GFX100 PRICE £9999/$9999

Fujifilm’s remarkable new stills camera has the still photography world in awe of its abilities, but does it have a place in the video world?

W O R D S A DA M G A R S TO N E / P I C T U R E S W I L L C H E U N G / F U J I F I L M

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ne hundred and two megapixels! That’s a hell of a headline for a stills camera. It seems that Fujifilm has thrown everything at its new GFX100 – that huge pixel count on a back-side illuminated sensor that measures a whopping 43.8x32.9mm; 3.76 million phase detection pixels, spread across the sensor for super-fast autofocus; the 5.76 million dot EVF from the GFX 50S – all wrapped up in a lightweight but sturdy DSLR body with a built-in battery grip, featuring duplicate controls for vertical shooting. And it captures video.

FEATURES Of course, everything captures video now right? The question is, how good is that video? Can it live up to the astonishing capabilities of the rest of the camera?

First things first, the GFX100 is a DSLR. It’s in the class known as ‘medium format’ – a hangover from the good old days of 120 roll film – but it looks and handles like a normal high-end DSLR. Being mirrorless, it has some interesting features, like the removable OLED viewfinder, which is surprisingly good. In fact, this works better as a video viewfinder than it’s ‘primary’

RIGHT The GFX100 is clearly not designed for use as a video camera, but has true abilities in this market

“THERE ARE FLEXIBLE ZEBRA SETTINGS AND FOCUS PEAKING”

BELOW The G lens mount was developed

by Fujifilm for the medium format sensor size

role – it has too high contrast and flickers annoyingly when shooting stills, but (other than a tiny bit of aliasing on near horizontal/vertical lines) it feels like a ground-glass screen in video mode.

There are flexible zebra settings and focus peaking, as well as a focus viewfinder zoom (with an

on-screen tally to show you that you aren’t seeing the full frame). The buttons on the camera are software mappable, so I assigned a couple to these video-specific functions. The user configuration of the camera is, in general, excellent.

The rear touchscreen LCD is on a two-axis mount, so you can flip it up for low-angle shots, down for high-angle and sideways… for filming round corners? The top-plate LCD is usually inverted (white characters on a black background) and is on all the time – when you click on its backlight, it flips to non-inverted.

As well as the usual display of focus modes and aperture settings, this LCD can also display a full-screen histogram – nice if you prefer to keep the viewfinder uncluttered.

LENS MOUNT In general, the controls are all well laid out and logical. In fact, I enjoyed using this camera more than any previous Fujifilm DSLR. The GFX100 does away with the manual setting rings of previous cameras which, bizarrely, I prefer – I always found these a little confusing, as it seemed you could override them in software, making them worse than useless.

The G lens mount was developed by Fujifilm for the medium format sensor size. The wide throat and short flangeto-focal-plane distance should enable plenty of third-party lens adapters. Indeed, Kipon makes one

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DEFINITION’S 4K CAMERA LIST

BASED ON:

RED HELIUM 8K DOCUMENTARY Wildlife expert John Downer used his box of remote tricks to capture amazing shots, which helped build the narrative of the Serengeti Serengeti was principally shot on 8K Red Helium cameras.

With all the cameras capable of at least 4K, the crew shot at the highest resolution they could to better facilitate reframing and stabilisation in post. “If we could shoot at 8K, we’d shoot at 8K. That’s just a natural part of the whole process now. We can creep into the heads of the animals when they’re reacting to something. That’s where the extra headroom you get if you shoot 8K was really useful,” explains John Downer.

Perhaps predictably, wildlife can be hard on equipment. “We had quite a few cameras trashed,” Downer admits. “We operated with a lot of remote cameras that could be left all day – they were being triggered by the animals themselves, and that was a quite important part of the look. When you’re dealing with hyenas, they love them and they’d carry them off!”

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SPECIFICATION SENSOR – FORMAT AND SIZE

Helium 8K 8192×4320, 35.4 megapixels, 29.90x15.77mm CMOS

FRAME RATES

60fps at 8K full format (8192×4320), 75fps at 8K 2.4:1 (8192×3456).

120fps at 4K full format (4096×2160), 150fps at 4K 2.4:1 (4096×1728), 240fps at 2K

LENS MOUNT

EF, F, PL, Leica M

RECORDING OPTIONS

Redcode Raw, ProRes 4444 XQ, 422 HQ, DNxHR HQX

EXPOSURE LATITUDE

16.5+ stops

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D O C U M E N TA RY K I T S

RECOMMENDED KIT The kit recommended to accompany the Red Helium 8K from the experts at CVP OCONNOR ULTIMATE 2560 Perfectly suited to the adaptable, à la carte configurations of accessorised digital cinematography, the 2560 design delivers cinema-standard positioning of controls, including brakes and rosettes for easy and intuitive use.

BEBOB V98MICRO

The extremely compact V98micro is designed to be strong, reliable and versatile, with a unique rainproof Bebob Twist D-Tap plug.

BEBOB VMF-VMICRO2 I N A S S O C I AT I O N W I T H

ESSENTIAL KIT

Discover key components from the CVP camera kit, including an ultra-telephoto lens and a filter wheel

The VMF-VMICRO2 is a dual VMount battery plate featuring hot-swap functionality, allowing you to swap out batteries while maintaining power to the camera.

WOODEN CAMERA REVOLVA TOP PLATE

The Revolva Pass Through Top Plate (DSMC2) has all the same features as the Pass Through Top Plate, but adds a small cut-out on the front to make it compatible with the KipperTie Revolva.

CANON CN20

An ultra-telephoto Canon CINESERVO lens, the CN20x50 IAS H E1/ P1 offers outstanding quality, 20x zoom and a 1.5x built-in extender for an unrivalled 50-1000mm focal length (75-1500mm with extender).

REVOLVA KIPPERTIE

Available in EF and PL mount versions, the Revolva is a rotating ND filter wheel for Red DSMC2 cameras. The system contains four full spectrum neutral density filters, ranging from clear to 2.1.

RED DSMC2 Touch 7in Ultra-Brite LCD

Offering a 1920x1200 resolution display panel with 2200 nits of brightness for a high-definition viewing experience, even in bright outdoor environments. This mounts directly to the BRAIN without the need for any hardware.

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

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