announced that cinematographer Toyotaro Shigemori used the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 12K to shoot the web movie "niko and …WINTER BOOK". DaVinci Resolve Studio was used to grade the film, which was produced as an advertising campaign for the fashion/lifestyle brand “niko and …”.
Mr. Shigemori, a cinematographer who has a lot of experience, has worked on many major company commercials, music videos, movies, etc., including the "Santaro series" of the mobile carrier KDDI au. 80% of it is shot on film. This time, Mr. Shigemori worked on the winter 2020 web movie for the brand “nikoand …”, which he is involved in as a director of photography. Featuring talented young actors Masaki Suda and Nana Komatsu, the fantastical world of a picture book by art director Chie Morimoto was filmed by Shigemori using the URSA Mini Pro 12K.
"Originally, I was working with art director Morimoto-san on the 'niko and …' commercial, and I shot it with 35mm film. I used the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K.Mr. Morimoto asked for my opinion on what kind of movie to make, and I heard that the advertisement was originally planned to be graphics only, so I purposely stopped moving the talent as a mannequin. Since the subject doesn't move, I wanted to move the camera, so I mounted the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K on the Ronin, and it turned out to be more convenient than I had expected. Because of that, I decided to shoot with Blackmagic again this time.”
Mr. Shigemori says.
Mr. Shigemori, who usually only shoots, is also the director for this shoot. “Actually, I was asked to direct the autumn edition, and it was interesting, so I was asked to do it again. I instructed the movement of the talent while consulting with them so as not to break them.”
"On the day, I shot at 8K 8:1. I was planning to upload the movie to Instagram, so I used an anamorphic lens and finished it at 4:3 with side cut. However, the URSA Mini Pro 12K shoots at high resolution, so side cutting is not a problem.”
Mr. Shigemori, who likes the unique tones of film, says that he tries to create the tone that he likes when shooting with a digital camera.
"Most digital cameras recommend ISO 800 as the common sensitivity, but I never shoot at 800. Shooting at 800 gives a strong digital feel and makes the image boring. Shoot digitally." This time I shot at 1600, but I often raise it up to 3200. By doing so, I can get the rawness out of both film and digital. But if you don't bully the video, it's no good."
Mr. Shigemori continues.
"That's also the reason why I used an anamorphic lens. The focus isn't tight, and even if you shoot digitally, it creates ambiguity. When shooting video, you can leave that ambiguity and remove that fuzzy part. I think it's better for humans to imagine it, so I'm trying to make it as invisible as possible."
Grading was done at DaVinci Resolve Studio at Omnibus Japan in post-production. Mr. Shigemori talks about this time's color creation. “This time, I shot with flat light, which is rare for me. The studio was completely smoked, so the screen is whitish, but I asked him to grade the color and sharpness so that the color would come out while retaining the atmosphere. I finished it with a soft tone, which is rare for me.”
Finally, Mr. Shigemori said about BRAW.
"I thought that 8K RAW material would never work on a normal computer, but when I actually touched it, I was really surprised that BRAW was lighter than I thought. RAW of other digital cameras Some materials are quite heavy, so it was good that they were easy to handle.”
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