Award-winning director Kosai Sekine uses Ursa Mini 4.6K in the filming of the Japanese documentary 'Torre del Sol'

The documentary, which featured Senzo Ueno as director of photography, covers the work of artist Taro Okamoto, who rose to popularity after designing the Tower of the Sun for the Osaka Exhibition in 1970.

The award-winning and renowned director of feature films, music videos and commercials, Kosai Sekine, has filmed alongside the director of photography, Senzo Ueno, he japanese documentary Tower of the Sun. During the filming they used cameras Blackmagic Design Ursa Mini Pro 4.6K, as the main camera, and the version Pocket Cinema Camera, as a secondary unit to record various scenes.

As part of the thematic pavilions of the world-class Osaka General Exhibition (1970), the artist Taro Okamoto designed the Tower of the Sun. This new documentary focuses on the message of said construction and its creator himself.

"I didn't have much knowledge about the Tower of the Sun and Taro Okamoto, so I studied them for six months. Much of their work uses primary colors and, in this documentary, I wanted to highlight these elements as well," says director Sekine.

«I decided to use the Ursa Mini Pro 4.6K model on this occasion, because it allows for a pleasant and uniform aesthetic. Despite its affordable price, it is a camera that offers the possibility of capturing images of exceptional quality. It's my favorite," said filmmaker Ueno.

In the documentary, They interviewed 29 people, which made the composition of the story easier. They used two URSA Mini Pro 4.6K cameras during this shoot, each with a Video Assist to back up footage.

ProRes 4:2:2 y RAW

"It took us 2 to 3 hours to film each person. For the interviews, we used the ProRes 4:2:2 format, since they were longer sequences and we had to consider the dynamics required in the post-production stage. We recorded the rest of the scenes in RAW. It is very useful to have the possibility of changing the recording settings according to the circumstances. The URSA Mini Pro 4.6K model is extremely reliable and can be used comfortably during long days," added the producer Come on Sano.

"In order to trace the origins of Taro Okamoto, we traveled to various parts of Japan, Tibet and Korea, and I brought an URSA Mini Pro 4.6K and a Pocket Cinema Camera. I was very surprised by the wide dynamic range of the latter, despite its compact size. Of course, the images obtained with these two models have the same exceptional quality, and both allow for a uniform appearance of the different shots," clarified Ueno.

"The neutral density filters integrated into the Ursa Mini Pro 4.6K model were very useful in the changing lighting conditions. It is very convenient, as it allows us to focus on the recording without wasting time. Regarding the external buttons F1 and F2, we assigned them the most frequently used functions, for example false color, which gave us the possibility of achieving the exposure level without problems. This camera is very versatile, since we can customize the use of these buttons and choose the type of lens, for example PL or EF. Without all these features, it would have been impossible to shoot with a small number of people,” concluded the director of photography.