URSA Mini Pro 12K, used to shoot the special effects of 'Germinal'

The production team Germinal, co-production of Banijay Studios (France) and Pictanovo, has chosen to film the special effects of fiction with the URSA Mini Pro 12K from Blackmagic Design.

Germinal is a six-chapter fiction adaptation of the novel of the same name written by Émile Zola. This production of Banijay y Pictanovo was filmed with the support of the Région Hauts de France to France Televisions in collaboration with Rai Fiction y Jump. It also had the support of Procirep Society of Producers y Touched, with the participation of CNC, and distribution by Banijay Rights.

Arnaud Leviez (Digital District) performed the visual effects, while the colorist Karim El Katari (Deflight) grading ended. Together with the colorimetry specialist Florine Bel, and under the coordination of the director David Hourrègue and the director of photography Xavier Dolléans, Leviez and El Catari created a conversion table with the contrast of Kodak TRI X 320 film in the color space ACES and they converted it to Rec. 709 to monitor images on the recording set. All this, to prepare the aesthetics of a recording that would require a significant number of special effects.

A production loaded with VFX

Dolléans needed to be able to shoot in high resolution to handle the visual effects of the production. Therefore, he opted for the model URSA Mini Pro 12K. "I was surprised that such a high resolution didn't result in extravagantly sharp images. On the contrary, by representing the lines and curves precisely, you get a much more subdued appearance," notes the director of photography about the project.

The first episode alone had more than 200 shots with visual effects. To face the post-production phase that these scenes would require, Dolléans decided to film in 12K a wide selection of images and objects, including buildings, landscapes and skies. Later these resources would be used in compositions. At the same time, the team Germinal “He recorded different flares in front of a black background, in order to later use them in a sequence with explosions.”

Arnaud Leviez, special effects supervisor, assures that shooting at 12K allowed them to enlarge the image considerably without losing details or quality. Leviez gives an example of this workflow: "At the beginning of the series, there is an explosion that claims the lives of two miners. We filmed this sequence in several stages. The actors inside the mine were tied to a cable to throw them and simulate the impact of the explosion. Next, we recorded a horse carrying coal in the mine, and finally the effects of the explosion on a black background in 12K. When compositing, we put these three elements together. Then we zoomed in and enlarged the explosion in order to place the viewer in the center of the flames.”

Finally, Guillaume Bauer, technical director of Deflight, assembled all the parts of the composition using DaVinci Resolve. "It's a very flexible tool. The integration of visual effects was easy, and the opportunity to switch between editing and grading made the program an essential component to finishing the project on time and according to requirements," concludes Bauer.

https://youtu.be/Ougb_IU3nNg