Kansai TV chooses Blackmagic's URSA Mini Pro 12K for filming 'moments'

The short film 'moments', produced by Kansai TV, was shot in 12K using the URSA Mini Pro 12K camera. Blackmagic.

Kansai TV It has a production team called “UHD-works”, which has promoted the development of ultra high definition formats since 2016. One of the latest initiatives of this working group is the short film moments, awarded as the best production in 8K during this year's edition of the premios Light. This piece, whose theme revolves around “preserving the most precious things for the future,” tells the life of a family on the Japanese island of Awaki under the direction of Kazuma Yano, who has served as director, editor, colorist and producer. Yano has been accompanied in the production of Kohei Higuchi, in charge of photography direction.

Higuchi admits that he was initially worried about shoot a piece in 12K, although the result has been better than expected. In his own words: "Although I used the URSA Mini Pro 12K model for the first time on this project, the add-on viewfinder for this unit gave me exceptional visibility, and I felt more confident when starting filming. In a documentary, it is essential to capture people's expressions, gestures and words, so the mobility of the camera is important. Although this model is considered a film version, it is very easy to use when filming documentaries, since it is possible to control it using the buttons and the controls on the outside, without having to access a menu in order to make adjustments.”

Yano, for its part, recognizes that the initial plan was to use that material in 12K to make cuts at lower resolutions. "However, during editing, there was almost no need to crop or enlarge the images, which convinced me that I could continue without losing the original quality of the recorded material. Therefore, I decided to complete the short film in that resolution. In addition, we wanted to show our work on a 16K screen at the Shiseido Global Innovation Center (S/PARK) in Yokohama. It was extraordinary to be able to see the film on an audiovisual surface of such dimensions. The images were very beautiful, and I was glad to have been able to culminate the process in 12K resolution,” explains the Japanese filmmaker.

Moments: bet on HDR and RAW

One of Kansai TV's plans to moments was to count on two versions of the short film: one in color and one in black and white. For this process, as Yano explains, it was essential to squeeze the possibilities of the HDR in DaVinci Resolve: "I have been wanting to do monochrome work in HDR format for a long time. This allows me to make the most of the dynamic range in order to highlight highlights and shadows. In this case, I adjusted the brightness and curves without considering the color, which gave me the opportunity to precisely modify the tonal range, particularly in the darkest areas of the images. From there, I added nuances to obtain a color version. When carrying out color grading, I tried to reproduce the memory of the colors of the filming.”

To achieve these objectives, it was essential to shoot in the format Blackmagic RAW with the URSA Mini Pro 12K, always according to Higuchi: "As we recorded in Blackmagic RAW format, I assumed that the shots were going to be graded later. However, there are certain aspects, such as how to capture lights and shadows, that must be considered during filming. I think that the URSA Mini Pro 12K model recorded the brightness perfectly, which is evident in the monochrome version. Despite the resolution, the images are not extremely sharp nor are they too intense. “I was excited to see the graded material.”

"Although we shot in 12K, it was easy to work in the Blackmagic RAW format, as it allowed us to switch between the proxy files and the original images when playing the sequences in DaVinci Resolve during post-production. When editing, I would sometimes compare the color of the shots with the RAW adjustments tool in the program. It is extremely convenient to be able to complete the entire project on one system," concludes Yano.