Manchester, United Kingdom - April 9, 2018 - Blackmagic Design today announced that its digital film cameras, including the URSA Mini 4.6K and URSA Mini Pro, were used in the filming of a new science fiction thriller from writer and director Nguyen Anh Nguyen (“Akira Project” and “Temple”).
Post-production for Hyperlight was completed in DaVinci Resolve Studio, including the edit and grade, while the visual effects were completed in Fusion Studio and overseen by VFX supervisor Santiago Menghini.
According to DP Simran Dewan, the URSA Mini’s compact form factor and ergonomics made it the ideal choice for Hyperlight as the majority of the film takes place within the confines of a spaceship. “Being lightweight and easy to use, the URSA Mini allowed us to readily switch between a variety of different setups on a quick release plate,” he begins. “Not only that, we could maneuver into the tight corners of the set to create unique angles.”
Dewan pushed to shoot in CinemaDNG RAW as his preferred workflow. “You end up with a much thicker digital negative with more latitude and information for post-production. Treating the camera as I would any other film stock, I rated it at 800 ISO but metered for 500 and paired it with a set of vintage Kowa anamorphic lenses. I’ve always imagined film in this format, and the lens perfectly complemented the color fidelity of the 4.6K sensor.”
The URSA Mini was rigged for a Chapman Hybrid dolly and a Ronford-Baker Atlas tripod head. “On an indie shoot, you are always limited by time, so the camera was constantly being moved from one setup to another on a quick release plate; we were often tearing down part of the set while setting up the next scene at the same time.”
Subsequently, the rushes were synced to the audio and converted to DNxHR for offline in DaVinci Resolve Studio, which was used at every step of the post-production process.
Editor Naomi Silver-Vézina relied on management tools such as flags and markers to help identify proxy clips, previz shots, mockups and final shots. Resolve’s burn-in text functionality and titling tools were also used to add precise notes to any placeholders: a crucial aspect to such a VFX heavy project.
“The biggest advantage to using DaVinci Resolve on Hyperlight was in being able to move from the final editing timeline to the grading environment and back at will.. Being able to switch to the color page in seconds allowed me to make fine adjustments such as chroma keying and even some minor compositing using masks, all of which benefitted the final edit,” concludes Siver-Vézina “What would have usually taken hours of conforming or round-tripping between software, we could do painlessly in minutes with DaVinci Resolve.”
Hyperlight will be screened on the opening night of SCI-FI-LONDON film festival on May 1, 2018.
Press Photography
Product photos of DaVinci Resolve Studio, Fusion Studio, Blackmagic URSA Mini 4.6K, URSA Mini Pro, and all other Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/images.
About Hyperlight
Two elite astronauts wake up in the abyss of space; they return to their stranded ship and discover the surprising reason behind their mission's catastrophic failure.
About Blackmagic Design
Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com.
