Tokyo, Japan — October 5, 2018 - Blackmagic Design announced today that URSA Mini Pro 4.6K was used as the main camera for the new Japanese documentary film "Tower of the Sun.” Pocket Cinema Camera was also used as the secondary camera for various scenes in the film.
As part of the theme pavilion of the Japan World Exposition Osaka in 1970, artist Taro Okamoto made a "Tower of the sun.” This new documentary pursues Taro Okamoto's message from his "Tower of the Sun” and the artist himself. Mr. Kosai Sekine, and award winning worldwide recognized film, commercial and music video director, directed the film, with Mr. Senzo Ueno serving as director of photography, who had numerous awards as director of photography and was also active as a director.
“I did not know much about ‘Tower of the Sun’ and Taro Okamoto, and studied them for six months. Many of Okamoto Taro's works use a lot of primary colors, and in this film I also wanted to make the primary colors stand out,” said Director Sekine.
“I decided to use URSA Mini Pro 4.6 K this time, which can capture a smooth and beautiful look. Despite its low price, it is a camera that can obtain excellent image quality of a high end class. It is my favorite camera,” said Cinematographer Ueno.
In the film, the 29 people were interviewed and through these, a story is composed. Two URSA Mini Pro 4.6K were used for the interview shooting, each using a Blackmagic Design Video Assist 4K for backup recording.
“It took 2 to 3 hours per person to shoot. ProRes 4: 2: 2 was preferable for the recording format of long interview scenes, taking into consideration work speed in post production. All scenes except interviews were recorded with RAW. It is very helpful to change the recording format according to the situation. URSA Mini Pro 4.6K is a very reliable camera that can be used stably in long interview shooting,” said Producer Dai Sano.
“In order to follow the roots of Taro Okamoto, we went to various parts of Japan, Tibet and Korea. I brought URSA Mini Pro 4.6K and Pocket Cinema Camera for overseas shooting. I was very surprised that Pocket Cinema Camera has a wide dynamic range despite its small body. Of course the compatibility of these two cameras is good, and it provides a unified look,” said Mr. Ueno.“The URSA Mini Pro 4.6K ND filter was very active in various lighting conditions. It is very convenient that the ND filter is built in. We can concentrate on shooting without wasting time. For the external buttons F1 and F2, logs and false colors were set in advance, and the exposure was decided firmly. URSA Mini Pro 4.6K is a camera with great mobility, in that you can customize external buttons and can make PL / EF and lens choices. Without URSA Mini Pro 4.6K with all necessary functions, it was impossible to shoot with a limited number of people,” said Mr. Ueno concluded.
Press Photography
URSA Mini Pro 4.6K, Pocket Cinema Camera, Video Assist 4K and all other Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/images.
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.
