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When Jeremy Clarkson’s camera crew swapped exotic cars for agriculture, the Canon EOS C500 Mark II was ideal for bringing home the bacon S urrounded by farmyard animals, agricultural equipment and lots of mud, outspoken presenter Jeremy Clarkson and his DOP Casper Leaver Fast lane to the farmyard
Farm , we went to Canon,” explains Leaver. “Sometimes we’ve clocked up 13 or 14 miles on foot around the farm filming in a day, because it is very much shot as it happens. It’s not scripted, it just rolls on and every day changes as stuff happens.” As well as the reality-type handheld footage, there are lots of beauty shots that give a huge boost to the production values of the show. Glorious sunrises, wild deer and hares running across the meadows, majestic drone images and carefully calculated slider shots make it a visually stunning production. For most, that would mean running around like a headless chicken. “I now live local to the farm, so whenever the weather’s good, I can go there to shoot.” The Canon EOS C500 Mark II is a great all-rounder and decently priced, so Leaver could afford to buy two along with lots of EF lenses. Previously, the crew employed two cinema cameras from one manufacturer and a full-frame mirrorless from another, then tried to make the footage match in post. “I wanted lighter main cameras and smaller cameras that all work together. We went with the C500 Mark II and EOS C70. “Because I’m going up to the farm alone to film at 4am, I wanted something
have been through several years of massive change. It’s a partnership that began 20 years ago, when the new-look Top Gear launched, and since then the pair have jetted and driven around the globe to film the world’s most exotic cars. They continued their petrolhead road trips for Amazon Prime’s The Grand Tour . Leaver also managed to squeeze in credits for films like Rush from the legendary Ron Howard, as well as commercials for Aston Martin and McLaren cars. All high-octane stuff, filmed on some of the priciest cinema cameras around with large crews. Now Clarkson and Leaver find themselves living in rural Oxfordshire, focusing on Clarkson’s latest TV series for Amazon about life on his 1000-acre farm. Part reality show, part fly-on-the-wall documentary – and often very funny – the show has been a surprise smash hit. It takes viewers through the harsh realities of running a farming business in the face of evaporating subsidies, badger-spread tuberculosis and endless red tape. “All us non-farmers have been on a journey of exploration. It’s interesting
BREAK IT DOWN The modular design of the EOS C500 Mark II allows the crew to fit the same camera to a variety of rigs, for a consistent look across shot types learning where your food comes from and the struggles that farmers go through,” admits Leaver. This is a different kind of show, a world away from the motoring work. It took a total change of equipment to make sure it could be captured in all its glory. It called for lighter cameras, capable of stunning 4K even in poor light. That’s where Canon’s Cinema EOS C500 Mark II came in, as other cameras were put out to pasture. “We’ve shot on many formats through the years, previously on large cinema cameras that are a hell of a lump to have on your shoulder for hours and hours. So when we filmed the second season of Clarkson’s
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