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Lucas films London!
From commercial filmmaking to BBC natural history epics, director Neil Lucas relies on technology that never slows him down, like the Samsung Portable SSD T9 O nce you have spent over 20 years creating some of the most technically demanding natural history documentaries ever made,
combining day-to-night time-lapse with ultra high resolution time-lapse footage. Using a 180-megapixel medium format camera tethered directly to a powerful workstation, the production captured huge files designed to allow punch-ins and reframing during post- production. Each and every frame had to be reviewed, transferred and backed up while the shoot continued at pace. And there was serious pressure. Franco’s only closes on Sundays, giving Lucas and his crew one day to shoot. Models were brought in as customers, chefs prepared dishes and the team battled changing light, traffic and the unpredictable nature of filming on one of London’s most fashionable streets. “There wasn’t an opportunity for a reshoot,” says Lucas. “We were generating massive amounts of data, so having storage that could keep up was critical. The Samsung Portable SSD T9 just handled it effortlessly.” The Samsung Portable SSD T9 is purpose-built for these kinds of demanding professional workflows. With sequential read and write speeds of
and post-production all have to perform flawlessly under pressure. That is why he used the Samsung Portable SSD T9 for a commercial shoot at Franco’s on Jermyn Street - one of London’s most iconic Italian restaurants. “This was a production where everything had to work first time,” says Lucas. “When you’re shooting huge 16- bit Raw files tethered to a laptop all day, you simply cannot afford bottlenecks. The Samsung Portable SSD T9 was incredibly fast and completely reliable throughout.” The creative concept was far from straightforward. Lucas wanted to recreate the smooth, cinematic motion- control look made famous in David Attenborough’s plant documentaries,
your standards become very high. This applies to director and producer Neil Lucas, whose work with the BBC Natural History Unit included productions such as The Trials of Life , The Private Life of Plants , The Life of Mammals , Planet Earth and the acclaimed Life series. Now working as a freelance filmmaker that specialises in advanced shooting techniques as well as motion-control cinematography, Lucas still demands the very best from every part of his workflow. Cameras, lenses, lighting, rigs, storage
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