CAMERAS GEAR
SUITING THE SCENES Compact, lightweight cameras are vital for oners, like in new TV show Adolescence (left), as well as sports and action films like Senna (below left)
inexpensive cameras to suit lower budgets, but for greater flexibility in storytelling. What these cameras tend to have in common is their smaller size, making them perfect for run-and-gun filmmaking, while supporting a range of accessories for complex productions. The RED KOMODO-X has found a solid niche as a B cam on projects including Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga , where Simon Duggan, ASC, ACS deployed a five- camera KOMODO rig for background plates with another set mounted on sliders attached to the undercarriage of The War Rig vehicle. The camera contains the same image science as stablemates like V-RAPTOR, making for consistency in cutting. At less than £2500/$3000, multiple KOMODOs could be rigged on-set and, if one gets trashed, it won’t break the budget. “F1 cars are so low to the floor that there was limited room for us to grip, so the KOMODO’s weight and size was essential for rigging multiple crash cam bodies,” explains Azul Serra, ABC on the action sequences for Netflix series Senna . The box format V-RAPTOR body itself weighs just over 1.8kg/4lb and can be mounted on a drone for first-person view (FPV) sequences. The Helicopter Girls pioneered this using a gimballed FPV for projects including a woodland chase sequence in Wicked: For Good with second unit DOP Sam Renton; Stuntnuts: The Movie for Ben Davis, BSC; and an FPV of racehorses in Downton Abbey : The Grand Finale for Ben Smithard, BSC. “What’s remarkable about that shot is that it doesn’t look like it could possibly be from an FPV drone,” says Helicopter Girls co-founder Emma Boswell. “It looks like it should be from a tracking vehicle or a wirecam. It’s an astonishing sequence.” Director Kazik Radwanski and DOP Nikolay Michaylov made KOMODO their A camera for indie romance Matt and Mara , in part to meet 4K deliverables. “Given that its the size of a Rubik’s Cube, the KOMODO complemented our shooting style, which is run and gun, documentary and self-sufficient,”
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DEFINITIONMAGS
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