CASE STUDY THE DREAMERS
camera is capable of is right up there with the UrsaMini,” says Hugo. “It’s a perfect B-camera and could easily be used as a main camera. It also has improved low- light capabilities, really useful since some of the lighting situations we encounter are pretty horrible, while the small form factor makes travelling somuch easier. So we’re now able to work with shotgunmics since the added height doesn’t reallymatter.” Asked by Blackmagic tomake a film that would demonstrate the capabilities of the newmodel The Dreamers finally achieved their ambition and covered an elopement in Norway, which featured an eight-hour walk up amountain in highly changeable weather. Two cameras and a ton of batteries were packed into a rucksack and there was still room for other essentials. “The camera handled the changing weather and lighting conditions so well,” reports Hugo. “We literally had sun the first minute, with snow the next. At one point, I needed to help the bride put on her jacket and I put downmy camera in a snowstorm. When I returned, it was completely covered in snow. I was sure it was a goner, but it carried on working with no problems. “I think I was themost impressed when grading the footage in Resolve. We shot everything DCI RAW4:1, and there was just somuch information and depth to the footage. I loved the colours even with minimal grading.” Looking at the response they’re getting, The Dreamers are convinced that the age of themore polished and professional wedding video has arrived. “Video is becoming increasingly important,” says Hugo, “and most people now know that the traditional wedding film is no longer viable. Awedding film is no longer just a simple record of a wedding - it’s a film that documents the love between two people, their friends and family. And I think that’s beautiful.”
ABOVE It’s not all about the wedding itself; informal moments on the day are just as important.
factor, and it was a hard sell to get Yaël to sign off on us buying two. But when she finally did, the quality of our work improved immensely. It instantly became somuch more cinematic, and we finally could start learning how to grade footage, something it was impossible to do with 8-bit footage from the 5DMark II. “We’ve used every Blackmagic camera since: the original Pocket, theMicro and now the UrsaMini and UrsaMini Pro. The Pro is what we shoot most of our weddings on. It’s a bit cumbersome but the image qualitymakes it all worth it. I love being able to take stills straight from the footage that are good enough to print, and I’m very happy with the colours straight out of camera and the flexibility it gives us in post. Meanwhile, most of what we shoot is done with a single lens, the Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8. It’s crazy sharp and offers enough range to cover every eventuality.” With kit being kept to aminimum it also helps the immediacy of a shoot for the approach to be likewise simplified. Yaël shoots with her camera on amonopod, which allows her to wait for something to happen, whether this might be a smile, a laugh, a look or a tear. That can take minutes, and it’s uncomfortable to have a camera resting on a shoulder for that amount of time. Meanwhile, Hugo always works handheld, pressing the camera against his chest or shoulder to increase stability. He positively loves the look this creates, one he considers is more real than fully stabilised footage, and it frees himup to walk around and to look for situations. Finishing off the kit list is a CAME-TV Boltzen 55w Fresnel LED light, packed for times when creative effects might be called for during the reception, while audio is captured through the internal mics of the Ursas. “It’s good enough for our needs,” says Hugo, “which could be scratch audio
or a laugh here and there. All other audio is captured externally with TascamDR-10Ls or DR-70Ds.” Size and weight of gear can be an issue, particularly if the job is a destination wedding, and a lot of thought has to go into the necessary compromise between essential kit and what’s practical to take. One of Hugo and Yaël’s regrets was that it had not been possible until now to film an elopement - essentially a scaled-down wedding where it’s just the couple and the photographer/cinematographer travelling to an epic, often remote location – owing to the weight of the Ursa, but the arrival of the brand newBlackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera 4K has really changed everything. “We’ve found the image quality this “A wedding film is no longer just a simple record of a wedding”
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PRO MOVIEMAKER WINTER 2018
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