For All About You, Felix and Julian had just seven days to bring the video from concept to completion and to shoot, edit, animate and post produce it. Artists like Hilary Duff have unbelievable demands made on their time. After hair and makeup, which were very important since the video is all close ups, we had around 70 minutes to shoot, said Julian. We didn’t end up needing more time than that because Hilary is a great performer and professional, and the cameras have such an easy to use workflow and deliver amazing footage.
In a lyric music video, the lyrics of the song play on screen in time with the music, and Felix and Julian developed an intimate look at Hilary, employing close ups with a shallow plane of focus. With no set, no backgrounds and no props, the video focuses on Hilary and the words of the song, which were animated and compiled in post.
“We wanted the video to be about the audience and Hilary. We are minimalists, and we approached this project in that style. We wanted it to feel intimate, small and personal,” explained Julian. “We shot from two angles at once with the Production Camera 4K as the A cam and the Cinema Camera as the B cam.”
“We had no sets or backgrounds, so it was all in the lighting. The cameras dynamic range, detail and color reproduction had to be as good as possible, he continued. Whether it was hair in front of a green screen or strong gradients on a face, we just needed to capture as much detail as possible, and the cameras keyed well and delivered.”
An accomplished photographer, Felix took his cue from using still cameras and wanted to have that flexibility of movement and framing during the shoot. Both he and Julian wanted to improvise and to react to Hilarys performance, so they mounted the cameras on monopods and were ready to go.
“We didn’t plan any camera moves or framing in advance. The idea was do your thing, and we will film what catches our eye,” said Julian. “We simply ran takes the entire duration of the song from two angles, and you really don’t need too many takes when you can use them from beginning to end; Hilary is that good.”
He continued: “The focal plane was so shallow that we constantly had to pull focus. Hilary, Felix and I were moving constantly, and that was the whole premise: you appear in focus, then disappear. It’s a tease, really. We could only achieve this by essentially treating, holding and using the Blackmagic cameras like you would a still camera. One hand on the body, one on the focus ring, and it worked. The cameras focus peaking and support for the Canon lenses optical image stabilization were indispensable.”
Shot in ProRes, Felix and Julian leveraged the Production Camera 4K to reframe the footage and create extra movement and effects by cropping the 4K in post. Shooting in ProRes also allowed them to streamline the post process.
“We had to minimize any technical challenges, and there was no time for experimentation. We still had to animate all the words, flares and edit the video,” concluded Julian. “Blackmagic Design cameras are plug and play all the way from capture to edit, which was a necessity for this project. They are easy to learn, light and small, work with EF lenses, have focus peaking, support image stabilization, have long record times and high dynamic range. They basically eliminate all the drawbacks of DSLRs without adding any hassles.”
“We wanted the video to be about the audience and Hilary. We are minimalists, and we approached this project in that style. We wanted it to feel intimate, small and personal,” explained Julian. “We shot from two angles at once with the Production Camera 4K as the A cam and the Cinema Camera as the B cam.”
“We had no sets or backgrounds, so it was all in the lighting. The cameras dynamic range, detail and color reproduction had to be as good as possible, he continued. Whether it was hair in front of a green screen or strong gradients on a face, we just needed to capture as much detail as possible, and the cameras keyed well and delivered.”
An accomplished photographer, Felix took his cue from using still cameras and wanted to have that flexibility of movement and framing during the shoot. Both he and Julian wanted to improvise and to react to Hilarys performance, so they mounted the cameras on monopods and were ready to go.
“We didn’t plan any camera moves or framing in advance. The idea was do your thing, and we will film what catches our eye,” said Julian. “We simply ran takes the entire duration of the song from two angles, and you really don’t need too many takes when you can use them from beginning to end; Hilary is that good.”
He continued: “The focal plane was so shallow that we constantly had to pull focus. Hilary, Felix and I were moving constantly, and that was the whole premise: you appear in focus, then disappear. It’s a tease, really. We could only achieve this by essentially treating, holding and using the Blackmagic cameras like you would a still camera. One hand on the body, one on the focus ring, and it worked. The cameras focus peaking and support for the Canon lenses optical image stabilization were indispensable.”
Shot in ProRes, Felix and Julian leveraged the Production Camera 4K to reframe the footage and create extra movement and effects by cropping the 4K in post. Shooting in ProRes also allowed them to streamline the post process.
“We had to minimize any technical challenges, and there was no time for experimentation. We still had to animate all the words, flares and edit the video,” concluded Julian. “Blackmagic Design cameras are plug and play all the way from capture to edit, which was a necessity for this project. They are easy to learn, light and small, work with EF lenses, have focus peaking, support image stabilization, have long record times and high dynamic range. They basically eliminate all the drawbacks of DSLRs without adding any hassles.”
