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Press Release

Blackmagic Design announced that Manchester, England-based ABF Pictures used the Blackmagic Production Camera 4K to shoot national television commercials for Clevercards (known in the US as ‘Cleverbug,’) one of Europe’s fastest growing greeting card and greeting card application companies, and MandM Direct, one of Europe’s leading online, off price retailers.

ABF is a production company and advertising agency specializing in the creation of TV commercials for broadcast, having handled advertising campaigns for global brands such as Virgin Games and VistaPrint. With the series of Clevercards spots, ABF was tasked with showing how simple it is to use Clevercards’ application by connecting to Facebook to ensure you can create and never miss sending out the perfect greeting card. For the MandM Direct campaign, ABF created commercials showing the fun that families have online shopping in conjunction with highlighting MandM Direct’s sponsorship with the “Britain’s Got Talent” television show.

“We shot both spots in 4K, and the Production Camera 4K worked like a charm. The ability to shoot in 4K and get that Ultra HD look at an incredible price and with an easy to use workflow from production to post is really amazing. The Blackmagic Production Camera 4K is a real game changer for shooting commercials,” said Tim Folin, DP for both commercials.

Both campaigns were shot in ProRes using the camera’s film mode, with footage being sent seamlessly from the camera straight into Final Cut Pro. Throughout the production, ABF used a mix of Nikon, Voightlander and Canon lenses.

“For the Clevercards spots, I wanted to get a flat, filmic look, and the images that the Production Camera 4K gave us were amazing and fit that perfectly,” said Tim. “We also had to plan for post production to add in different greeting card art work and wording, so we shot all of the actors holding blank, black card and added graphics later. All of the data and detail that comes with the 4K images from the camera really made it very easy to work with adding content after the shoot was completed.

“The Blackmagic Production Camera 4K gave us a much sharper picture than with any of the other cameras I have worked with, and the images are just amazing,” finished Tim.



Press Photography
Product photos of Blackmagic Production Camera 4K are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/press/images.

About Blackmagic Design
Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com.

Press Release

Blackmagic Design announced that Blackmagic Cinema Camera and Pocket Cinema Camera were used to shoot China's hit web series “Ex Model.” The web series is produced by Drunken Dragon Productions, a Paris-based production company co-founded by Chinese producer and actress Xin Wang and French director and writer Emmanuel Sapolsky, for Youku, one of the world's largest Chinese video websites.

Directed by Emmanuel, “Ex Model” tells the story of the young Chinese girl Xin Xin, played by Xin Wang, pursuing her dream of modeling in Paris but getting too old for it. She tries to find her way in the French city not knowing the path to success, and this personal journey generates some funny, crazy and unexpected moments. The first season of the web series, which consists of 10 episodes, is now airing on Youku and has built up more than 22 million views since its premiere on April 1st.

As one of the earliest European owners of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera EF and the Pocket Cinema Camera, Emmanuel has shot many popular shorts, as well as his first feature film “The Eyes of Silence,” on his Blackmagic Design cameras. Because of his successful experiences already, he decided to continue relying on the cameras to shoot the “Ex Model” project.

“In a web series like ‘Ex Model,’ you have to be able to shoot fast, with less light and not that much space, as we shoot entirely on location,” said Emmanuel. “I love the form factor and the compact size of these cameras. You can add accessories or remove them as you go, so they fit everywhere!”

Shot completely on a Blackmagic Cinema Camera Emmanuel mounted the camera on a tripod and an Edelkrone slider for dynamic shots. He used aPocket Cinema Camera as a B camera, mounting it in a Movi stabilized camera gimbal or roller skate camera, which captured special and hyperactive shots, with all of the footage recorded to Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) in both cameras.

“To me, the ability to record ProRes in camera is one of the two best assets for shoots because you don’t have to deal with an external recorder or some conversion in post. That is a time saver,” said Emmanuel. “Dynamic range is my other favorite feature because we can't afford to put that much light on set. Not only because of budget, but also because in Paris, sometimes you shoot in very old places that are preserved. You can't just come in and put some 2K HMI there without risking damage. And both the Blackmagic Cinema Camera and Pocket Cinema Camera have the same stop range, so it was not hard to match the images in post.”

Emmanuel also noted that the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera helped him shoot retakes and B roll even long after the shoot was over because it is so compact and portable that he could take the camera out whenever necessary. “Sometimes I was in the middle of editing and suddenly I realized that I would need an Eiffel Tower shot or Xin Xin walking on the streets of Paris. I couldn't just call everyone for additional shots like these, so I grabbed the Pocket Cinema Camera and voila,” he concluded.

Press Photography

Product photos of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera, Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera and all other Blackmagic Design products, are available at www.blackmagicdesing.com/press/images.

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com.

The latest version of Desktop Video (Desktop Video 10.1.1) is now available to download. New features include the ability to capture 10-bit RGB HD signal via HDMI with UltraStudio 4K and DeckLink 4K models and more:

– Audio fixes on all inputs and outputs.

– 10-bit RGB support on HDMI in all HD modes.

– Fixes for Avid Media Composer Title Tool and timeline output.

– Fixes for output flicker and issue when replacing clips of different formats in ProTools 11 (Mac only).

– General performance and stability improvements.

Press Release

Blackmagic Design announced that Tokyo-based satellite broadcasting and pay TV station WOWOW used Blackmagic Design's Teranex 2D Processor and Smart Videohub router to live stream Grand Slam professional tennis matches.

WOWOW is the first private satellite broadcasting station in Japan providing three HD TV channels offering various content such as films, dramas, sports and music to their viewers. Part of WOWOW is a service called “WOWOW Members on Demand,” which allows subscribers to have access to video on demand and simulcasts of content via the Internet on a computer, tablet or smart phone. WOWOW is now using Teranex 2D Processors and Smart Videohub routers to live stream popular sports events for this service.

One of the most popular programs recently provided by WOWOW in which Teranex 2D Processors were used was the recent Grand Slam tennis tournament, which includes the Australian Open, French Open and US Open. For the tournament, WOWOW selects matches that feature popular Japanese tennis players and other top tennis players from these tournaments for its on air content. WOWOW also live streams that on air content so that subscribers can watch from mobile devices or computers via the Internet, in addition to being able to watch extra games from the Grand Slam which cannot be seen on air for live streaming, allowing tennis fans to watch more games.

”WOWOW offers high quality video and audio content, and our new streaming services could not compromise that. To meet this high standard and yet still be affordable, we chose the Teranex,” said Takayuki Ishimura of WOWOW. “Because the Grand Slam is a sports program, it is very important that the fast movement is processed well and looks natural, and Teranex handles that very well. I like its usability, too. Function buttons are on a front panel and light when I select them so it is easy to use. I usually use it to convert 1080 50i footage from the Australian Open and French Open to 1080 59.94i.”

Another Blackmagic Design product used for the Grand Slam season was the Smart Videohub router. WOWOW brings a Smart Videohub router on site to the Grand Slam tournaments, where all match feeds from multiple courts are sent. Multiple feeds were then chosen for live streaming, and were sent through the Teranex 2D Processor to convert the media to the Japanese standard format 59.94i.

“We choose a couple of outputs from the Smart Videohub and do standards conversion from 50i to 59.94i,” said Ishimura. “Our staff at the Grand Slam site are too occupied with handling on air feeds for satellite broadcast to deal with the Internet broadcasting. So, because it is difficult for them to look over these feeds, the feeds are sent to Tokyo via Ethernet and we take care of the rest at the studio in Tokyo.

”Smart Videohub is easy to carry because it’s so light and compact. There are other teams who use these, so now we have three Smart Videohub routers. It allows me to switch via Ethernet, so I can control and select some feeds from overseas in Japan,” Ishimura concluded.

Press Photography

Product photos of Teranex and Smart Videohub, and all other Blackmagic Design products, are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/press/images.

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and film restoration software for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including stereoscopic 3D and 4K workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, and Australia. For more information, please check www.blackmagicdesign.com.

Press Release

Blackmagic Design announced that DaVinci Resolve was used by EC3 dailies colorist Adrian DeLude for near set dailies grading on the Twentieth Century Fox blockbuster “X-Men: Days of Future Past.” EC3, part of Deluxe Entertainment Services Group's near set dailies offering, harnesses the technology and personnel of post houses EFILM and Company 3 to create custom configured dailies solutions for feature films.

In the film, directed by Bryan Singer and shot by Newton Thomas Sigel, ASC, characters from the original “X-Men” film trilogy join forces with their younger selves from “X-Men: First Class” in an epic battle that must change the past to save the future. During the production, DeLude worked closely with Sigel out of one of EC3's trailers, a near set mobile grading theater outfitted with a complete projection room and full set of color grading tools. For "Days of Future Past," DaVinci Resolve was chosen for use in the trailer, where Sigel and DeLude created an elaborate dailies grade involving complex keys and secondary corrections.

“It’s very rare to do so many secondaries in dailies," DeLude explained. "We did it so close to the set that Tom [Sigel] could walk over and supervise at lunch and after wrap. And we did a lot of it in 3D!”

Sigel, who has always pushed the boundaries of photochemical and digital technology in his work, was eager to experiment with his ideas for "looks" during dailies creation, and DeLude used DaVinci Resolve to help him do so. “Tom likes to play with and push the image as far as he can to help communicate his ideas, define his concept and help get a director used to a look, knowing that he could tone it down in the DI," Delude recalled.

"Tom has a really strong knowledge of what can be done in DaVinci Resolve. He understands what the capabilities are,” Delude added. “It was a lot of in depth grading, and I had about 11 nodes per shot. It was like a full DI every day.”

Colorist Stephen Nakamura, who has done the DI grade on almost every feature Sigel completed digitally, also used DaVinci Resolve for the final DI grade of the film at Deluxe’s Company 3 facility in Santa Monica. While Sigel considerably re worked many of the color concepts he built with DeLude, Nakamura noted that it was very beneficial for Sigel to have been able to experiment so extensively in the dailies.

According to Nakamura: "The dailies were a great guide for us, and I think his work with Adrian really helped Tom develop his ideas so that by the time we got to the DI theater, the process went very smoothly.”

Press Photography

Product photos of DaVinci Resolve are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/press/images.

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com.

About Deluxe

Deluxe Entertainment Services Group Inc. is a global leader in media and entertainment services for film, video and online content, from capture to consumption. Since 1915, Deluxe has been the trusted partner for the world's most successful Hollywood studios, independent film companies, TV networks, exhibitors, advertisers and others, offering best-in-class solutions in production, post production, distribution, asset and workflow management, and new digital solution-based technologies. With operations in Los Angeles, New York and around the globe, the company employs nearly 6,000 of the most talented, highly honored and recognized artists and industry veterans worldwide. Deluxe is a wholly owned subsidiary of MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc. For more information visit www.bydeluxe.com.