Fremont, CA - October 11, 2017 - Blackmagic Design today announced that Kei Ikeda, one of Japan’s leading music video DP, videographer and screenwriter, and also the founder of production company ISAI, used Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 4.6K to shoot a number of music videos. He has used the URSA Mini Pro 4.6K to shot videos for some of Japan’s leading musical acts, including popular artists such as KOTORI and Hysteric Panic.

 

Ikeda shoots and directs many music videos and concert videos, and has created a large number of award winning short films and a feature films. Since founding ISAI, Ikeda has been recognized as a pioneer who has opened up new ways for the visual expression of music.

 

“The first time I used the URSA Mini Pro was for the band KOTORI, when making their music video for the song ‘Blue.’ The client first asked me to shoot with a film camera, however we did not have enough budget for a film shoot, so I looked for something we could get in a similar image that was within the budget and we reached to the URSA Mini Pro 4.6K. I shot in 3K anamorphic sensor mode so I used a prime lens for still photography, with an anamorphic adapter, SLR Magic,” said Ikeda. After shooting he used DaVinci Resolve’s Camera RAW setting to create the desired look he wanted for the video.

 

Around the same time, he also shot a video for Hysteric Panic with the same combination of URSA Mini Pro and still lens with SLR Magic. Then, he shot Japanese Idol group Pass Code’s music video as well. “I used Canon prime lenses to shoot the video. For this video, I was hired as DP. This means I did not edit the video, and I shot in ProRes so that the director could easily cut the footage and gave him a LUT after shooting. I usually shoot in RAW when I do everything, from shooting to post production, but it’s handy to have a ProRes recording option when I don’t have total control of finishing projects.”

 

Ikeda continued: “I used this camera for these groups for the first time. What surprised me was the image quality that I could get out of this wide dynamic range. Later, I used the URSA Mini Pro for another song, ‘ROKUGATSU (June)’ from KOTORI. I used it with Canon’s Cine Prime lenses and shot in RAW. I wanted to bring out more clarity in the picture, so I added more contrast on shadows than I did for previous video with Resolve.”

 

“After that shoot, I did a couple more projects for different artists and clients. The camera gives me more freedom as I can switch EF and PL mounts depending on the project. I also did high speed shooting for many projects. I shot both uncompressed and compressed RAW, and compressed RAW gives me a very nice image which I hardly can tell the difference from the uncompressed one. “

 

He also used the URSA Mini Pro for a recent web commercial. “I shot the commercial using a Cooke anamorphic lens with the camera. I have worked with the same client before and that time I used a different camera which was way more expensive than the URSA Mini Pro. Of course the client loved the commercial, however, they said they prefer the commercial’s look captured from the URSA Mini Pro and Cooke lens.”

 

“The benefit of the URSA Mini Pro is of course its dynamic range and picture quality. It also is easy to handle, which I think is another great benefit of this camera. It allows me to shoot as long as I have the camera. I don’t need to add many new peripherals around the camera, so I do not need a bigger production, or add an extra camera assistant. The URSA Mini Pro is just very easy to use,” Ikeda concluded.

 

Press Photography

Product photos of Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 4.6K, DaVinci Resolve Studio and all other Blackmagic Design products, are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/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.