by FilmInk Staff
Award winning filmmaker Travis Henry elevates BTS to stand alone films using Blackmagic Design workflow.
Blackmagic Design announce the BTS documentary, “The Making of Sinners: Dancing With the Devil” was shot by filmmaker Travis Henry using Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro. Henry also used Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro to shoot BTS footage for the new film “Is God Is.”
Once only focusing on staged interviews for DVD extras or electronic press kit material, BTS documentaries have become films in their own right, giving access to every part of a filmmaker’s vision and craft.
Henry, owner of the Seidist production studio, is an award winning filmmaker based out of New Orleans. Recently winning two Webby Awards and a Clio award for his work on “The Making of Sinners: Dancing With the Devil” Henry has become a highly requested filmmaker for shooting BTS and has worked BTS on global blockbusters such as “Sinners,” “Emancipation,” and “The Burial.”
Henry explained: “Filming BTS, discretion and a small footprint are critical to your success on set more often than not. Whenever I’m filming BTS, I try to understand the intentions of the director, director of photography and all other supporting filmmakers regarding the world they’ve set out to create. A BTS shooter is typically an ‘army of one’ position, so you need a tool that can help with as many diverse situations as possible to achieve your goals on the day. The Pocket 6K Pro was that tool for me.”
For “The Making of Sinners,” Henry was tasked as much with humanizing the film as giving viewers a full look at the people and production. He had access to everyone from Oscar winning director Ryan Coogler and Oscar winning costume designer Ruth Carter, to the actors and filmmakers on every part of the set. To do this, Henry needed to become part of the background of the film while at the same time become a part of the film’s community.
He explained: “With ‘Sinners,’ the soul, humanity, and peerless vision of Ryan Coogler and the focus, ferocity, and expressiveness of DoP Autumn Durald were my guides. They set out with his team to tell a story set in the Delta: on one level, to honor his late uncle and his love of the blues, and on another, to bet on himself and his original work.
My goal was to document that storytelling journey for Coogler and the filmmakers as they braved the unforgiving Louisiana sun, the specter of doubt and great expectation, their joy and grit, and how this movie, like one night in a Mississippi juke joint, would change them all forever.”
To capture this, Henry relied on the Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro’s small design and ability to capture high quality cinematic images.
“The combination of filmic, high fidelity images on a compact rig that could cycle between looks, exposure, resolution and speed in seconds seamlessly is why the Pocket 6K Pro was and remains the only tool I could use to capture the fullness of what was happening on the set of ‘Sinners,’” he continued.
The benefits of the camera were highlighted in Henry’s capturing of the Surreal Montage, one of the film’s most iconic scenes. Almost four minutes long, the scene is a highly choreographed walk through the past and future of music from the film’s characters.
When shooting BTS for the scene, Henry was able to blend into the background and capture the filming of something that has already become legendary. He explained: “The 6K Pro’s size allowed me to be nimble, capturing critical moments by tucking in with the camera where a larger body would have made filming impossible. It made me feel embedded and I could put the camera in small spaces (e.g., beneath a combo stand) or among the production itself.”
Also, the film’s frequent switching between different sets and lighting, including terrifying darkness, the warm lighting of dancing at the juke joint or the many fire scenes, created a challenge for Henry.
He explained: “The camera’s built in ND filters and dual gain sensor were critical to being able to adapt to the changing scenes/lighting environments. There were many scenarios—high contrast or low light—that required the ability to quickly change settings to capture alone what typically requires a team to achieve on major motion pictures.
A good example was an extra being set on fire in the Juke Joint, and the camera easily brought the ND down at the second gain base of ISO 1250 to better handle highlights. Or the flames die down to reveal the ambient glow of the Juke’s practical lighting and the extra’s smoldering embers. I lose the ND and shift to ISO 400 to better handle the shadows.”
To create an efficient post workflow and be as efficient with storage as possible, Henry shot in Blackmagic RAW. Producing and editing of the BTS was done by Rivendel Films, headed up by Constantine Nasr who used DaVinci Resolve Studio.
“Compared to other camera systems, Blackmagic’s RAW codec is so easy to handle in post. Whereas other codecs may bottleneck the post production process, the seamless integration of Blackmagic RAW and DaVinci Resolve cannot be overstated here. I could create backups, audition color grades, edit, and export my intentions for reference before the final cut and grade,” he said.
“The Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro was, and continues to be indispensable in this regard. Having a tool powerful enough to film in a language similar to that of our filmmakers via the camera’s brilliant image, yet compact enough not to impact or disturb the work was achievable only with this body,” Henry concluded.
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/au.
