Colombia. The Colombian Internet-streamed series El Inquisidor, was filmed entirely with the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K and Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro models.
The second season of this mystery program produced by Valencia Producciones premiered on the free platform of RTVCPlay and relied on these digital film cameras to capture different perspectives of the interactive show.
The series is about a young writer, Andrés Erazo, who investigates the murders of missing women throughout the city for the newspaper "El Inquisidor". In interactive mode, the viewer can help Andrés solve the crime by taking on the role of investigative journalist. By clicking on different objects, finding hidden clues and solving puzzles, users have the possibility to unlock levels and access exclusive content during the course of the series.
Director of photography Rubén Fernández relied on six Pocket Cinema Camera 4K units and observed: "The economical price of the camera allowed us to include more units in the work dynamics and configure each one according to its specific function." This helped the team capture as much content as possible, which is sorely needed for an interactive series. For example, several helmet-mounted cameras were used to record the perspectives of the characters that the viewer can later explore.
"Time is of paramount importance when capturing so much content to support an interactive show," said Fernandez. "Because we were able to have several of these cameras because of their afford, the directors were able to focus more on set, rather than having to wait for the camera department to disassemble one system to prepare another."
"What struck me most about the Pocket Cinema Camera model was its low-light performance," he added. "This police drama features many bleak and low-light situations, so the camera's ability to shoot in Blackmagic RAW format made the processes easier, especially in post-production."
Fernandez and his team also took advantage of the cameras' compact size, as the production team often placed the units in strange or awkward places, for example, in scenes with complex car chases. For these shots in particular, we relied on the Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro model and its integrated neutral density filters, which offer an extremely compact and minimalist system without sacrificing aesthetics or image quality.
"We didn't want to use external filters or filter holders on the stand of the moving car," Fernandez explained. "The neutral density filters built into the Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro allowed us to quickly change the amount of light entering the sensor, without the need for additional accessories."
To edit and color the images, Valencia Producciones relied on DaVinci Resolve Studio. "It was extremely useful to have so many tools in one program," Fernandez added. "We didn't have to move from one software to another to continue with the process."
He then commented, "We take great advantage of the collaborative work dynamics of DaVinci Resolve Studio, as it allows our editors to work on the same project simultaneously. This helped the response time of concept editors, directors and producers to be much shorter, and they could move to the next stage more quickly.
The Mount module in DaVinci Resolve Studio offered many benefits, as the team had the ability to crop and enlarge images, use the sync tray, preview content, and more. Regarding color grading, Fernández said: "We loved being able to group clips and make general adjustments with great ease and agility. We could complete the job and move on to the next scene without any inconvenience."
To conclude, Fernández added: "The dynamics of working with Blackmagic Design products helped us at every stage of the production of "The Inquisitor", from the recording to the editing of the contents. We have just been nominated for the Transmedia Project at the TAL Awards, which recognize the best in Latin American television. We are more than happy! This shows the incredible results we have been able to achieve in this project and the warm support we have received from the public."
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