Damon Gameau's "That Sugar Film" Shot on Blackmagic Cinema Camera and Production Camera 4K
Fremont, CA - December 08, 2014 - Blackmagic Design today announced that actor and director Damon Gameau’s new documentary “That Sugar Film” was shot using the Blackmagic Cinema Camera and Production Camera 4K. The documentary was also graded using DaVinci Resolve and premiered in competition at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam in November.
“That Sugar Film” is a combination of academia, education, irreverence, celebrities, science and comedy. Directed and hosted by Damon Gameau, known for his roles on “Puberty Blues,” “Secrets & Lies” and the cult classic “Thunderstruck,” the film aims to investigate how sugar has infiltrated our diet and culture, what it's doing to us and how we can develop an arm's length relationship with it. The film’s cinematographer is Judd Overton, who has shot dozens of films, including “Return to Nim’s Island.”
The film follows Damon as he eats and drinks everyday items found on grocery shelves across the world, while at the same time visiting with people in various locations throughout the world, from the Australian outback to New York City’s Times Square. The documentary’s production schedule was broken into two main parts: a global travel shoot with minimal equipment, and an intense set of green screen productions, which resulted in 200 VFX shots interspersed throughout the film. For the travel based footage, the team primarily shot on the Blackmagic Cinema Camera, while using the Production Camera 4K for green screen shots.
“At every step, we knew we had to make the film accessible and entertaining for everyone, from kids to adults. But it had to be educational throughout as well. So we went to town to make it as visual as possible, and that included a huge amount of green screen work and VFX shots, as well as Damon and I jumping on planes with our entire production thrown in our backpacks as we traveled to different cities,” said Overton.
“For me, the Blackmagic cameras are about the latitude and great image I can get in such a small, easy to carry design,” continued Overton. “With the 40 day worldwide road trip we were on, I shot in ProRes and mostly handheld or on my shoulder with a small rig. It really was amazing to be able to throw a couple of cinema quality cameras in my backpack and just go to where the shots needed to happen.
“For the green screen productions, many of which were done for intricate and over the top VFX shots, such as Damon on a spoon full of sugar being eaten or Damon inside a digestive system, we shot in RAW on the Production Camera 4K. I was looking for high resolution and the ability to shoot in RAW to get everything I could out of the shots and nail down VFX plates that would be easy to work with for the VFX crew,” he added.
Once footage was shot, the offline edit was completed at production company Madman Production, with online, VFX and final grading using DaVinci Resolve at VFX head Seth Larney’s home studio in Australia.
“The image quality, latitude and ability to easily grade and push around footage with the Blackmagic cameras were perfect for the film. And I love how the cameras made the entire post workflow so easy,” said Overton. “I have been a Blackmagic camera customer since the first camera shipped, and this film really showed how powerful they are for getting amazing images and being flexible enough to use in any shooting environment.”
“That Sugar Film”premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam November 20, 2014 and will hit worldwide distribution in 2015. Check out the trailer http://www.thatsugarfilm.com. Worldwide sales for the film at Metro International, sales@metro-films.com.
Press Photography
Product photos of Blackmagic Production Camera 4K, Blackmagic Cinema Camera and DaVinci Resolve are available here. Story photos are here, the trailer for the film can be found here,
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 http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/au.
About New Magic Australia Pty Ltd (Australian and New Zealand Blackmagic Design master distributor)
New Magic Australia Pty Ltd is a recognised leader in the distribution and marketing of multimedia hardware and software, representing a carefully selected range of innovative, leading manufacturers and catering for both the professional and consumer markets. New Magic Australia established in 1993 is the Australian distributor of Blackmagic Design, Convergent Design, Hauppauge Computer Works Inc, Cubix, Matrox Video and Sony Creative Software products. www.newmagic.com.au
