The Daily Aus produced on-location coverage of Australia’s recent Voice Referendum, capturing three 9-minute shorts on the URSA Broadcast and an iPhone shooting via the Blackmagic app.
The Daily Aus, a social media-based news service in Australia, posts news content daily to Instagram, TikTok and its website. Every weekday, the team dispatches an email newsletter and releases a new podcast episode. With an emphasis on an easy-to-digest format and straightforward delivery, their content caters specifically to a younger audience aged under 35.
The Daily Aus produced on-location coverage of the recent Voice Referendum held on 14 October, comprised of three nine-minute shorts focusing on the issues concerning the vote.
The production was led by The Daily Aus’ Head of Video Joe Kiely, who deployed a Blackmagic Design URSA Broadcast as the main camera alongside an iPhone serving as a camera for pickup shots. The necessary functionality for the pickup camera was integrated through the Blackmagic Camera app.
Illuminating the Voice
Supporting Joe’s in-depth approach to the topic, this setup was instrumental in capturing the nuanced narratives from the remote communities that are most impacted by the Voice referendum. A total of nine and a half hours of raw footage was distilled into approximately 30 minutes of compelling stories that illuminate the Voice referendum's profound implications from various perspectives.
URSA Broadcast served as a solid, reliable camera for Joe and the journalist he was working with, whose journey through Australia called for mobility and a quick setup. The URSA Broadcast’s rugged build also held up throughout challenging weather conditions, from scorching temperatures and dust to relentless gales, particularly during a shoot on a picturesque headland among a bustling crowd of tourists in northwest Australia.
The coordination between the URSA Broadcast and the iPhone, set up through the Blackmagic Camera app, helped Joe bridge the gap between spontaneous pickup shots and the high quality capture he was recording on the URSA Broadcast. The series was colour graded in DaVinci Resolve Studio, using the magic mask feature to harmonise the footage from both devices, ensuring a cohesive visual description.
Travelling Light
Joe said, “The URSA Broadcast allowed both journalist Tom Crowley and me to stay light on our feet while racing around the country. Most days we set off with just the camera and a monopod. It’s reassuring knowing that everything you need is bolted onto the camera itself. Your mind isn’t distracted by ND filters, spare batteries or media cards running out.
“I could focus on getting the coverage we needed, and Tom could focus on conducting interviews and writing pieces to camera. The footage from the URSA Broadcast is beautiful, capturing cinematic shots in less than ideal conditions. It was the workhorse that let us accomplish this ambitious project on short notice.”
The Blackmagic Camera app was especially useful on the project, in effect upgrading the iPhone into a well-equipped pickup camera. Blackmagic’s digital film camera controls and image processing, and the professional features needed for feature film, television and documentaries are integrated into the phone and presented as a heads up display. Users can create Instagram, YouTube and TikTok content with a cinematic look, while referring to status and record parameters, histogram, focus peaking, levels, frame guides and so on.
Multicam Shoot on a Shoestring
“The ability to adjust frame rate, ISO and white balance helped us get surprising quality from an iPhone, and the Apple Log profile made it possible to adjust the grades in Resolve to do any camera matching. It uses the same interface as other Blackmagic cameras, making it extremely easy to work with and very quick on the occasions when we didn't have a lot of time to get set up and only had one take," Joe said.
“With the URSA Broadcast, I loved being able to ditch the ‘grab bag of peripherals’ and just take the camera. We’d often be driving for long periods through the outback and would spot a terrific vista or magic moment where I could pull over and start filming in under a minute. While on foot, I had everything I needed on my shoulder – my ‘news superpower.’ Combined with the Blackmagic Camera app on my phone, we were able to pull off a multicam shoot on a shoestring, capturing fantastic visuals to accompany our Voice referendum series.” www.blackmagicdesign.com
