Candra Agustinus in Indonesia captured distinctive local views of Indonesia’s island life using his URSA Mini Pro 12K OLPF and Pocket Cinema Camera 4K, finishing in DaVinci Resolve.
Director Candra Agustinus in Indonesia produces digital content that supports strong, relatable stories to help brands share their messages with audiences. From social media campaigns to web series and short films, Candra has engaged with diverse viewers through his visual storytelling. For a recent project, he created a special film for Indonesia’s Keong Emas Theater that would promote the region’s beauty and locations.
Candra and his company DuckoChan Projekt spent 10 days capturing more than 1,000 video files of dramatic aerial views, underwater footage of marine life, and spectacular shots of beaches and hills for the film ‘The Glorious Komodo Island’. The film focusses on Indonesia’s Labuan Bajo island, intending to attract tourists to visit the region and educate viewers about the island’s culture.
‘The Glorious Komodo Island’ made its premiere to a packed Keong Emas Theater, taking advantage of the facility’s oversized, IMAX screen and professional AV setup. It delivered an immersive theatre experience for audiences, highlighting some of the region’s magnificent places.
To shoot the film, Candra used his fleet of Blackmagic Design digital film cameras, including the URSA Mini Pro 12K OLPF and Pocket Cinema Camera 4K. The URSA Mini Pro 12K OLPF features a 12K Super 35 sensor and 14 stops of dynamic range built into the URSA Mini body. Its optical low pass filter (OLPF) captures a high level of detail in the images. The Pocket Cinema Camera 4K’s features such as the 4/3 image sensor and MFT lens mount support a wide dynamic range. Combined with low light performance and Blackmagic RAW recording, it gives Candra a handheld option that produces high quality footage.
Candra shot in 8K resolution with the URSA Mini Pro 12K OLPF and at 4K resolution with the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K, recording Blackmagic RAW formats with a constant bit rate setting.
“The URSA Mini Pro 12K OLPF was my first choice when it came to shooting video at high resolution,” Candra said. He believes that ‘The Glorious Komodo Island’ is the first project in Indonesia to use this camera. “It captures the image in a way that brings viewers right to the capture location. The Pocket Cinema Camera 4K’s are useful for moving shots and backups.”
Tropical Environment
Shooting outside in the natural elements can put demands on a production. Candra finds that because Indonesia lies in a tropical zone, the overall lighting environment is quite challenging. “It’s very different to shooting in the northern hemisphere where shadows are less harsh,” he said. “The Blackmagic Design sensors’ dynamic range and image quality, especially in the URSA Mini Pro 12K OLPF, is very useful for capturing detail. If the URSA Mini Pro can help overcome uncontrollable conditions such as lighting challenges, then such projects will become much more manageable.”
Candra started using Blackmagic cameras in 2014 to shoot his first feature film and since then has used them exclusively for his storytelling projects and commercial work.
“I established my company in 2014 in the same spirit as Blackmagic Design, to produce high quality video on an affordable budget,” he said. “To set a standard, we produced a cinematic feature film using those cameras. It’s the reason we encourage clients to hire us – to capture high quality video and still have extra budget to execute their branding strategy. The RAW format flexibility of Blackmagic Design cameras allows me to handle shooting all kinds of situations in all types of environments.”
Single Workflow
Another advantage of using the Blackmagic Design cameras to capture the island’s natural beauty was to be able to complete his film entirely in a Blackmagic Design workflow. He was also using DJI drones and GoPro cameras for aerial and underwater footage, but finished the edit and colour grade entirely within DaVinci Resolve.
“I do all of my post production in one single tool,” he said. “The images are ready to be colour processed for the client’s request and ready for the giant screen. DaVinci Resolve is very effective and reliable to adjust anything, including balancing all colours from aerial and underwater footage. Working in a Blackmagic Design environment simply makes projects efficient, practical and reliable.”
Candra and his crew have finished the second instalment of the project in December of 2023. The production, which in this case took place on Sumba Island, also used a Blackmagic Design camera workflow, including the URSA Mini Pro 12K OLPF and Pocket Cinema Camera 4K, and this time also a Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro. https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/
