Fremont, CA - November 30, 2017 - Blackmagic Design announced today that its URSA Mini 4.6K was used for shooting “Obusebito,” a documentary short film about the people of a small town, Obuse, Nagano. The film was graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio using a DaVinci Resolve Micro Panel.

“Obusebito” revolves around the delightful people living in Obuse, including a number of residents working to promote the town. The film vividly captures their daily lives and shows how they managed to develop the smallest town in Nagano, with a population of ten thousand people, into a major sightseeing spot visited by one million people a year.

The film was directed, shot and graded by Kazuhito Takazawa. He is not only a photographer specialized in advertisements, CD covers, fashion, architecture and editorials, but also well known as a videographer shooting with digital film cameras in a cinematic style. His debut documentary short film, “Odayaka-ya,” earned him a number of international film festival awards.

“The URSA Mini 4.6K was very easy to use because you can change small settings, such as color temperature, on the touchscreen monitor while looking at what the camera is seeing,” said Takazawa. “I normally shoot in 24fps, but in key sequences I’m inclined to shoot in 60fps, so it was helpful to be able to save presets and load different settings on the fly. When I put the camera on a gimbal and closed the touchscreen monitor, I assigned shutter angle and ISO settings to the external function keys and I could modify these settings while shooting. I found the audio level adjustment knobs convenient too. URSA Mini 4.6K is user friendly and has every feature necessary for shooting.“

He continued, “Previously, cameras that could shoot RAW video were too expensive for me as a young photographer and I dreamt of cinema cameras that even an individual photographer could buy. So when the Blackmagic Cinema Camera became available, I bought it immediately. I was impressed by DaVinci Resolve Studio and the Cinema Camera, a combination that made it possible to achieve the RAW video workflow I had dreamt of. The details and beauty in RAW data were breathtaking. My main camera is now the URSA Mini 4.6K, and the material shot with it gives me a similar excitement to the one I got with Cinema Camera.”

Takazawa shot, graded and edited the work by himself. “I always looked for film-like looks when I was shooting and grading. I created original LUTs with DaVinci Resolve Studio to get close to the look I intended. I like the key output tool for adjusting how much an original LUT is applied. When it comes to grading close-up on female faces I smoothed their skin by adjusting the midtone detail parameter, a wonderful feature that allows you to apply smoothness without losing sharp details like eyelashes. I started to like grading more by getting to know DaVinci Resolve Studio. Grading RAW footage in DaVinci Resolve Studio also opened my eyes to the amazingly wide dynamic range of URSA Mini 4.6K.”

“This is the first time I used the DaVinci Resolve Micro Panel. I used to grade on an iMac by looking at the small viewer. Now I can open the cinema viewer and look at the full screen view by clicking the ‘Viewer’ button on the panel, and I can grade material exactly the way I want. Since I can focus on the monitor without looking down at my hands, I am now able to adjust parameters in minute detail and I find it highly superior to grading by a mouse. It is intuitive, quick and saves time. The panel introduced me to tools I barely used before as well, such as Y knobs for luminance adjustment. It helps me extend the range of looks and makes me more creative,” he concluded.

Press Photography
Product photos of URSA Mini 4.6K, DaVinci Resolve Studio, DaVinci Resolve Micro Panel and all other Blackmagic Design products are available at https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/au/media/images.

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/.

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 and Matrox Video products. www.newmagic.com.au.