Brotherhood Studios Shoots With Pocket Cinema Camera 6K G2

Production house Brotherhood Studios is known for producing a wide range of content, such as the feature film “Last Three Days,” content for YouTube producer Zach King, and commercial projects for a variety of brands, many of which air on networks such as HGTV. Recently, one of Brotherhood Studios’ longest running clients tasked the team with producing holiday cooking promotional content for the company, and while simple at first glance, it still required a particular touch to create.

Director Brian Ulrich knows that realism and color rendition are key in presenting food products correctly, and he relies on Blackmagic Design cameras along with Blackmagic RAW to achieve this. In their latest shoot, Ulrich employed both the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K digital film camera as well as the Pocket Cinema Camera 6K G2 digital film camera. “The color out of these cameras is amazing,” said Ulrich. “A lot of filmmakers focus on getting realistic skin tones, but with a lot of the product cinematography I’ve been doing lately it’s critical to accurately depict the food while still making it look tasty. In this case we were shooting salmon being prepared, and I was very impressed with the mouthwatering look of these finished, colored product images that we got from the Blackmagic cameras.”

Brotherhood Studios finds that regardless of the client, product shoots can keep them on their toes. “At times we are asked to produce an entire sequence of a family at dinner,” said Producer Julianna Ulrich. “And other times, like this one, it’s more of a cooking show production. So we need to be flexible in our style and approach to be able to accommodate the client’s ideas, while maintaining a high quality standard overall.”

The addition of the Pocket Cinema Camera 6K G2 helped maintain that quality, while making the production more efficient and flexible. “Shooting in a tight kitchen set, we used our Pocket 4K as a static overhead and the Pocket 6K G2 as our main camera, getting all the detail and beauty shots,” added Brian. “The Pocket 6K G2 also allowed us to be more comfortable shooting a little wider, knowing we could crop in if we wanted a slightly closer shot.”

Brian loves the challenge of interpreting the client’s needs with the available technology for the budget. “With our various projects we’ve experienced budget ranges from high to low, so we try to bring a tool kit that can adapt, no matter what,” said Ulrich. “I’ve always loved the versatility of the Pocket cameras. They produce feature level images but in such a small form factor. With the new Pocket 6K G2 having a bigger sensor, an EF lens mount and the 6K resolution, it lets me still fit in the tight spaces, but I can be even more confident in the images I’m getting. I love the adjustable five inch screen, and if you already have ND filters for your lenses, the cost savings from the Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro is another big plus.”

In an effort to put as much money on the screen as possible, Brotherhood Studios recently moved over to a full DaVinci Resolve Studio editing, grading, visual effects (VFX) and audio post production software pipeline. “I first started using DaVinci Resolve just for color, but round tripping from other editing software was adding unnecessary steps,” added Brian. “We decided to try editing our projects in Resolve as well, and we loved it! Blackmagic RAW works seamlessly in Resolve, handling the 4K and 6K footage easily, and keeps our workflow contained in one program, which has streamlined our post process. I am consistently impressed and pleased with the functionality of a Blackmagic Design workflow, from cameras to Resolve.”