First Two Seasons of Vertical Series Vultures Shot on Blackmagic Design Cameras
Director and DoP of “Vultures” create intense vertical drama across Romania and Taiwan.
Blackmagic Design today announced that the vertical micro drama series “Vultures” was shot using Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 4.6K and Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro. The series, which is in its second season and was shot across Romania and Taiwan, also completed post production using DaVinci Resolve Studio post production software.
“Vultures” is a medical conspiracy thriller following a desperate woman who agrees to deliver mysterious packages to pay off her sister’s medical debt – only to uncover a global health crisis involving a hidden disease. The film has gained a global audience by combining high quality filmmaking and an intense action packed storyline with the vertical micro drama format of short 60 to 90 second episodes.
Director Iyin Landre and DoP Michael Li of Two Twelve Productions and 揚揚國際 (No Limits BloodFlow) respectively, both have a body of work behind them but “Vultures” is their first foray into vertical narrative storytelling. Together in Season 2, they focused on cinematic storytelling by making sure they did not lose filmic quality just because the format had changed.
Landre, who also served as writer, actress, producer and editor, explained the steep learning curve in this new format. “Vertical storytelling feels like a completely different animal because we’re competing with car crashes, cat videos and kimchi recipes. Taking this into consideration, the first three seconds really need to grab the audience.”
“I have to admit in Season 1, which was shot run and gun in Romania last summer, I didn’t crack this fully because I was still in the traditional storytelling frame of mind. And since ‘Vultures’ is a grounded medical conspiracy thriller, I’ve also resisted using soapy hooks as bait. Now my approach has shifted towards opening on something visually striking, like the chaos of a Taiwanese market in Season 2, or dropping the audience straight into a dilemma or a question.”
’Vultures’ is being built into a multi season arc, with Two Twelve Productions self distributing on their own social media.
“The plan is to keep expanding my IP with characters and storylines that evolve over multiple seasons. That’s something I haven’t seen in the vertical space yet, especially in the thriller genre. The goal is to give people a reason to come back and follow where these characters end up. In addition, each season is also set in a different country – Romania for Season 1, Taiwan for Season 2. I want people to ask, where is Season 3 going to be?”
Much of the series includes dramatic action scenes, such as chases through city streets and abandoned areas. To do this, Li, who was the DoP for Season 2 of the series, relied on the URSA Mini Pro 4.6K’s small form factor and ability to quickly set up and break down, combined with its high dynamic range.
Li explained: “A lot of the shooting was done handheld and often on mopeds. The camera worked great and sparks joy inside of me as the DoP. I’ve taken these cameras across five continents and even in the heat and humidity of Taiwan it was always reliable.”
“Cameras and filmmaking tools should be an extension of the human body and cause minimal friction. The URSA Mini Pro allowed me to execute quickly under the constraints of this project and the size and weight are ideal for me, even when shooting handheld.”
Li shot using Blackmagic RAW to ensure they were as efficient as possible with storage, using under 500GBs across three days of shooting. He also focused on using as simple a rig as possible, adding only a V mount battery, lens and XLR audio receiver.
The use of Blackmagic Design cameras and DaVinci Resolve Studio allowed the filmmakers to create a high quality film that stuck with the vertical micro drama format.
Landre explained: “The most challenging scene to shoot was probably the last episode. We were on this posh rooftop in Taiwan, losing light, AND to top it off, it was the emotional cliffhanger of Season Two, so it had to pop. Since I was also acting, it just added an extra layer of stress to the situation. But luckily Michael was extremely adept with the URSA Mini Pro and the crew was very in sync at that point. We finally pulled it off, doing max 3 takes per angle right as the sun set over the horizon.”
“I understand that there is a current vertical formula. But there’s room for a breakthrough here, not just in structure but also aspects such as composition, lighting approach, and lens choice. If budgets keep increasing, I can see this developing quickly over the next year(s). I want to be hopeful about our attention spans, the general direction of us as humans, etc. So I choose to be optimistic and believe we still value quality and just because it’s viewed on mobile, it doesn’t have to be disposable media. And Blackmagic cameras and Resolve are the perfect tools to get there,” Li finished.
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