Crazy Ken Band’s LOVE Shot on Blackmagic URSA Cine 17K and URSA Cine 12K

URSA Cine’s rich tonality and dynamic range bring the song’s worldview to life.

Blackmagic Design today announced that the music video for “LOVE,” the second single from Crazy Ken Band’s latest album “Karei,” was shot on Blackmagic URSA Cine 17K 65 and Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF digital film cameras.

Crazy Ken Band, known for producing numerous hit songs, has released “LOVE” as a single from their 25th album. The music video opens with a minimalistic scene: a white studio space filled with white mannequins, intentionally stripped of color. As vocalist Ken Yokoyama, dressed in a gray suit, begins to sing, the once motionless mannequins come to life and begin to dance, creating a striking visual twist.

Director Issei Morimoto spoke about the concept: “When I first heard the song, I felt that ‘LOVE’ comes in many forms, and love is an explosion. The lyrics were sent to me in a gothic font, and the visual impression immediately made me think of mannequins. As I explored the lyrics, I realized that just as love has many expressions, mannequins also have various expressions and can appear in any color depending on who sees them or when. And when you hear this sound, even mannequins would want to dance. I wanted to express the idea that loving is free, explosive, joyful, and wonderful, in a simple yet humorous way.”

Cinematographer Hirohito Itagaki, who began his career as a photographer and started shooting video with the legacy Blackmagic Cinema Camera digital film camera, has used many Blackmagic Design cameras over the years. For this project, he shot with both the URSA Cine 17K 65 and URSA Cine 12K LF.

Regarding the decision to use the URSA Cines, Itagaki said, “Blackmagic Design cameras are known for their rich, contrasty colors, and I felt that tone perfectly suited Ken’s allure and cool presence.”

He continued, “This was my first time using the URSA Cine, but I felt the same revolutionary charm that I experienced with the original Cinema Camera. I’ve always liked the tone of Blackmagic cameras. The URSA Cine cameras feature a faster rolling shutter scan and deliver a top class dynamic range, even when compared with other manufacturers’ digital cinema cameras. Despite being full frame, it also supports high frame rates for high speed shooting. Overall, it meets demanding technical requirements at a very high level.”

For this production, the team used the URSA Cine 12K LF on a Steadicam and the URSA Cine 17K 65 for dolly and handheld shots. Lens choices included Sigma High Speed Prime lens on the URSA Cine 12K LF and FUJIFILM Premista zoom lens on the URSA Cine 17K 65, with resolutions switched between 12K and 8K depending on the scene.

Itagaki described the most challenging aspect of the shoot: “In the scene where mannequins surround Ken, we wanted the lighting to appear as though directional light was coming from the left. Soft, gradient rich lighting makes mannequins look beautiful, but directional lighting requires harder light. To reconcile these opposing qualities of light, large scale, highly precise lighting setups would have been required on set, but we faced limitations in both time and space.”

“Thanks to the URSA Cine’s dynamic range, we were able to overcome that challenge. In post production, we enhanced the contrast on Ken to emphasize his cool, rugged look while keeping the white mannequins distinct from the background wall and preserving their gradation. In the chess scene with the mannequins, the dynamic range again proved invaluable, and the skin tones appear natural and beautiful. Being able to reproduce Asian skin tones so naturally is truly impressive,” Itagaki added.

Itagaki concluded, “My journey into filmmaking began with the Blackmagic Cinema Camera. Blackmagic Design continues to release high spec cameras at accessible price points, opening the door for people who want to pursue filmmaking. I hope that by showcasing works shot with Blackmagic cameras, more people will be inspired to try Blackmagic Design cameras for themselves.”

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