Helmut Lang Resort 2025 Fashion Shot With Blackmagic PYXIS 6K
Philipp Paulus relies on Blackmagic PYXIS 6K’s rigging possibilities for shooting on the streets of NYC.
Blackmagic Design today announced that luxury clothing brand Helmut Lang’s Resort 2025 campaign was shot with Blackmagic PYXIS 6K digital film camera by photographer and director Philipp Paulus.
Inspired by New York City’s Riverside Drive and the park close to it, the campaign was shot on the Upper West Side on the busy city streets. With the collection including 34 different looks, Paulus was tasked with delivering three 45 second films combining key looks and one 15 second clip for each look.
“The PYXIS was especially useful for this project because it offered the greatest flexibility in framing, allowing me to shoot seamlessly in both vertical and horizontal orientations while being fully rigged out,” began Paulus. “We were shooting on New York City streets, and depending on our environment, we wanted certain scenes in both formats for different deliverables. Due to its box form factor and rigging possibilities, PYXIS can simply be turned on its side for a vertical shot without having to modify any rigging solutions.”
“I shot in 6048 x 4032 Blackmagic RAW 23.976 fps. I love the open gate 3:2 aspect ratio for a more photographic medium format feel, and it is easy to turn horizontal footage into vertical in a 3:2 aspect ratio,” he continued. “Ever since I started shooting with a full frame sensor, I never want to go back. I love the shallower depth of field for creamy, cinematic bokeh. Also, its lowlight performance results in cleaner images with less noise and is something I take advantage of on almost every project.”
Paulus added that PYXIS 6K’s box design makes rigging the camera incredibly easy. “I basically have a cheese plate on each side of the camera and can rig it vertically or horizontally to an Easyrig. Even with a matte box, follow focus, battery plate and wireless transmitter, PYXIS still has a very handy form factor that can fit in a backpack and be taken anywhere,” he said.
When it came to scouting locations ahead of the shoot, Paulus relied on his Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K digital film camera, also capturing b roll for the campaign. Additionally, he used the Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K to capture stills during the main shoot.
“The main production was shot on a fully rigged out PYXIS using a Blackmagic Video Assist 7” 12G HDR, which is super bright and essential on a bright location shoot. In addition, we used the URSA Cine EVF, which is not only very handy when it comes to precise framing but also adds a helpful set of function and record buttons. For post production, I edited and graded in DaVinci Resolve Studio, with the DaVinci Resolve Speed Editor helping me review and select footage in record time and the DaVinci Resolve Micro Panel assisting with nuanced adjustments that are difficult to achieve with a mouse. I always have it on set with me as well for a quick color on the dailies,” he explained.
In post, Paulus noted that he used DaVinci Resolve Studio’s UltraNR Noise Reduction, a DaVinci Neural Engine driven denoise mode in the color page’s spatial noise reduction palette, on some shots captured during dawn. “It gave me a better result than any other NR tool I have used in the past. The image stayed crisp, colors were not affected, and noise was simply reduced as you would want it from a high end NR tool. I was also very curious about Resolve’s Film Look Creator, and the final color ended up being a blend of my usual color look and an additional node applying one of the looks of the Film Look Creator, which I loved,” he said.
“For this shoot, it was unique that we took stills with a Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K and recorded motion with the PYXIS 6K, easily matching stills and motion in post in Resolve, aligning color correction and feel,” Paulus concluded. “I’ve used the PYXIS for numerous projects already, including a fashion film highlighting the return of Italian fashion brand Armani to New York for its Spring/Summer ‘25 collection; for Peter Do’s Spring/Summer ‘25 show in Paris; and for a fashion film we created for Danish brand Samsøe Samsøe. It handles whatever I throw at it, and its flexibility truly cannot be beat.”
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