Nature Seekers Documentary Shot with Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF
Filming endangered turtles required camera’s 12K resolution and low light capability, delivering cinematic results.
Blackmagic Design today announced that Nature Seekers, a community based non profit organization focused on fighting the poaching of turtles, relied on the Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF digital film camera to capture the documentary film “Conservation Pandemic.” With most of the documentary shot at night using turtle safe red lights or under dense forest canopies, the crew relied on the camera’s low light performance and 12K resolution to film the turtles without intruding on their environment.
Founded in 1990 in response to the widespread poaching of leatherback turtles on Trinidad’s Matura Beach, Nature Seekers began as a community effort to patrol the shoreline and protect nesting females. At the time, up to 30 percent of egg bearing turtles were killed for their meat or eggs. Today, poaching has been eliminated, and Matura Beach supports the largest leatherback nesting colony in the Northwest Atlantic, with more than 100 nesting females arriving per night during the peak season from April to June.
With just 38 days of shooting, the team needed reliable gear to capture the footage during nesting periods.
“There are no second chances when filming wildlife, and on top of that, there were special considerations for this project, like filming from a certain distance and having to use turtle safe red lights,” said Kyle C. Mitchell, project coordinator at Nature Seekers. “With most of the film captured at night and in challenging conditions, we chose Blackmagic Design knowing we could get to work right away.”
“The URSA Cine 12K LF’s low light capability is certainly something that stood out given our shooting conditions but also its ability to be used in different outdoor settings while still capturing stunning imagery,” Mitchell continued. “When the turtles were coming out of the water, we couldn’t be up close, so shooting in 12K allowed us to reframe and reposition in post production. This latitude in editing is especially important when working with wildlife.
“Working with such high quality files, of course, comes with massive file sizes. Having two of the Blackmagic Media Module 8TB gave us peace of mind while shooting, as we did not have to worry about storage capacity, and we were able to copy files off one module while the other was being used.”
Mitchell also noted that when filming turtles, the use of bright lights are well regulated and, in some cases, prohibited. “This meant we had to use turtle safe red lights to capture the entire nesting process. Having the ability to shoot in 12K in low light gave us the confidence to be creative in our approach to filming, specifically the emergence from the water scene, without impacting or deterring the nesting cycle of these amazing animals,” he said.
In post production, the team took advantage of DaVinci Resolve Studio’s intuitive tools, especially as it was their first time using the software. With a DaVinci Resolve Mini Panel on hand, the team further sped up their post production process.
“We kept it fairly simple to be efficient and move the project along, but it was so easy to edit and color grade all within one platform,” Mitchell said. “I know that we’re just scratching the surface on what we can do with Resolve, and it definitely made the process easier for us to have everything within the Blackmagic Design ecosystem.”
“This film seeks to highlight the impact the pandemic had on Nature Seekers and its conservation work, and how the generosity of philanthropic efforts allowed the organization to rebound and continue its mission,” explained Mitchell. “Alongside Richelle Sambrano, Suzan Lakhan-Baptiste and Adrian Wilson, we formed a small team to create our first in house film project with a big mission.”
Mitchell concluded, “Now that the project has been completed, we’re excited to make it available for audiences worldwide, so they understand how important it is to protect our wildlife. We already have planned many more films on Nature Seekers and its mission and are excited to continue bringing them to life with Blackmagic Design.”
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