Chilean Docuseries Gente de la Tierra Captured with Pocket Cinema Camera 6K in Blackmagic RAW

Blackmagic Design today announced that the acclaimed Chilean docuseries “Gente de la Tierra” was shot using a number of its digital film cameras, including the Pocket Cinema Camera 6K and Pocket Cinema Camera 4K shooting in Blackmagic RAW. The series was also finished in DaVinci Resolve Studio.

The six episode docuseries began broadcasting in June 2020 on Televisión Nacional de Chile (TVN), one of the leading television broadcasters in Chile and South America. All episodes are also available on the broadcaster’s website and YouTube channel, TVN.

“Gente de la Tierra,” by production house Productora Viento Sur, showcases Chile’s Mapuche indigenous community. In each episode, a famous Chilean personality, including actress Josefina Montané, chef Yann Yvin, actor Francisco Pérez Bannen and more, travel to the community as guests to learn more about the Mapuche culture, traditions, activities, economy and religion.

To capture “Gente de la Tierra,” Screenwriter and Director Marcelo Tarud and DP Patricio Infante relied on a variety of Blackmagic Design cameras, including URSA Mini Pro 4.6K and URSA Mini 4K, in addition to the Pocket Cinema Camera 6K and Pocket Cinema Camera 4K.

With high resolution and 13 stops of dynamic range, the Pocket Cinema Cameras were used for various shots throughout the filming process, from capturing colorful scenes to quick shots inside a car as the personalities traveled to different locations and narrated what was happening in each moment.

“The Pocket Cinema Cameras’ compact size was perfect for specific shooting situations where a larger camera could have made locals uncomfortable by feeling too obtrusive,” said Infante. “Additionally, the Pocket Cinema Cameras’ portability allowed us to easily handle them while maintaining the highest image quality. It felt great to just grab the cameras and go!”

“When filming a documentary style series like ‘Gente de la Tierra,’ we constantly face complex situations where we need to shoot in a small space, such as a car interior. The Pocket Cinema Camera 4K and Pocket Cinema Camera 6K were perfect for situations that we had to be ready to record at any time without losing important detail,” Infante added.

Additionally, the URSA Mini Pro 4.6K and URSA Mini 4K were used to shoot important conversations between the Chilean personalities and the Mapuches, as well as wide landscape shots. On shooting with the URSA Mini Pro 4.6K, Infante said, “The 15 stops of dynamic range allowed us to have greater control of scenes with lighting conditions that were more extreme, such as thick forests. The built in ND filters allowed us to maintain the flow of the recording and control the amount of light reaching the sensor, which was very useful in tougher conditions.”

The entire series was shot in Blackmagic RAW, which proved especially beneficial when shooting low light scenes. It also allowed Editor Agustín Prieto to easily manipulate color and ISO, handle different file sizes and more in post, during which he also used DaVinci Resolve Studio for color correction.

“Even though we used a combination of Blackmagic Design cameras, since we shot in Blackmagic RAW, it was easy to calibrate and match the different images in DaVinci Resolve Studio. This gave us remarkable results as we finished each chapter’s color correction stage,” commented Prieto. “More than anything, Blackmagic RAW gave us the most flexibility in post.”

“We’re extremely happy with how ‘Gente de la Tierra’ turned out,” concluded Tarud. “Working with a full Blackmagic Design workflow really allowed us to capture the beauty of the Mapuche community and their land. As we take on more projects, we look forward to relying on Blackmagic Design to create the most compelling content we can.”

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com.