Register

    Director/DP TJ Derry adopts AJA CION camera for commercials

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments976 Views
    TORONTO --

    In a new spot directed by Toronto-based director and cinematographer TJ Derry, an elaborate photosynthesis experiment proves that Scotts EZ Seed fertilizer helps grass grow almost anywhere, including a basement. Shot on CION at 4K in ProRes 444, with time-lapse footage captured on multiple Canon DSLRs, the spot showcases the beautiful cinematic images from the CION camera on a low light set.

    Derry and his crew first designed and built the EZ Seed set in a studio, which they dressed as a basement. The set was lit mainly using practical lights, and augmented with skirted china balls to keep a base ambience in the room. Using CION with the older style Zeiss Super Speed MK2 primes, they shot almost wide open with very minimal light, and Derry was impressed with how good the footage looked and the low noise of the image.

    “I couldn’t believe how well the CION footage came out and how little noise there was; it was very cool and a great example of the filmic look the camera can produce, even in low light,” explained Derry.

    Derry also had a positive experience with how the footage looked in postproduction, “My colorist was impressed with how good the image looked when we blew it up, and how much latitude we had with the picture coming off the CION when we were color grading,” he continued.

    “CION allows me to do everything I would normally do when I shoot commercials and videos; I haven’t found anything I can’t shoot with it yet, it just requires lighting. In the film stock world, there wasn’t ever 1250, 1500 or 2000 ISO, so cinematographers who came from the film era will get it, and be able to shoot with it in almost any circumstance as long as they can light their shots. I’m really sold on CION, and can’t wait to see what other enhancements AJA has in store with its next firmware release,” said Derry.

    CION’s ergonomics also simplified run-and gun-style shooting for Derry who has been shooting and directing for almost ten years. “Shooting handheld with some of the Canon and RED square box cameras can be difficult; they’re really hard to rig to balance on your shoulder and I, or my operator, get a sore back after a day of shooting with one. The CION is lightweight, balanced and the form factor is great. I can hold it comfortably on my shoulder and run around town,” concluded Derry.

    Derry is currently working on several other commercial projects with CION, including a Kraft Macaroni and Cheese campaign. He is represented for commercials by Studio M in Toronto.

    Ergonomic and lightweight in design with unparalleled connectivity, the CION production camera is capable of shooting at 4K/UltraHD and 2K/HD resolutions. In-camera recording directly to the Apple ProRes family of codecs, including 12-bit ProRes 444, enables incredible image quality capture to cost-effective AJA Pak SSD media at up to 4K/60p, and offers compatibility with a wide range of post production applications. CION can also output AJA Raw at up to 4K 120 fps via 4x 3G-SDI or up to 4K 30 fps via Thunderbolt.

    Scotts EZ Seed "Grow grass anywhere" from tj derry on Vimeo.

    Tags:CIONTJ Derry



    Review: Rachel Morrison Makes Feature Directorial Debut With “The Fire Inside”

    Monday, December 23, 2024

    "The Fire Inside," about boxer Claressa "T-Rex" Shields, is not your standard inspirational sports drama, even if it feels like it for the first half of the movie.

    There's the hopeless dream, the difficult home life, the blighted community, the devoted coach, the training montages, the setbacks and, against all odds, the win. We've seen this kind of story before, you might think, and you'd be right. But then the movie pulls the rug out from under you: The victory is not the end. "The Fire Inside," directed by Rachel Morrison and written by Barry Jenkins, is as much about what happens after the win. It's not always pretty or inspirational, but it is truthful, and important.

    Sports dramas can be just as cliche as fairy tales, with the gold medal and beautiful wedding presented as a happy ending. We buy into it time and time again for obvious reasons, but the idea of a happy ending at all, or even an ending, is almost exclusively for the audience. We walk away content that someone has found true love or achieved that impossible goal after all that work. For the subject, however, it's a different proposition; Life, and all its mundanities, disappointments and hardships, continues after all. And in the world of sports, that high moment often comes so young that it might be easy to look at the rest of the journey as a disappointing comedown.

    Claressa Shields, played by Ryan Destiny in the film, was only 17 when she went to the 2012 London Olympics. Everything was stacked against her, including the statistics: No American woman had ever won an Olympic gold medal in the sport before. Her opponents had years on her. She was still navigating high school in Flint, Michigan, and things on the home front were volatile and lacking. Food was sometimes scarce... Read More

    MySHOOT Profiles


    Add A Comment