Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

SXSW Feature Film I'm Fine (Thank You For Asking) Shoots and Finishes with Blackmagic Design

21/04/2021

SXSW Feature Film I'm Fine (Thank You For Asking) Shoots and Finishes with Blackmagic Design

data-src=https://creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/avatars/263018/5fa08c562aaf4-bpthumb.jpg data-srcset=https://creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/avatars/263018/5fa08c561c0e7-bpfull.jpg 2x class=lazyload avatar avatar-80 photo height=80 width=80 />

Brie Clayton April 20, 2021

0 Comments

Blackmagic Design announced today that the independent feature film I'm Fine (Thank You For Asking), which had its premiere at this year's South By Southwest Film Festival, was shot on the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K in Blackmagic RAW, and graded in DaVinci Resolve Studio.

Written by Kelley Kali, Angelique Molina and Roma Kong, and codirected by Kali and Molina, the film follows a recently widowed mother who, after becoming homeless, convinces her 8 year old daughter that they are only camping for fun while she works to get them off of the streets. A micro budget feature not only about the trials of a mother during the pandemic, the film was actually shot in 2020, providing unique challenges for production while ensuring a safe set. We had to shoot a lot in a little time, said producer Capella Fahoome. Our crew had to be nimble, which was what led us to our choice in cameras.

data-src=https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/20202242/2-im-fine.jpg alt= class=lazyload wp-image-2408437 data-srcset=https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/20202242/2-im-fine.jpg 1000w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/20202242/2-im-fine-300x164.jpg 300w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/20202242/2-im-fine-768x420.jpg 768w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/20202242/2-im-fine-624x341.jpg 624w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/20202242/2-im-fine-50x27.jpg 50w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/20202242/2-im-fine-100x55.jpg 100w data-sizes=(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px />The filmmakers chose the Pocket Cinema Camera 6K not only for the quality of the image, but also because of its design. One reason I picked the Pocket 6K was the physical size, said cinematographer Becky Baihi Chen. Since we were shooting exteriors a lot, we didn't want to draw too much attention. My first AC (Junyi James Song) and I put the Pocket 6K on a Ronin S and added another handle to the rig for an easier grip. With the lead character Danny, also played by Kali, roller skating throughout the film, Chen had to find creative ways to keep the imagery organic, yet simple and easily managed, considering the small crew.

Early on there was a scene where Danny skates to the nearby kids' playground, added Chen. I realized it could be impactful to follow her as she skates. Because I had a small camera on a small gimbal, I was able to move easily with Kelley, even ducking down under the slides to get some fluid shots as she skated. That moment I realized the Pocket 6K was the perfect camera for this film. It gave me the freedom to move as much as I wanted.

Production remained organic and creative, and Chen enjoyed going with the flow as she worked with Kali and Molina. We had some improv in the film, so we usually decided the shooting angles on the day of the shoot. Kelley and Angelique gave me a lot of freedom to be responsive and spontaneous with my camera during the takes. With the Pocket 6K I could move freely, but not be intrusive as the scene flowed. You can't do that with a bigger rig.

data-src=https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/20202302/3-im-fine.jpg alt= class=lazyload wp-image-2408438 data-srcset=https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/20202302/3-im-fine.jpg 1000w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/20202302/3-im-fine-300x164.jpg 300w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/20202302/3-im-fine-768x420.jpg 768w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/20202302/3-im-fine-624x341.jpg 624w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/20202302/3-im-fine-50x27.jpg 50w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/20202302/3-im-fine-100x55.jpg 100w data-sizes=(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px />Chen also chose to shoot Blackmagic RAW, Constant Bitrate 5:1, which gave her confidence to manage the challenging lighting conditions of a small production. We had a lot of day exterior scenes, so during the shoot I checked false color in camera regularly to make sure the highlights were not clipped. There were challenging times where the characters were standing in the shade, but the light colored walls behind them were hit by the bright morning sun. We didn't have much crew or budget to bring in the big lights for the scene, so we had to shoot with what we had. Exposing to the false color in the camera and knowing that I'm shooting Blackmagic RAW gave me confidence that I would be able to balance the exposure and bring back the highlight details in post.

Once the film was edited by Katie McLellan and Angelica Lopez, the film was conformed in DaVinci Resolve by Lopez. I loved utilizing the program for conform because it also opened up the opportunity for our colorist to manipulate any of the camera metadata, as opposed to receiving a VAM ProRes 444 file that bakes in the color bit depth and removes the ability to manipulate the exposure, camera shutter and any additional camera information to allow the flexibility in our color sessions.

Working in DaVinci Resolve, Lopez appreciated the wide set of tools available. I relied heavily on the edit page for my split and completed stabilizations, said Lopez. The recent addition of the timecode overlays makes it much more flexible to confirm embedded source timecodes of any media that didn't conform upon the im
LINK: https://creativecow.net/sxsw-feature-film-im-fine-thank-you-for-asking...
See more stories from creativecow

Most recent headlines

09/11/2025

Dalet Unveils Agentic AI Media Workflows at IBC2025

Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...

06/10/2025

France Tlvisions Wins Prestigious 2025 EBU Technology & Innovation Award in Groundbreaking Collaboration with Dalet

France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...

18/09/2025

NWSL Brings on Victory+ as Rightsholder, Expands Deals With CBS and ESPN for 2026-27 Seasons

NWSL Brings on Victory as Rightsholder, Expands Deals With CBS and ESPN for 202...

18/09/2025

CBS Sports Travels to Far Reaches of Europe To Tell Clubs' Stories During 2025-26 Champions League Season

CBS Sports Travels to Far Reaches of Europe To Tell Clubs' Stories During 20...

18/09/2025

The Great Integration: How Sports Media Leaders Are Making MAM, Storage, and Cloud Systems Work Together

The Great Integration: How Sports Media Leaders Are Making MAM, Storage, and Clo...

18/09/2025

Amazon Prime Video Launches Prime Vision for Champions League Coverage in UK

Amazon launches Prime Vision for Champions League coverage By George Bevir Tuesday, September 16, 2025 - 18:28 Print This Story Amazon is rolling out its ...

18/09/2025

SVG Sit-Down: Canon USA's Rich Eilers, Yuji Tanaka Talk Novel' Feature, EOS C50 Camera

SVG Sit-Down: Canon USA's Rich Eilers, Yuji Tanaka Talk Novel' Feature,...

18/09/2025

NBC Sports Will Deploy a Pair of Dedicated Analysts On the Bench' for Peacock NBA Monday Games

NBC Sports Will Deploy a Pair of Dedicated Analysts On the Bench' for Peaco...

18/09/2025

WATCH: Be a Fly on the Wall for a Conversation Between Robert Redford and Michelle Satter

Editor's Note: The loss of our founder and friend Robert Redford, leaves us...

18/09/2025

From the Archives: Sundance Institute Founder Robert Redford on Why He's Always Believed in the Power of Documentary Filmmaking

Editor's Note: The loss of our founder and friend Robert Redford, leaves us...

18/09/2025

From the Archives: Revisit Robert Redford's Words of Wisdom

Robert Redford talks with Lab fellows at the 1981 Directors Lab | 1981 Unknown for Sundance Institute Editor's Note: The loss of our founder and friend ...

18/09/2025

Ed Sheeran's Play' Comes to Life With Spotify's Special Fan Event in London

Forget just hearing a new album; last night, London lived one. Together with Spo...

18/09/2025

Sony Music Group and Spotify Announce Expanded Multiyear Global Partnership

Spotify and Sony Music Group today announced an extension and expansion of their long-standing, successful global partnership. As part of their ongoing collabor...

18/09/2025

SBS Audio podcast helps new Australians keep their Head Above Water

SBS Audio podcast helps new Australians keep their Head Above Water 17 September, 2025 Media releases As Australia heads toward summer, comedians and good ...

18/09/2025

Football fans to watch the inaugural Australian Championship on SBS

Football fans to watch the inaugural Australian Championship on SBS 18 September, 2025 Media releases Images here SBS and Football Australia are delighted...

18/09/2025

L3Harris Scales Up Rocket Motor Testing at Camden Site

L3Harris's advanced large solid rocket motor eSR-73 is hot fire tested at the company's Camden, Arkansas site....

18/09/2025

The Gauge: Poland | August 2025

August, the last month of the summer vacation, brought stability to the amount of time spent in front of the TV screen. The data shows that Polish viewers watch...

18/09/2025

FCC Commissioner Gomez Blasts ABC for Suspending Jimmy Kimmel

WASHINGTON The controversy over ABC's decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel, continues to heat up, with FCC Commissioner Anna M. Gomez blasting ABCs decision to ...

18/09/2025

FOR-A America Appoints Jo Aun to Lead US Product Developm...

FOR-A America named Jo Aun as Senior Manager of Product Management and Engineering, reporting directly to Satoshi Kanemura, President and COO. In this new posit...

18/09/2025

MASV Highlights Partner Integrations Fueling Modern Media...

MASV (massive.io), the fastest and most reliable large file transfer platform for media professionals and an IDC Innovator 2025 for Media & Entertainment*, toda...

18/09/2025

Dish TV India partners with ThinkAnalytics to power AI-dr...

ThinkAnalytics, the global leader in video content discovery and persaonalization, today announced that Dish TV India, the leading content distribution company,...

18/09/2025

DirecTV Adds Three Sports Channels to Its FAST Streaming Offering

DirecTV continues to expand its women's sports offerings by adding Sports Fanatics' and Whoopi Goldberg's Free Ad-Supported Television (FAST) All Wo...

18/09/2025

Fall Football Kicks Off With Native HDR Production, NextGen TV Telecast

WASHINGTON NextGen TV viewers are beginning to see what high dynamic range (HDR) brings to their football enjoyment with the launch of the sport's fall seas...

18/09/2025

FCC Extends Deadline for EEO Audit Replies

WASHINGTON After issuing audit letters seeking Equal Employment Opportunity data from a randomly selected group of TV and radio stations in August, the Federal ...

18/09/2025

Warner Bros. Discovery Signs New Deal with Nielsen

NEW YORK Warner Bros. Discovery and Nielsen have signed a new, long-term, multi-year deal that covers measurement for all Warner Bros. Discovery platforms acros...

18/09/2025

CIMM Launches Startup Program and Innovation Showcase

NEW YORK As part of its ongoing efforts to develop better measurement solutions, the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) announced the launch of t...

18/09/2025

UPDATED: ABC Takes 'Jimmy Kimmel Live! Off the Air Indefinitely

IRVING, Texas Following threats from the Federal Communications Commission and the announcement that the nations largest station group, Nexstar Media Group, wou...

18/09/2025

VEON Inaugurates JazzCash Experience Lounge in Islamabad

18 Sep 2025 VEON Inaugurates JazzCash Experience Lounge in Islamabad Dubai and Islamabad, September 18, 2025 - VEON Ltd. (Nasdaq: VEON), a global digital opera...

18/09/2025

Natasha Lyonne and Matt Berry to star in new Sky Original action-adventure comedy Force & Majeure

Created by Tom Scharpling, Matt Berry and Natasha Lyonne, the new six-part serie...

18/09/2025

Niamh Algar and Tom Hollander star in Sky Original The Iris Affair full trailer released

The eight-part sun-drenched thriller from Luther creator Neil Cross launches on ...

18/09/2025

Rohde & Schwarz announces new frequency models up to 54 GHz for R&S ZNB3000 vector network analyzer

Rohde & Schwarz announces new frequency models up to 54 GHz for R&S ZNB3000 vect...

18/09/2025

RT Prime Time investigation uncovers location data of thousands of smartphones in Ireland for sale

Individual phones could be tracked back to specific residential addresses Sm...

18/09/2025

GeForce NOW Unleashes Dying Light: The Beast' in the Cloud

GeForce NOW is packing a monstrous punch this week. Dying Light: The Beast, the latest adrenaline fueled chapter in Techland's parkour meets survival horror...

18/09/2025

Dolby Atmos arrives in Maruti Suzuki Victoris, expanding premium in-car entertainment in India

September 18 2025, 04:20 (PDT) Dolby Atmos arrives in Maruti Suzuki Victoris, e...

17/09/2025

Tech Focus: Audio Training, Part 2 - Manufacturers Offer Extensive Online Learning

Tech Focus: Audio Training, Part 2 - Manufacturers Offer Extensive Online Learni...

17/09/2025

Tech Focus: Audio Training, Part 1 - A1 Shortage Remains a Major-League Challenge for Sports Broadcasting

Tech Focus: Audio Training, Part 1 - A1 Shortage Remains a Major-League Challeng...

17/09/2025

Dua Lipa's Service95 Book Club' Goes Live at the New York Public Library

It was the ultimate convergence of pop culture and literary prestige: Last night, Dua Lipa brought her Service95 Book Club podcast to the stage for a special li...

17/09/2025

The Gauge: Mexico August 2025

During August, streaming's share of TV viewing in Mexico showed an increase of 0.4% compared to the previous month, accounting for 25% of TV viewing. Discl...

17/09/2025

Jo Aun Joins FOR-A America as Senior Manager, Product Engineering

CYPRESS, Calif. FOR-A America has named Jo Aun as senior manager of product engineering, a new role responsible for guiding the planning, development and rollou...

17/09/2025

PlayBox Neo and CIS Group Power CazeTV with a seamless Pl...

PlayBox Neo, in partnership with CIS Group, a leading provider of media and broadcast technology solutions, has successfully deployed PlayBox Neo's Dual Cha...

17/09/2025

Energy Regulatory Agency Underscores Commitment with Ene...

In a relationship that mirrors societal advances in sustainability, Brightline Lighting and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Headquarters have en...

17/09/2025

Clear-Com Powers Star-Studded Communications at Houston A...

Clear-Com is proud to support the world-class productions of Alley Theatre, one of the oldest and largest nonprofit resident theatres in the United States. With...

17/09/2025

Arch Platform Technologies Announces Strategic Collaborat...

Arch Platform Technologies (www.archpt.io), a pioneer in automated, scalable cloud infrastructure for high-performance workflows, today announced a Strategic Co...

17/09/2025

With over 39bn EUR in assets under management and record-...

Over 300 selected decision-makers from start-ups, corporates, and VC funds worldwide will gather for the third edition of the event, united by a single goal: to...

17/09/2025

Telestream Celebrates Award Win at IBC2025

Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, is excited to announce that its flagship Vantage platform and its next-generation AI capabilities re...

17/09/2025

Mediagenix Celebrates Triple Best of Show Wins at IBC2025...

Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions that profitably connect the right content to the right audience, proudly announces its three Best of Show...

17/09/2025

PlayBox Neo Appoints Transtel Universal as Top Reseller P...

In a move to further establish a firm foothold across South East Asia, PlayBox Neo, the well-respected name in broadcast playout and channel branding, has appoi...

17/09/2025

Wisycom Unveils Two New Solutions at IBC 2025

Wisycom, a global leader in advanced wireless audio solutions, announced two major wireless solutions at IBC 2025 (Stand 8.D30). This includes the Portable RF-o...

17/09/2025

Six Berklee Alumni Win Emmy Awards

Six Berklee Alumni Win Emmy Awards The recipients were recognized for their contributions to acclaimed programs Severance, The Studio, The Penguin, SNL50: The...

17/09/2025

Applications Open for Berklee in Santo Domingo

Applications Open for Berklee in Santo Domingo The weeklong contemporary music program will run January 5-10, 2026. By Colette Greenstein September 17, 2025 ...