Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

ARRI spotlights commercials and music videos: DP Kanam Onoyama

06/07/2022

Both commercials and music videos are fields with high aesthetic stakes. ARRI France dove a bit deeper into these types of productions and first spotlights cinematographer Kanam Onoyama, a Japanese national who has lived in France for fifteen years. He came to study cinema at the ESRA International Film School in Paris after completing his degree in French literature at the University of Tokyo. Initially confronted with the difficulties of becoming an assistant, Onoyama was able to establish himself as a cinematographer in advertising and music videos, where he has since become very popular in France and abroad. However, his ambitions remained in fiction. In 2019, he authored the photography of Abou Leila, a feature film by Amin Sidi-Boum di ne, selected at La semaine de la Critique in Cannes, shot with the ALEXA Mini. He recently worked on several episodes of the second season of Top Boy, a cult series in the UK, relaunched by Netflix; a project shot with ALEXA Mini LF and ARRI Rental's DNA lenses. Today, Onoyama is busy with international fiction projects, while pursuing a solid career in advertising. Advertising is a very flexible business, always looking for new talent, explains the cinematographer. It was the first field that accepted me and gave me a chance. It's much more difficult with French cinema. That's also why I created the Div + association, which seeks to open up the field to more diversity, to discover new talent from minorities with a mentoring system.

Watch Nike's New Girl : A commercial produced for the Asian market

In advertising, Onoyama has worked on a string of big projects with brands such as Pepsi, Uber, Dior, Mercedes-Benz, and most recently Nike with their campaign New Girl, directed by Caroline Koning (Bwgtbld). Nike wanted to make a feminist film for the Asian market, explains the director of photography. A Spanish creative who works in Japan liked my work, so he thought of me. It's an advertisement that I wanted to treat as fiction. I used the ALEXA Mini LF with Zeiss Supreme Prime, because I wanted a modern, sharp image with nice contrast and detail. I really like working with the ALEXA, especially because it is very reliable in terms of color. Whatever my visual intent, I get exactly what I want. For the past two to three years, I have been developing LUTs that I modify for each film. As I work on a wide variety of projects, scattered in many countries, these LUTs allow me to give my intention to the directors and postproduction teams and not have any surprises in the end. The image is already colored, contrasted, saturated, as I want it to be.

Watch Kanam Onoyama's visualization of Stormzy's mega hit Vossi Bop

In 2017, Onoyama took on an agent in Great Britain, where he has since been shooting projects with some of the best directors. These projects also include high-quality music videos: Stormzy's Vossi Bop, Dua Lipa's Break my Heart, or Justin Bieber's Yummy. I do a lot of advertising, but music videos are visually more free, especially in England, says Onoyama. On the Stormzy Vossi Bop' video (Caviar), director Henry Scholfield and I took a lot of risks. I worked with an ALEXA Mini and shot everything at wide angle with a 14 mm Cooke S4/i. This video changed my life. It got a lot of attention, it got me a lot of offers and kind of started this trend of a very wide-angle camera, with characters very close in the foreground, with transitions.

Watch Dua Lipa's Break My Heart , a blockbuster music video with 500 million views on YouTube

Today, I work a lot with ALEXA Mini LF, Onoyama notes. One of the reasons is the size of the sensor. It's hard to explain, but I have the impression that the character is more present, more real. The image exists, a bit like when I shoot with a medium format Hasselblad. I also really like the viewfinder of the Mini LF. With it, I can check my images at any time, without the need to install an external monitor. I like to keep the camera as light as possible, so that it remains mobile, intuitive.

More of Kanam Onoyama's work can be found on his website or social media account:

https://kanameonoyama.com/

https://www.instagram.com/dive.plus.fr/

Opening image: Maxime Congi

Related Products ALEXA Mini LF Large format, small camera

ALEXA Mini More than just a camera

DNA Personalize your lenses.
LINK: https://www.arri.com/news-en/arri-spotlights-commercials-dp-kanam%C3%A...
See more stories from arri

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

11/08/2026

LiveU Powers Cross-Venue Coverage of Glasgow Commonwealth...

LiveUs LU900Q intelligent production unit played a central role in the host broadcast operation for the Games in Glasgow (July 23 to August 2, 2026). The host b...

11/08/2026

Jigsaw24 Appoints James Morse as Client Director to Drive...

Jigsaw24 has appointed James Morse as Client Director, Media Sales, as it deepens its focus on sports, live events and integrated production. His appointment co...

11/08/2026

Net Insight enables one of Europes largest broadcast grad...

Net Insight today announced that DMC Production Norway has selected its Open Live Media solution to centralize the production of Blinkfestivalen 2026. Combining...

11/08/2026

Vivaro Supports Record World Cup Audiences with the Appea...

Modular HEVC and JPEG XS workflows enabled resilient, ultra-low-latency delivery for leading linear and digital media platforms across all 104 matches Appear A...

11/08/2026

Homecoming Artist Spotlight: Fabiola Mndez

Homecoming Artist Spotlight: Fabiola M ndez The first cuatrista to graduate from Berklee talks about the community that shaped her career ahead of her Homecom...

11/08/2026

FOR-A To Highlight MixBoard, Viztrik AiDi Enhancement At IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/08/2026

AMWA and EBU to Host Demos at IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/08/2026

Dalet Solution Suites Enable Media Teams to Move Like a S...

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced Dalet Solution Suites, a new portfolio of cloud-native solutions ...

11/08/2026

Mediagenix Helps Broadcasters Prepare for Brazil DTV Futu...

Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, will showcase how media companies can prep...

11/08/2026

Transforming your audience into advocates with Kelsey Gamble

Transforming your audience into advocates with Kelsey Gamble 10 August 2026 Building community, harnessing fandom for marketing and activating the four stages ...

11/08/2026

Documentary reflecting on the 2015 Marriage Equality Referendum to air on RT

A Day in May airs Wednesday 12 August at 9.35pm RT One and RT Player A Day in May revisits the people and stories behind Ireland's historic marriage equa...

11/08/2026

NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning and NeMo Switchyard Deliver Faster, Smarter, More Efficient Agentic AI

As AI shifts from chatbots to autonomous agents, open models are serving market ...

11/08/2026

NVIDIA and Local AI Community Fuel Open Source Models and Intelligent Agents

The open source ecosystem is making it easier for AI enthusiasts and developers to build, customize and run increasingly capable agents locally. Throughout Au...

10/08/2026

Apple to Bring Friday Night Baseball' Live to Apple Immersive on Vision Pro Beginning Aug. 28

Weekly immersive broadcasts will feature 8K 3D video, a 180-degree field of view...

10/08/2026

Raiju from fedDSP

Saturation plug-in free until 20 August 2026 fedDSP have announced the launch of Raiju, a new guitar pedal-style saturation plug-in that's capable of de...

10/08/2026

I/O Music release Talkback

New mix-comparison & feedback tool Independent Swedish record label I/O Music have recently released a handy new tool that provides artists, engineers, prod...

10/08/2026

Sound Radix launch Radical1 Solo

Additive soft synth gains free counterpart Sound Radix have just released a free monophonic additive software synth that's based on the same engine as t...

10/08/2026

Chroma integrates MXO oscilloscopes into ATS 8000 platform, rounding out its high-end power testing ecosystem

Chroma integrates MXO oscilloscopes into ATS 8000 platform, rounding out its hig...

10/08/2026

Former NAB Tech Exec Tom Keller Has Died

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/08/2026

Matthews Bows Monitor Stand III

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/08/2026

AES Elects David v.R. Bowles as President-Elect for 2027

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/08/2026

NUGEN Audio Helps SFCM Students Achieve Professional Mixe...

Students in the Technology and Applied Composition (TAC) program at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) gain rare, real world experience in professio...

10/08/2026

FOR-A demonstrates new and practical solutions to real ch...

FOR-A is using its presence at IBC2026 (stand 2.B53, Amsterdam RAI, 11 14 September) to show how its products deliver the answers to the real challenges faced...

10/08/2026

Frontier EU brings broadcast-grade network resilience to...

Frontier EU, official Peplink distributor for Europe, will exhibit at IBC 2026 in Amsterdam from 11 to 14 September, presenting live demonstrations of how Pepli...

10/08/2026

Remote Editing Without Cloud Storage Premiere Pro

Remote Editing Without Cloud Storage Premiere Pro Michael Cioni August 10, 2026 0 Comments This is a step-by-step guide that demonstrates how to setup...

10/08/2026

Stunning Pixelated ASCII Effect for Apple Motion

Stunning Pixelated ASCII Effect for Apple Motion Simon Ubsdell August 10, 2026 0 Comments Apple Motion is perfect for building this popular ASCII unic...

10/08/2026

New York Jets, CBS New York Extend Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/08/2026

Welcome to the Show: Sky Creative unites football fans with start of season campaign

Monday 10 August 2026 Welcome to the Show : Sky Creative unites football fans w...

10/08/2026

Red Seat Ventures' Speakeasy Brings Video to Apple Podcasts, Beginning with Surrounded

Red Seat Ventures' Speakeasy Brings Video to Apple Podcasts, Beginning with ...

10/08/2026

30% More Pumping Hours With Autonomous Frac Operations

A major unconventional operator increased monthly pumping hours by more than 30% by automating critical frac completion processes and eliminating common sources...

10/08/2026

Apple, MLB announce September \u201CFriday Night Baseball\u201D schedule - UPDATE - Posted on 10 August 2026

Today, Apple and Major League Baseball (MLB) unveiled the September schedule for...

09/08/2026

reFX introduce Rippler

Combines physical modelling with subtractive synthesis reFX, the company behind the popular Nexus and Vanguard2 soft synths have announced the launch of the...

09/08/2026

Dreamtonics tease upcoming release

Human nuance is not a switch Dreamtonics have built up a solid reputation off the back of their Synthesizer V Studio software, a powerful vocal-synthesis t...

09/08/2026

COW Jobs: Documentary Editor - Remote

COW Jobs: Documentary Editor - Remote Brie Clayton August 9, 2026 0 Comments Documentary Editor July 31, 2026COW Jobs: Lead Generation Representativ...

08/08/2026

IK Multimedia launch Tonex 2.0 beta

Enhanced ToneNET integration & 220 new Premium V2 Tone Models IK Multimedia have just launched a public beta of Tonex 2.0, a release which is said to repres...

08/08/2026

Roland celebrate 808 Day

Honouring the drum machine that redefined modern music Roland have announced their plans for this year's 808 Day, a day that was founded to celebrate th...

08/08/2026

Call for Entries Now Open for the 20th Annual South African Film & Television Awards (SAFTAs20)

The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...

08/08/2026

Star Wars Hyperspeed Tutorial: The No-Echo Method in After Effects

Star Wars Hyperspeed Tutorial: The No-Echo Method in After Effects Graham Quince August 8, 2026 0 Comments The Echo Effect to create long streaks is n...

08/08/2026

Chyron Releases AXIS 4.0 With Expanded News Workflows and Richer Map Storytelling

Chyron Releases AXIS 4.0 With Expanded News Workflows and Richer Map Storytellin...

08/08/2026

Nielsen to Acquire DoubleVerify for $2.15 Billion

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

08/08/2026

FCC Chair Carr Announces New Legal Advisor

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

08/08/2026

Trump Nominates Danielle Thumann Severs to FCC Commission Seat

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

08/08/2026

New York Jets, CBS New York Extends Deal with New York Jets

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

08/08/2026

Foundry Unlocks Professional-Grade AI for VFX with Griptape Enterprise; Appoints Kyle Roche as Chief AI Officer

Foundry Unlocks Professional-Grade AI for VFX with Griptape Enterprise; Appoints...

08/08/2026

Award Winning New Horror Film Shot Using Blackmagic Camera App

Award Winning New Horror Film Shot Using Blackmagic Camera App Brie Clayton August 7, 2026 0 Comments Fire Alive, shot using the Blackmagic Camera i...

08/08/2026

Firebird Launches CIS Region's Largest AI Factory in Armenia

The global buildout of AI infrastructure reached a new milestone today - Firebird, an emerging AI cloud, launched the CIS region's largest AI factory in Arm...

07/08/2026

Diversified Appoints Pete Emminger as Global Chief Technology Officer

Diversified has appointed industry veteran Pete Emminger as global chief technology officer. Emminger will lead the company's global go-to-market technology...