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 ...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

09/06/2026

Kiswe Expands Partnership With ONE Championship To LaunchGlobal Subscription Platform

Kiswe announces an expanded long-term partnership with ONE Championship (ONE), t...

09/06/2026

SiriusXM to Carry All 104 FIFA World Cup 2026 Matches via FOX Sports Commentary

SiriusXM will broadcast FOX Sports' English-language commentary for all 104 FIFA World Cup 2026 matches from June 11 through July 19, available to subscribe...

09/06/2026

EVS Broadcast Equipment Rebrands as EVS

EVS has announced it is changing its corporate name from EVS Broadcast Equipment to EVS, reflecting the company's expanded portfolio beyond broadcast equipm...

09/06/2026

FOX and NFL Announce Multi-Year Agreement for NFL Coverage in Mexico Starting in 2026

Fox Corporation and the NFL have announced a multi-year agreement to bring NFL c...

09/06/2026

FOX Sports and ReachTV to Carry All 104 FIFA World Cup 2026 Matches Across U.S. Airports

FOX Sports and ReachTV, an airport media network, have announced an agreement to...

09/06/2026

Cosm Atlanta Opens with Private Preview, Public Opening Set for June 10

Cosm Atlanta, a 70,000-square-foot, three-level immersive entertainment venue located within Centennial Yards adjacent to State Farm Arena and Mercedes-Benz Sta...

09/06/2026

NESN Wins Five New England Emmy Awards

NESN captured five awards at the 2026 Boston/New England Emmy Awards, including four program honors and one individual award. These awards reflect the passion...

09/06/2026

Ateme Referenced by Apple at WWDC26 for Apple Immersive Video Workflow Support

Ateme has announced that its support for Apple Immersive Video workflows was referenced by Apple during its 2026 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC26). Atem...

09/06/2026

Axel Springer Deploys Bitmovin Player Web X for WELT Audio News Experience

Bitmovin has announced that Axel Springer SE has deployed Player Web X, Bitmovin's web video player, to power audio readouts of news articles and an audio-o...

09/06/2026

Grass Valley and Lawo Announce Technology Collaboration on AMPP and HOME Integration

Grass Valley and Lawo have announced a technology collaboration to validate orch...

09/06/2026

LiveU Deploys Remote VAR for Oceania Football Confederation, First in Pacific Islands

LiveU has announced a deployment with the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) t...

09/06/2026

Globecast Launches Content Exchange Platform Powered by Oracle Cloud Infrastructure

Globecast has announced the launch of its Content Exchange platform, powered by ...

09/06/2026

OT7 Championship Weekend to Air on NBC and Peacock for First Time

NBC Sports will present live coverage of Overtime's OT7 football league Championship Weekend from Sullivan Field at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angel...

09/06/2026

UFC Freedom 250: Inside the One-in-a-Lifetime Production Behind the White House Fight Card

We're in three different locations, three different production teams. Coveri...

09/06/2026

Murray States Brandon Banks on Firing Up Racers Basketball Fans Through Creative Video

The intro video for Men's Basketball won Outstanding In-Venue Video in the C...

09/06/2026

SVG Sit-Down, Part 2: FIFA's Oscar Sanchez, HBS's Paul King Dive Deep Into IBC Operations, Commentary, and Ref Cam

Today is match day minus two for FIFA and HBS. On Thursday, there will be two ma...

09/06/2026

Designing the Modern Scorebug: How Broadcast Graphics Teams Are Rethinking the Most Important Element On Screen

Since their debut, the clock-and-score graphic has drawn the affinity and ire of...

09/06/2026

Watch LE SSERAFIM's PURE FLOWERS LIVE Performance Videos and Fan Q&A, Only on Spotify

Last month, Spotify hosted PURE FLOWERS LIVE, a special event celebrating the re...

09/06/2026

Watch RADAR UK Artist Skye Newman Perform Live in London for Her SE9' Album Launch

Last month, RADAR U.K. artist Skye Newman took the stage in East London for a sp...

09/06/2026

Announcement from Wayne Jones Audio

Company to cease operating on 30 June 2026 Australian loudspeaker and amplifier manufacturer Wayne Jones Audio have announced that after much consideration,...

09/06/2026

bigBASS from fedDSP

Increases low-end weight and character The latest plug-in release from Sheffield-based fedDSP aims to offer an all-in-one solution for users in search of mo...

09/06/2026

Fender Studio Pro 8.1 arrives

Introduces AI Studio Assistant, Moises Studio integration & more Fender Studio have just announced the launch a significant update that brings an array of n...

09/06/2026

Call for Sediba Scriptwriting Training Programme Bloemfontein, Free State

The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is a statutory body mandated to spearhead the equitable growth and development of the South African film and video...

09/06/2026

BBC Casts Edward Bluemel As Poirot In Hercule,' As BritBox Boards Agatha Christie Remake In U.S.

The BBC has found its Hercule Poirot. After Deadline revealed last month that t...

09/06/2026

Nielsen launches Four-Screen Ad Deduplication measurement on YouTube campaigns in Italy

Media buyers and sellers can now compare YouTube reach from computer, mobile, an...

09/06/2026

Andrew Beaudet Joins Brompton as Head of Sales, Americas

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/06/2026

Mediaset Italia Deploys Mediagenix Platform To Modernize Scheduling

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/06/2026

Mediaset Italia Modernizes Content Supply Chain and Chann...

A project aimed at modernizing scheduling operations across Mediaset's channel portfolio Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitab...

09/06/2026

ACT Entertainment Debuts tvONE 4RU CALICO PRO at InfoComm...

tvONE, an ACT Entertainment brand, debuts its most powerful video processor ever built: the 4RU CALICO PRO (C7-PRO-4200), at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N6813). Engine...

09/06/2026

Composer and Conductor Eric Whitacre to Receive Honorary Doctorate at Berklee Valencia's 2026 Commencement

Composer and Conductor Eric Whitacre to Receive Honorary Doctorate at Berklee Va...

09/06/2026

Comcast Advertising Adds Purchasing Data from Affinity Solutions

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/06/2026

Midwich to Distribute Miri Technologies in North America

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/06/2026

Nielsen: North American Soccer Fans Jump to More Than 136 Million

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/06/2026

Grass Valley and Lawo Collaborate to Advance Open Dynamic...

Technology collaboration to validate AMPP and Lawo HOME orchestration integration, showcasing Dynamic Media Facility principles in practice. Grass Valley and ...

09/06/2026

Bitmovin Player Web X Powers Axel Springer New Audio News...

Bitmovin, a leading provider of video streaming solutions, today announced that Axel Springer SE, international media and technology company, has deployed Playe...

09/06/2026

LiveU Delivers First Remote VAR Deployment Across the Pac...

LiveU, the global leader in live IP-video solutions, today announced a landmark deployment with the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) that has brought Video ...

09/06/2026

Sam Craig Joins Grass Valley as VP, Global Pre-Sales

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/06/2026

Arkansas TV Will Continue to Air PBS Programming

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/06/2026

Glensound to Show DARK22M Network Audio Interface at InfoComm 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/06/2026

EVS Rebrands, Trims Its Name

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/06/2026

FCC Announces Tentative Agenda for June 25 Open Meeting

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/06/2026

Two Alumni Win Tony Awards

Two Alumni Win Tony Awards Mike Morris and Cedric Leiba Jr. won awards for Best Orchestrations and Best Play, respectively. June 8, 2026 By Tori Donahue ...

09/06/2026

Katie Price: Nothing to Hide, a candid and unfiltered account of three decades in the spotlight, coming to Sky and NOW on 8 July

Tuesday 9 June 2026 Katie Price: Nothing to Hide, a candid and unfiltered accou...

09/06/2026

Netflix Unveils First Images And Poster For Wrath, A New Brazilian Series Premiering July 29

Back to All News Netflix Unveils First Images And Poster For Wrath, A New Brazi...

09/06/2026

ENNI Will Be Using AEP.EnerS4 Billing Solution

Enni Continues to Rely on Arvato Systems - And Will Be Using AEP.EnerS4 Billing Solution Arvato Systems to implement transformation project for SAP S/4HANA Ut...

09/06/2026

RT Radio 1 is bringing Arena and Cil House to London celebrating 100 years of RT

These special programmes will highlight RT 's connection with the Irish diaspora This year, RT is marking 100 years of public broadcasting in Ireland with...