Cinematographer Michael FitzMaurice recently concluded principal photography on the feature thriller Monolithwith VariCam 35 4K camera/recorders. The Sky Italia Productions project was shot in punishing desert conditions (Kanab, Utah and Mojave Airport, California), and is currently in post.
In Monolith, the nail-biter story follows a young mother as she labors through the night to free her infant son from a monolith SUV before the desert sun comes up.
With several DP credits, FitzMaurice came up through the ranks as a camera operator on many big-budget features,Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Live Free or Die Hard, Iron Man 1 and 2, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull andThe Green Hornet, among many. Beyond the European production companys stipulation that Monolithbe shot in native 4K, FitzMaurice said his criteria for choosing the VariCam 35 were image quality and dynamic range, ruggedness and ergonomics and, crucially, the dual native 800/5000 settings.
The image sensor is amazing, with skin tone detail and color really impressive, right out of the camera, FitzMaurice said. The dynamic range is easily 14 stops.
The ergonomics of the camera were easy to work with, especially when, as principal camera operator, I was shooting hand-held, he continued. And in terms of durability, we were not only shooting in the desert, we shot in the desert during the summer. We were dealing with extreme heat, dust, wind and afternoon thunderstorms. Every other digital camera Ive ever worked with has shut down in conditions like these, but not a single overheating problem with the VariCam 35s throughout our month-long shoot.
FitzMaurice said that beyond the wow factor of the native 5000 ISO for extreme low-light shooting, the 800 ISO is equally impressive. We had many situations during our day shoots when our lead would move from hot bright light into shadows, he noted. We encountered no stepping or banding, but rather a very smooth, organic transition into highlights, with details held very well.
Since the crux of Monolithsdramatic tension is the mother feverishly trying to get her baby out of a locked car at night, the DP wanted to shoot at night, not day-for-night. We shot a full third of the movie at night, I always prefer to shoot night scenes at night...but why be there if you cant see the background? FitzMaurice said. Panasonic will tell you that the VariCam 35 sees better in the dark than the human eye, and that was my experience. We had a tiny amount of light coming from red LED trim lights on the exterior of the car, but our main light source at night was the moon: I chose to shoot during the full moon cycle. The moon provided all the necessary light for the foreground action and background. The VariCam 35s was the cleanest 5000 ISO Ive ever seen.
The DP had three VariCam 35s on the shoot, one used hand-held, the second alternatively used on a rig or tripod, and the third used with a Ronin handheld gimbal stabilization system cabled to the recorder mounted on a Ready Rig gimbal support system. The cameras were outfitted with three different types of Cooke lenses: Cooke Anamorphics, Cooke 5/i Primes and Cooke Series III Panchros.
Monolithwas one of the first productions to use the VariCam 35s new five-meter extension unit. Many of our scenes were shot inside the car, so we did lots of cabling, for example, with the camera on the dashboard inside the windscreen, FitzMaurice noted. We also have a scene shot inside an airplane, with the camera cabled to the instrumentation panel looking back inside the cabin.
FitzMaurice shot Monolithin 4K 12-bit 4:4:4 AVC-Intra at true 24p, as requested by post-production. He did some off-speed 4K shooting at 48 fps and 60 fps. The production is posting and coloring from the 4K camera original, with the files going all the way to final color in 4K on Baselight, with VFX and the final on-line slated for 4K treatment as well.
About the VariCam 35
Panasonic's VariCam 35 is an unparalleled tool for high-end filmmaking, commercials and episodic production as well as live 4K events. The camera provides superb image handling in multiple formats ranging from pristine 4K RAW to more practical 4K, UHD, 2K, HD and HD ProRes capture.Several assets set the VariCam 35 apart from other high-end cinematography cameras, includingdual native ISOs of 800 and 5000, allowing DPs to realize incredible image quality in extremely low light situations;its ability to record three simultaneous video formats (4K 2K Proxy, or UHD HD Proxy);an optional high-speed 4K uncompressed RAW recorder (CODEX) that will capture uncompressed 4K VariCam RAW (V-RAW) at up to 120fps;internal AVC-Intra 4K / 2K / HD recording to 120fps;support for an ACES workflow for full fidelity mastering of original source material; and in-camera Color-Grading via CDLs / 3D LUTs.
For more information about the VariCam 35, visit www.us.panasonic.com/varicam
Panasonic Solutions for Business
Panasonic delivers reliable business technology solutions that connect data with decision makers to drive better outcomes-for our customers and our customers' customers. Panasonic engineers reliable products and solutions that help to create, capture and deliver data of all types, where, when and how it is needed. The complete suite ofPanasonic professional solutions for government and commercial enterprises of all sizes addresses unified business communications, mobile computing, security and surveillance, retail point-of-sale, office productivity, visual communications (projectors, displays, digital signage), and 4K and HD video production. Panasonic solutions for business are delivered by Panasonic System Communications Company of North America, Division of Panasonic Corporation of North America, the principal North American subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation.
All brand and company
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Cinematographer Michael FitzMaurice recently concluded principal photography on the feature thriller Monolithwith VariCam 35 4K camera/recorders. The Sky Italia Productions project was shot in punishing desert conditions (Kanab, Utah and Mojave Airport, California), and is currently in post.
