The rich color palettes and creative lensing typically seen in feature films is becoming increasingly common for documentaries thanks to the EOS C500 4K Digital Cinema Camera and EOS 5D Mark III Digital SLR camera from Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions. Director of photography (DP) Antonio Rossi used both of these cameras - and an assortment of Canon Cinema and EF-series lenses - to capture stylized, cinematic footage for Death Row Stories, an eight-part CNN Originals series about America's most compelling capital murder cases. The series is executive produced by Robert Redford and Laura Michalchyshyn of Sundance Productions, and by Alex Gibney, Dave Snyder, Stacey Offman, and Brad Hebert for Jigsaw Productions. Gibney also directs the series, with Isaac Bolden as producer.DP Antonio Rossi lining-up a shot using a Canon EOS C500 Cinema camera in a New York City prison (photo by Daniel Carter).
The Super 35mm CMOS sensor, lovely color palettes, and dynamic range of the Canon EOS C500 wasn't available to productions at our budget level in the past, Rossi said. Docs were typically shot using Super 16mm film or 2/3-inch ENG cameras, and the image difference with 35mm was extreme. Those formats provided completely different looks. But now with the Canon EOS C300 and EOS C500 cameras, you can approximate some of the looks you'd get in feature films and higher-budget episodics to a much closer degree. It's exciting to be able to do that affordably for a documentary.
Rossi used a Canon EOS camera as his A camera and an EOS 5D Mark III to capture B-roll. The EOS C500 is equipped with an Emmy Award winning Canon Super 35mm, 8.3 megapixel CMOS image sensor. The Canon EOS 5D Mark III DSLR camera features a 22.3 megapixel full-frame Canon CMOS sensor. Both cameras captured in 1080p, although the EOS C500 4K Digital Cinema Camera also offers multiple recording and output options for 4K and 2K. Rossi's EOS C500 was configured to record Avid DNxHD files to an external Sound Devices PIX 240i recorder.
Creating Looks
Death Row Stories is mainly comprised of three styles of footage: artistically lit interviews, mood roll (B-roll of abstract shots to establish a mood), and stylized shots Rossi describes as quasi-reenactments. These reenactments are filmed to evoke the era each story depicts but not to graphically re-create crime scenes. Key to Rossi's ability to capture the kind of images Gibney sought for each type of shot was the use of the JR45Cine picture profile created by AbelCine. These camera settings were loaded into the EOS C500 Digital Cinema Camera from an SD card. Rossi then tweaked the profiles according to the desired look for each scene.
They provided a rich, gorgeous look, very nice colors, and very flattering skin tones, Rossi explained. Obviously, the subject matter of the show is pretty heavy and dramatic. There were times I wanted to increase the moodiness, and I was able to dial-in more contrast. The Canon EOS C500 let me do that easily by getting into the black gamma. I was able to use the JR45Cine picture profile as a jumping-off point for the looks I wanted, and then tweak them as needed. For example, for our first episode we shot stylized reenactments in Miami of events from the 1980's. I took some inspiration from a Miami detective series and similar shows from that era, with bright colors and deep shadows. I also used a lot more gels than would be typical for a documentary to give it a more dramatic, filmic look. I really like the colors and the images that the EOS C500 camera can give me, and the directions I can push it in.
Rossi exploited the creative looks made possible by the Canon EOS C500 4K Digital Cinema camera and JR45Cine picture profiles not only for reenactments and mood roll, but also for present-day interviews.
Our production schedule was extremely tight, and we didn't have a lot of time for color correction, so I tried to give post production an image that would require very little manipulation, Rossi said. We shot Rec 709; had this been a more of a cin ma v rit show I think Canon Log would have been a great way to go. I prefer Canon Log for run-and-gun situations. But in controlled interview situations with little time for post the Rec 709 setting on the EOS C500 looked great. The picture profiles we developed were complementary to our interview subjects while also heightening the drama of their locations. We were able to create beautiful scenes with light and shadow and shallow depth of field, and do it at the speed and in the sometimes less-than-ideal locations that television requires. I wanted the people we interview to look great - to look natural - and the Canon EOS C500 handles skin tones really well, which was important for us.
Lightweight and Low-Light
Both the Canon EOS C500 and EOS 5D Mark III cameras are highly mobile, have camera bodies that weigh less than 4 and 2 lbs. respectively, and can accommodate virtually any shooting set-up, from hand-held to used with a wide variety of third-party accessories.
I love the fact that you can configure the Canon EOS C500 camera in a lot of different ways, Rossi said. I generally like to build it up with long rods and a viewfinder to make it more like an ENG camera that's steady on my shoulder. But then also if I'm running around with it, I can put a still prime on it, use just the top handle and the viewfinder, and keep a very low profile. Stripped down, the EOS C500 is not really that much bigger than a still camera. And if we really need a low profile we use the EOS 5D Mark III DSLR. When you're getting a lot of different shots in, you're making very quick decisions about the best tool for each particular moment. It was nice to have the EOS 5D Mark III to be able to do some of the more extreme shots. We
