Black and White Horror Film Rachel Shot with Pocket Cinema Camera 4K
Brie Clayton August 4, 2022
0 Comments
Blackmagic Design today announced that Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K digital film camera was used as the main camera for the new horror short film Rachel. The shark attack film, which was shot in black and white on a micro budget during Covid restrictions, was chosen from more than 900 entries for the Festi-Short du Printemps Anglophone film festival and is currently being developed into a full length feature film.
Created by Filmmakers Glenn Cutler and David Kotkin, Rachel tells the story of a man working towards sobriety and taking revenge on the shark that ruined his life. The film was created using mostly practical effects, with Cutler doing double duty as the film's main character, and with a large part of the film taking place on a small inflatable raft floating on a lake.
Kotkin, a former high school arts teacher, inventor and now filmmaker, worked with creative partner Cutler as a two man crew, which included both of them learning DaVinci Resolve editing, color grading, visual effects (VFX) and audio post production software.
One of the beliefs we both have as filmmakers is to take any weaknesses we have and turn them into strengths. For us, we had no skilled professionals helping when making the movie. Although this seems like a disadvantage to wear so many hats, it ended up being an advantage for us because it forced us to learn and always be thinking about ways to do things better and faster. The Pocket camera is so powerful and affordable that we could practice and then go for every type of shot, said Cutler.
The two had originally paid for a crew to shoot with an expensive rented camera but did not feel that the initial footage from the camera matched their vision for the story. Within a week, Cutler and Kotkin had gone through a large part of their entire budget.
We thought we were done, Kotkin said. But then I remembered I had seen clips online of the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K and felt we should give it a try. We decided to focus on shooting it as a short film and couldn't believe that the Pocket 4K was just as good as the more expensive camera. And in some cases, was far better because of its mobility.
The small design of the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K allowed the filmmakers to be incredibly mobile, quickly setting up and breaking down.
A typical filming day started with us rising at 4 a.m., packing all the film equipment in our vehicle and setting up our first shots before sunrise. We had good lighting in the morning for about an hour and another hour in the evening before sunset, so in between those two magic hours we spent most of our time editing, preparing props and working on visual effects. Resolve and the Pocket 4K let us be efficient as well as creative, Cutler continued.
Shooting in black and white to get a richer look and make the water scenes more ominous allowed the filmmakers to create a film that included strong drama and characters that viewers cared about, instead of a simple shark attack film. The camera's lightweight design also let them shoot some of the film's most dramatic scenes of Cutler hunting the shark while balanced on a small inflatable raft.
First of all, our advice for anyone filming on the water is start doing cardio and invest in a good set of flippers. The raft scenes were very difficult to shoot considering one of the two crew was the actor on the raft. Things like tide, wind and rain can make things look beautiful but can be unpredictable. Sometimes David had to adjust the raft while the camera was still filming, so having a small camera that was light was worth its weight in gold, said Cutler.
Kotkin and Cutler used DaVinci Resolve's editing, color correction and VFX features for post production. Being able to shoot in Blackmagic RAW and take advantage of the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K's high dynamic range, they could create high quality scenes much more affordably than they ever thought possible.
Resolve let us take scenes from nice to amazing. We knew that the camera could get us the data we needed to then work in Resolve. The Fusion VFX page in Resolve was especially helpful when we couldn't do something with practical effects. And you can jump from Fusion to the color tab with one click and never lose a creative thought, Kotkin continued.
Honestly a lot of it was shooting at the right time of day so we got nice lights and darks. Then in Resolve, we were able to accentuate the contrast and really make it rich. We were able to get ultra precise color grading every time that is not available with other editing software, Kotkin said.
A shot Resolve let us nail was when we had the actress playing Rachel moving down a hallway on a tricycle. You could just have her go into darkness, but the scene needed to be so much more emotional than that. She had to slowly get lost in the shadows. We used Resolve to mask an area in the hallway and as she rides into it, we gradually darkened the area, so it looks like she disappears into the abyss, Kotkin said.
The two filmmakers are currently in the middle of shooting Bull, the full length version of Rachel, using Pocket Cinema Camera 4Ks and DaVinci Resolve.
One of the things we are discussing is using a real bull shark for the final battle. We have shot the majority of the feature using a single Blackmagic Pocket Cinema 4K but are considering using multiple Blackmagic cameras for the final scenes. If it works out, it will be the most realistic and scary shark that cinema has ever seen. Being able to do big ideas like that is what using Blackmagic products is all about, finished Cutler.
###
Enjoying the news? Sign up for the Creative COW Newsletter! Sign up for the Creative COW newsletter and get weekly updates on indust
Most recent headlines
23/12/2025
How guilas Cibae as Dominican Winter League Games Are Locally Produced for Glob...
23/12/2025
BitFire's Jim Akimchuk on Supplying Scalability and Customization in the Clo...
23/12/2025
CAMB.AI Enables European Athletics to Offer Multi-Language SupportPlan is to eventually offer translation into all languages spoken in EuropeBy Ken Kerschbaumer...
23/12/2025
Analysis: As sports media values trend negative, scarcity and quality are king By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Monday, December 22, 2025 - 14:08
Print ...
23/12/2025
ESPN, Disney, and NBA Return to the Animated Altcast Fray With Second Edition of...
23/12/2025
End the Year on a High Note and Donate to the Sports Broadcasting Fund Today! By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, December 23, 2025 - 12:25 pm
...
23/12/2025
The year is winding down, the weather outside is frightful, and it's the perfect time to escape into a story that warms the heart. For listeners looking for...
23/12/2025
A Zeus motor is hot fire tested at L3Harris' Camden, Arkansas, solid rocket ...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Lightware will exhibit several major product innovations at ISE 2026, including the new USB-C BOOSTER-V1, Google Meet. integration for various Taurus UCX models...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Taking the Stage at Carnegie Hall-On a Global Scale Boston Conservatory Orchestra students reflect on their epic concert marking the 80th session of the UN Gene...
23/12/2025
Experience the power of WO Automation for Radio's newest service, the System Effectiveness Review. Designed to help you achieve more, a System Effectiveness...
23/12/2025
23 Dec 2025
VEON's Beeline Kazakhstan and Rakuten Symphony Collaborate to A...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
How Steamy Can It Get? Single's Inferno' Season 5 Pre...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
33 Million Global Viewers on Netflix Watched Jake Paul vs. Ant...
23/12/2025
New technique lights up where drugs go in the body, cell by cell Scripps Research scientists developed a technique that maps drug binding in individual cells th...
22/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Neerav Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
22/12/2025
Hitting the bullseye: Sky Sports readies itself for the biggest PDC World Darts ...
22/12/2025
Unique skillset: Bringing new directors to the world of darts at The Worlds with...
22/12/2025
Gravity Media prepares for a flight of fancy with the PDC World Darts Championsh...
22/12/2025
One hundred and eighty: Gravity Media on hitting the production bullseye at the ...
22/12/2025
The Famous Group's Jon Slusser on Fascinating Fans Through Immersive Content...
22/12/2025
ESPN's Meg Aronowitz on Continuing High-Quality Broadcasts of Collegiate Spo...
22/12/2025
ESPN Takes Data-Driven Storytelling to New Heights with MNF Playbook with Next ...
22/12/2025
For a decade, popular German podcast Fest & Flauschig has hosted an annual Chris...
22/12/2025
Paramount Scores Largest Share Increase Among Distributors as Paramount and CBS...
22/12/2025
New multi-year deal integrates Roku's data to fuel Nielsen's measurement suite
Roku gains access to Nielsen's streaming ratings, showing The Roku C...
22/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
22/12/2025
Berklee Wrapped 2025: Our Top News and Stories A look back at a year highlighted by faculty milestones, major film and television projects, Bob Dylan's ho...
22/12/2025
The works of Plato state that when humans have an experience, some level of change occurs in their brain, which is powered by memory - specifically long-term me...
22/12/2025
Partnership integrates complementary satellite data and AI analytics to enhance security, infrastructure, and environmental monitoring solutions for global cust...
22/12/2025
Workflows allow you to create a sequence of planned events which may be added to your template(s) or inserted directly into your sequential or background playli...
22/12/2025
Monday 22 December 2025
Sky extends PGA TOUR partnership until 2029, as Sky Spo...
22/12/2025
Back to All News
Global Anime Hits and New Releases Take Center Stage at Jump Festa 2026
Entertainment
22 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied to clipboar...
22/12/2025
Siobh n McSweeney, Rory McIlroy, Elon Musk, Catherine Connolly, Jim Gavin, Ivan Yates and Traitor Paudie Moloney lead new characters for Callan Kicks the Year 2...
22/12/2025
Winner announced in the picturesque surroundings of Wicklow's Avondale Tower and Treetop Walk
Andrew Trimble wins the show in his first series as coach
Th...
22/12/2025
The 2025 winners have been announced today, Sunday 21 December, for Ireland's largest choral competition Choirs for Christmas hosted by RT lyric fm.
Ove...
21/12/2025
Back to All News
Legoshi and Haru's Story Reaches Its Finale: BEASTARS Fin...
21/12/2025
John Shortt named Young Sportsperson of the Year Kerry are the Team of the Year
...
20/12/2025
Atomos announced the immediate availability of a new firmware update for its Ninja TX GO and Ninja TX monitor-recorders, unlocking ProRes RAW recording from the...
20/12/2025
CJP Broadcast has completed the digitisation of the European Gymnastics tape archive, converting 328 tapes containing more than forty years of recorded material...
20/12/2025
Bitmovin, the leading provider of video streaming solutions, today announced the launch of the Stream Lab MCP Server, to give AI agents and large language model...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
Black and White Horror Film Rachel Shot with Pocket Cinema Camera 4K 
