Don't Peek Horror Film Shot on Pocket Cinema Camera 4K
data-src=https://creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/avatars/263018/5fa08c562aaf4-bpthumb.jpg data-srcset=https://creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/avatars/263018/5fa08c561c0e7-bpfull.jpg 2x class=lazyload avatar avatar-80 photo height=80 width=80 />
Brie Clayton April 16, 2021
0 Comments
Blackmagic Design today announced that the SXSW award winning short film Don't Peek was shot on the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K by Julian Terry during quarantine in 2020. The horror film, which was also graded using DaVinci Resolve Studio, was bought by blockbuster filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov and will be turned into a full length feature film.
Don't Peek follows a young woman, played by award winning actress Katie C'etta, who discovers a frightening Animal Crossing character intent on crossing into the real world. The short film premiered at SXSW 2021 and was quickly bought to be turned into a feature film.
The film's set was Terry's Los Angeles apartment and the production gear used was limited to the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K, a small slider, two small lights, and a Nintendo Switch, which was also used for lighting on a number of shots.
data-src=https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/16150429/2-dont-peek.jpg alt= class=lazyload wp-image-2408204/> There was a lot of time to do some writing, and not surprisingly also time for playing video games. I started to think about an idea for a horror film using something that people have been doing during covid as the main plot point. Then one night Katie was playing Animal Crossing and thought she saw something at the end of her bed. The film was born right there, Terry said.
Constrained by quarantine rules, Terry, along with his roommate and fellow filmmaker Alexander Anderson, who produced Don't Peek, had to come up with a way to shoot a high quality and properly creepy horror film within a single room in their apartment that did not have the space for extensive lighting or rigging. The low light capabilities and the small size of the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K worked perfectly to allow Terry to be incredibly creative with the shoot and allowing him to create the feel that the set was much bigger.
Animal Crossing is such an innocent game. You see people happily holding Nintendo Switches up to their face, so the idea of taking something so innocent but showing it as terrifying was an idea I couldn't pass up, Terry said. When we were testing the Pocket Camera and discovered how well it looked at ISO 1250, that was the a ha' moment for me. I realized with that level of low light capability that we could keep Katie's face lit with just the light coming off of the Nintendo Switch itself. I never thought I would be able to count the light coming off a game console as enough for lighting a scene, but the Pocket let that happen.
data-src=https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/16150443/3-dont-peek.jpg alt= class=lazyload wp-image-2408205/>The shot of Katie holding the Nintendo Switch and watching her face react at first in amusement and then in horror to what was happening on the screen became the key shots for the film. To get the shot, Terry positioned the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K in between the Switch and Katie's face. The small size of the camera also let Terry capture the room behind her, giving the viewer a greater sense of being alone in a dark room instead of just a close up of her face.
This shot gave the perfect ambiance and creepy feeling, while at the same time let us work with the gear and lighting that we had available. And because the camera is so tiny, we were able to squeeze the camera in tight spaces making the room feel much bigger and increase the viewer's sense of horror. We could look at her and around her to capture the darkness and shadows of the room behind her. Definitely not a shot we could have gotten with a larger camera, he continued.
Terry shot using Blackmagic RAW, which he credited with allowing him to get even more details from the shadows around the room and with an easy post process. To grade the footage, he used DaVinci Resolve Studio.
data-src=https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/16150456/4-dont-peek.jpg alt= class=lazyload wp-image-2408206/> I was worried about creating a monster not only as a physical effect, but as one of the animals' in the game. For the physical monster, it was just Alex in his underwear, wearing a mask, and used Resolve to match the colors between his chest and the mask. For the creature in the game and in the room, we used Resolve to highlight the creature. The Blackmagic RAW to Resolve workflow was very easy, Terry said.
Don't Peek is scheduled to be turned into a full length feature in 2022.
The Pocket camera and Resolve definitely helped with get the film noticed and bought because of it's fantastic quality. As a filmmaker, you have to have the vision, talent and drive to create the film, and Blackmagic allowed me to take that and create that vision at Hollywood level quality, he finished.
North America Stories
14/01/2026
Tech Focus: Audio Consoles, Part 2 - New Options for Virtual MixingA variety of solutions offer both technical and economic benefitsBy Dan Daley, Audio Editor
...
14/01/2026
Tech Focus: Audio Consoles, Part 1 - Key Component Evolves Toward the Totally Vi...
14/01/2026
SVG Summit 2025: Audio from Monday Workshops Now AvailableListen to sessions from Live Production Innovation, AI Production Tools, Cloud Production, Content Wor...
14/01/2026
The L3Harris large T7 robotic systems will provide U.S. Navy and U.S. Marines wi...
14/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
14/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
14/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
14/01/2026
January 14th, 2026
TRIBECA ANNOUNCES BEST NEW YORK SHORT AWARD FOR 25TH ANNIVERSARY FESTIVAL
In Celebration of Its 25th Anniversary, Tribeca Introduces a N...
14/01/2026
Back to All News
State of Fear, The First Spin-Off of a Netflix Brazil Producti...
13/01/2026
NHL Situation Room 2.0: How Sony Hawk-Eye Powers Centralized Officiating, Player...
13/01/2026
NBC Sports Ices the Audio for the 2026 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championship...
13/01/2026
DMF and MXL in practice: Which vendors are adopting it, and how fast is the ecos...
13/01/2026
CES 2026: Five Important Sports-Tech BuzzwordsThe terms highlight innovations for sports production at the showBy Daniel Frankel, SVG Contributor
Tuesday, Jan...
13/01/2026
For TGL Season 2, Unity 6 Boosts Virtual-Graphic Quality; COSM 360 Cameras Impro...
13/01/2026
Resetting Expectations? The State of the Sports Industry with Devoncroft's J...
13/01/2026
Top Row L-R: Ana Katz, Natalia Almada, Bao Nguyen, Tatiana Maslany, A.V. Rockwell, Dr. Heather Berlin
Second Row L-R: Sophie Barthes, Azazel Jacobs, Janicza Br...
13/01/2026
DoW to invest $1B in planned independently traded Missile Solutions business...
13/01/2026
L3Harris Chairman and CEO Christopher Kubasik and Under Secretary of War for Acq...
13/01/2026
Singapore - January 13, 2026 - Nielsen today announced the appointment of Matty Lin to its Commercial Organization as APAC regional sales leader.
Based in Sing...
13/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
13/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
13/01/2026
Nine-week performance series brings music, dance, theatre, and storytelling to downtown Durham, January - March 2026 (Durham, NC) The Chamber Orchestra of the T...
13/01/2026
Berklee Launches AIMS, an Artist-Centered Summit on Music and AI Hosted by the Berklee Emerging Artistic Technology Lab (BEATL), the event will focus on the i...
13/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
13/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
13/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
13/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
13/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
13/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
13/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
13/01/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Confirms Production of The Dealer,' a High-Stakes...
13/01/2026
Back to All News
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis to Compose Original Score for Jo Nesb...
13/01/2026
NVIDIA and Lilly are putting together a blueprint for what is possible in the f...
13/01/2026
viztrick AiDi, Provided by Nippon TV and FOR-A, Powers Automatic 9:16 Cropping with Auto-Tracking and Intuitive Operation for Dynamic Streaming Content
Targ...
12/01/2026
Sports and Music Unite: A Look Back at the Operationally Ambitious FIFA Club Wor...
12/01/2026
Nielsen Panel Discussion Highlights World Cup Impact for FOX, Telemundo, MetLife...
12/01/2026
FIFA President Infantino Highlights How AI Will Impact 2026 FIFA World Cup and B...
12/01/2026
Baltimore Ravens' Jack Dana on Telling a Better Story With Media Management ...
12/01/2026
FOX Sports' Brad Cheney on Spectrum Debate's Impact on the Sports-Produc...
12/01/2026
Australia and New Zealand VP Alan Clements shares L3Harris' leadership insig...
12/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
12/01/2026
Berklee International Folk Festival Celebrates 40 Years Featuring Grammy-winning alumna Arooj Aftab, the milestone concert and weeklong festival marks four de...
12/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
12/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
12/01/2026
Back to All News
Kento Nakajima To Star in Netflix Manga Adaptation S&X', ...
12/01/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Celebrates Partnership and Progress at Fort Monmouth Closing Ceremony
Governor Phil Murphy, Netflix co-CEO, and Governor-elect Mikie ...
12/01/2026
Back to All News
WWE By the Numbers: Celebrating One Year on Netflix
From left to right: Rey Mysterio, Intercontinental Champion John Cena and Sheamus celebr...
10/01/2026
By Bailey Pennick
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festi...
10/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
Don't Peek Horror Film Shot on Pocket Cinema Camera 4K 
