Director Candra Agustinus Relies on Blackmagic Design to Create The Glorious Komodo Island

Director Candra Agustinus Relies on Blackmagic Design to Create The Glorious Komodo Island

Brie Clayton June 19, 2024

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Candra Agustinus spends most of his time creating digital content that supports strong, relatable stories so brands can share their unique messages with audiences. From social media campaigns to web series and short films, Candra has engaged with multiple markets through his visual storytelling strategies. For one of his most recent projects, he was tapped to create a special film for Indonesia's Keong Emas Theater that would promote the region's beauty and extraordinary settings.

The film's Executive Producer Herijanto Judarta, CEO of Mahaka Visual Indonesia (MVI), was tasked with providing educational and inspiring content for the Keong Emas Theater. In turn, he looked to Candra to provide something outstanding. With his 10 plus years of experience, Candra knew he would have to spearhead a project that would immerse audiences in Indonesia's breathtaking environments.

The Indonesian filmmaker and visual storyteller, who heads his own company, DUCKOCHAN PROJEKT, spent 10 days capturing more than 1,000 files of footage of dramatic aerial views, underwater footage of marine life, and spectacular shots of beaches and hills for his film The Glorious Komodo Island. The film, which aptly showcases Indonesia's Labuan Bajo island, is meant to inspire tourists to visit the region, as well as educate viewers about the island's culture.

The Glorious Komodo Island made its premiere to a packed Keong Emas Theater, taking advantage of the facility's oversized, IMAX screen and professional AV setup. It delivered an immersive theatre experience for audiences, highlighting some of the region's most breathtaking tourist spots. At the same time, it also showcased some of the most advanced camera technology used to capture the footage.

To shoot the film, Candra relied on his arsenal of Blackmagic Design digital film cameras, including the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 12K OLPF and Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K for their high image quality and advanced features. The URSA Mini Pro 12K OLPF features a 12K Super 35 sensor and 14 stops of dynamic range built into the popular URSA Mini body. Plus, its high performance, optical low pass filter (OLPF) produces extraordinary detailed and rich images. Likewise, the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K's professional features such as a 4/3 image sensor and MFT lens mount allow for wide dynamic range. This, in combination with great low light performance and Blackmagic RAW, allow for a handheld option that produces high end, Hollywood quality digital images.

To capture all that Labuan Bajo has to offer, Candra shot in 8K resolutions with the URSA Mini Pro 12K OLPF and 4K resolutions with the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K. He used both cameras to capture in extended video Blackmagic RAW formats with constant bit rate setting, which allowed Candra to acquire outstanding and natural footage to bring audiences closer to nature.

The URSA Mini Pro 12K OLPF was my first choice when it came to ensuring footage captured in high resolution, explains Candra , who believes that The Glorious Komodo Island marks the first project in Indonesia to use the URSA Mini Pro 12K OLPF. It simply captures the image in a very unique way that brings viewers right on the spot. It's an amazing camera! The Pocket Cinema Camera 4K's are useful for movements and backups. Combining both footage under a careful and neat cinematography created a seamless combination.

Shooting outside, in the natural elements, can certainly put demands on a production. Candra explains that because Indonesia lies on a tropical zone, the overall lighting environment is quite challenging. It's very much different with those in the northern hemisphere where shadows are less harsh, he says. The great dynamic range and image quality captured by the Blackmagic Design sensors, especially the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 12K OLPF, is really useful in making sure you capture all the details. In my opinion, that is the ultimate advantage with these cameras. If an uncontrollable situation such as lighting challenges can be overcome by the URSA Mini Pro, then these projects will feel effortless.

A long time user of Blackmagic Design cameras, Candra started using them in 2014 to shoot his first feature film that was nominated in the Indonesia Film Festival 2015. Since then, he's been using Blackmagic Design cameras exclusively for his storytelling projects and commercial work.

I established my company in 2014 in the same spirit as Blackmagic Design, to produce high quality video on an affordable budget, says Candra . That's why I began investing in Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Cameras. I wanted to start introducing and showing our quality. To set a standard, we produced a cinematic feature film using those cameras. It's the reason we tell clients why they should hire us: to get high quality video and still have extra budget to execute their branding strategy. Simply put, the RAW format flexibility of all Blackmagic Design cameras allows me to handle shooting all kinds of situations in all types of environments without any image concerns.

Another benefit of using the Blackmagic Design cameras to capture the island's natural beauty, as well as DJI drones and GoPro cameras for additional aerial and underwater footage, was that he was able to complete his film entirely in a Blackmagic Design workflow. He finished editing and color grading the film entirely within DaVinci Resolve.

Candra and his crew also finished the second episode of the film in December of 2023. The production, which took place on Sumba Island, also used a Blackmagic Design camera workflow, including an URSA Mini Pro 12K OLPF, Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and

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