
HBO Max Creates Our Flag Means Death Using Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton August 15, 2022
0 Comments
Blackmagic Design today announced that the HBO Max series Our Flag Means Death used extensive Blackmagic Design products to create the stunning imagery for the pirate comedy.
After trading in the seemingly charmed life of a gentleman for one of a swashbuckling buccaneer, Stede Bonnet, played by Rhys Darby, becomes captain of the pirate ship Revenge. Struggling to earn the respect of his potentially mutinous crew, Bonnet's fortunes change after a fateful run in with the infamous Captain Blackbeard. Created by David Jenkins and starring Darby and Taika Waititi, Our Flag Means Death is executive produced by Waititi, who also directed the pilot, alongside Showrunner Jenkins, Producers Garrett Basch, and Dan Halsted.
One of the earliest challenges in creating the pirate adventure was visualizing the extensive storyline set on the high seas. Virtual Production Designer Sam Nicholson, ASC and his visual effects (VFX) team at Stargate Studios were tasked with using virtual production to make principal photography both manageable and cost effective. Nicholson's solution was to capture ultra high resolution imagery of actual ocean footage, stitching together the multiple plates, then displaying them on a massive 30 foot by 160 foot LED wall that would surround the practical pirate ship built on set.
We tend to take impossible tasks and make them possible, said Nicholson. How to shoot stable 48K 360 degree plates from a boat off of Puerto Rico is complex problem solving to the extreme.
The task was challenging on several levels, including how to acquire the footage, manage the massive amounts of data, process it all seamlessly, and then deliver the imagery to set. Nicholson focused on a single pipeline solution using Blackmagic Design to create a streamlined approach. To start, he chose Blackmagic RAW for the most flexible camera format and planned to run it entirely through DaVinci Resolve Studio editing, grading, VFX and audio post production software for processing to maintain the most efficient pipeline possible.
Nicholson's team started tests by shooting HDR plates with a 360 degree, eight camera stabilized rig using Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro digital film cameras placed at 45 degree increments. To cover 360 degrees, a lot of processing is involved in creating a seamless image between the cameras, added Nicholson.
The cameras were controlled using an ATEM Mini Extreme live production switcher, which was able to simultaneously trigger recording on all cameras, while also ensuring each camera had matching timecode.
As the process evolved through testing, the final plate shoot in Puerto Rico brought a refined approach, using a 270 degree multi camera array with five Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 12K digital film cameras mounted on a stabilizing head, providing better control and even higher resolution. The Stargate Studios plate shooting team synchronized the five cameras for a total horizontal resolution of 60K.
The Blackmagic 12K cameras gave us very high overall resolution with very efficient data output, explained Nicholson. Each take was five minutes, times five cameras at 12K resolution. So, the daily data transfer of camera originals from high speed SSDs to mass storage on location was a great solution.
Shooting in Blackmagic RAW, the team was able to view real time playback in DaVinci Resolve Studio at multiple resolutions. Blackmagic RAW filled a critical niche in our high resolution imaging, continued Nicholson. With any imaging system it's critical to pick the right workflow, the right gear and the right approach to data management. Recording in camera is easy. But then you have to offload it, transfer it, transcode it, distribute it, color time and process it to make it usable on set. Blackmagic RAW was very efficient in addition to looking great.
In preparation for first unit photography, the Stargate Studios team processed the footage, stitching plates together in DaVinci Resolve Studio's Fusion page, and then created a live feed from multiple DaVinci Resolve Studio seats through the ATEM Constellation 8K live production switcher. The final color timed composite was then fed into Epic's Unreal Engine for camera tracking and off axis distribution to the 20K LED wall. While the live feed worked well, Nicholson found it valuable to record the final graded imagery to a disk based recorder for quicker access. The HyperDeck Extreme 8K HDR recorder played a critical role of recording the massive resolution images from DaVinci Resolve Studio and making them ready for instant playback.
While a pirate comedy like Our Flag Means Death seems like an unlikely a project to embrace virtual production, the key for Nicholson was telling a convincing story, whether the viewer was aware of the magic behind the scenes or not. Virtual production comes in all sizes and shapes, said Nicholson. It can be one OLED monitor all the way up to an LED wall the size of a football field. And ultimately, if it feels real, it's better for everybody, from the actors to the director and, of course the viewer. But at any level, if you look at it and say to yourself, this looks real,' then we've done our job.
###
Enjoying the news? Sign up for the Creative COW Newsletter! Sign up for the Creative COW newsletter and get weekly updates on industry news, forum highlights, jobs, inspirational tutorials, tips, burning questions, and more! Receive bulletins from the largest, longest-running community dedicated to supporting professionals working in film, video, and audio.
Enter your email address, a first and last name, and let us know what you'd like to see more of in the message!
.grecaptcha-badge{visibility:hidden}.meow-contact-for
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...
07/08/2025
July 8 2025, 22:30 (PDT) Tata Motors & Dolby Bring Dolby Atmos to Harrier.ev, R...
18/07/2025
Blanche Barton, Peter Gilmore, Scott Cummings, Sundance Institute Director of Programming Kim Yutani, and Peggy Nadramia throwing horns. (Stephen Lovekin/Shutte...
18/07/2025
By Jessica Herndon
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Fest...
18/07/2025
BOSTON Sports network NESN today relaunched the NESN 360 app with a redesigned user experience and upgrades....
18/07/2025
Berklee Singers Wow the Competition on Netflixs Building the Band Netflixs new music competition show features two Berklee artists looking to make their pop b...
18/07/2025
As the House of Representatives voted early Friday morning to eliminate federal funding for public broadcasting, advocates warned that the elimination of $1 bil...
18/07/2025
DENVER Imagine Communications has announced that it is deepening its commitment to the North American sports and live events market with investments in its prod...
18/07/2025
LOS GATOS, Calif. Netflix once again reported strong financial growth, with revenue increasing 16% year-over-year to $11.079 billion in Q2 2025 as net income s...
18/07/2025
Live from the 153rd Open Championship: SMT Enhances Video Board Experience; Enab...
18/07/2025
ShotTracker's Davyeon Ross on Revolutionizing Basketball On the Court and ...
18/07/2025
Home Pitch: How the Danish League Brought Its Live Match Production In-House Matchday Production produced 800+ matches across Denmark in its first year By Geor...
18/07/2025
Live From the 153rd Open Championship: EMG Debuts Spidercam for Golf, Expands Su...
18/07/2025
Usyk vs Dubois II: Bringing the fight to life with state of the art cameras and ...
18/07/2025
Usyk vs Dubois II: DAZN's head of boxing Chris Glanville talks helicopters, ...
18/07/2025
Live From the 153rd Open Championship: NBC Expands Unilateral Effort; Shared Stu...
18/07/2025
Warner Bros. Discovery's Anne Graham on Training New Professionals to Ensure...
18/07/2025
Live From the 153rd Open Championship: How R&A Spidercam Became a Reality for Go...
18/07/2025
ESPN Bulks Up Onsite Studios, Cameras, Player Mics for WNBA All-Star Weekend Besides the game, four studio shows will be produced onsite By Jason Dachman, Edit...
18/07/2025
Friday 18 July 2025
Credit: Marc Sethi
The Sky Arts Awards will return on 16 September, once again taking place at the iconic Roundhouse in London. Produced b...
18/07/2025
This month, players can dive into special crossover events featuring SpongeBob SquarePants in Snake.io+ and Crossy Road Castle, available exclusively on Apple A...
18/07/2025
Up for the Match brings the fun, the passion-and a bit of Riverdance- tomorrow n...
17/07/2025
Blanche Barton, Peter Gilmore, Scott Cummings, Sundance Institute Director of Programming Kim Yutani, and Peggy Nadramia throwing horns. (Stephen Lovekin/Shutte...
17/07/2025
Spotify's goal with audiobooks is to help grow the publishing industry and create the best possible experience for booklovers, which is why we're launch...
17/07/2025
An advanced large solid rocket motor hot fire test conducted at L3Harris' Camden, Arkansas, site....
17/07/2025
L3Harris payloads and components have been on board every U.S. GPS satellite-more than 70 missions since the 1970s. Our technology is at the core of GPS availab...
17/07/2025
L3Harris' pack of launched effects is comprised of multi-role vehicles that ...
17/07/2025
NEW YORK - July 17, 2025 - Gracenote, the content data business unit of Nielsen, has announced the appointment of Ryan Moore to the new role of Chief Business O...
17/07/2025
READING, Pa. Network technology startup Miri Technologies has added David Cohen as vice president, business development. He'll be tasked with expanding the ...
17/07/2025
Berklee Wins CASE Award for Standout Digital Campaign The Alumni Affairs team's Variations Signature Series earned recognition for offering an authentic p...
17/07/2025
Early Thursday morning, the U.S. Senate voted to cut federal funding for PBS and NPR in a bill that also included cuts for foreign aid. In a 51-48 vote, the act...
17/07/2025
GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland Pavilions across IBC2025 (12 15 September, RAI Amsterdam) feature a remarkable 34 companies, each providing unique, innovativ...
17/07/2025
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers today introduced its Content Provenance and Authenticity (CPA) in Media Study Group (S...
17/07/2025
NEW YORK Despite widespread concerns about a soft advertising market, NBCUniversal said it closed its 2025-26 upfront negotiation cycle with a record ad sales v...
17/07/2025
NEW YORK Television advertising remains an effective means to market and influence younger baby boomer and Generation X consumers approaching retirement age, ac...
17/07/2025
ALLENTOWN, Pa. & JERSEY CITY, N.J. Service Electric Cable TV and OpenVault have announced that the operator is deploying the OpenVault Proactive Network Manage...
17/07/2025
WASHINGTON Following up on his first major policy speech just two ago, Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr is promising to buck the usual summ...
17/07/2025
Luxembourg, 14 July 2025 - SES received the final regulatory approvals for the SES-Intelsat transaction, including the US Federal Communications Commission.
O...
17/07/2025
Berklee Alumni Nominated for 2025 Emmy Awards Twenty-seven Berklee alumni received nominations across categories in sound mixing, sound editing, and compositi...
17/07/2025
Back to All News
What We Watched the First Half of 2025
Entertainment
17 July 2025
Global
Link copied to clipboard
Today, we're sharing our latest Eng...
17/07/2025
Cast your vote in 2 categories for Ivory 3 American Concert DIvory 3 American Concert D is in the 2025 MIDI Innovation Awards and we are honored to be nominated...
17/07/2025
SVG Sit-Down: OpenDrives' Sean Lee, Michael Wilsker, and Jason Matousek on E...
17/07/2025
Oracle's Geoff Tognetti on Staying Ahead of the AI Curve Through Further Ado...
17/07/2025
NBA's Summer League Is a Hot Bed of AI, Immersive Innovation Testing Audio mixing, intelligent camera framing are among AI-driven efforts By Ken Kerschbaum...
17/07/2025
SVG's TranSPORT Conference Returns to NYC on Oct. 21; Register Today! By SVG Staff
Thursday, July 17, 2025 - 8:29 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
St...
17/07/2025
Gravity Media chosen as group name for merged OB business By George Bevir
Wednesday, July 16, 2025 - 11:30
Print This Story
Gravity Media executive chairm...
17/07/2025
SES Closes Deal to Acquire Intelsat, Creating New Giant in Satellite Connectivit...
17/07/2025
How MLB Pulled Off That Unforgettable Hank Aaron Tribute at the All-Star Game Vintage content, state-of-the-art projection/processing combine in marvelous mile...
17/07/2025
Wuppertal July 17, 2025
Riedel Communications Powers Handa Opera on Sydney Har...