Blackmagic Design has 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.
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.
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.
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.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
21/04/2026
Cloud-based production isnt going anywhere, and BitFire is doubling down by prov...
21/04/2026
The topic of artificial intelligence has a stranglehold on the sports-video-prod...
21/04/2026
5G is still a hot topic in live event production, and this workflow continues to...
21/04/2026
At the 2026 NAB Show, Ed McGivern, GM and President of Appear US, discusses the ...
21/04/2026
Studio Network Solutions (SNS) has announced an on-premise AI suite designed for...
21/04/2026
Suite Studios has integrated its file-streaming technology into the newly announced Frame.io Drive, a desktop application from Adobe company Frame.io. The colla...
21/04/2026
Net Insight has integrated InSync Technology's FrameFormer into the Nimbra E...
21/04/2026
Fox Sports has selected Appear as a technology partner to support the next phase...
21/04/2026
Diversified has appointed Tyler Affolter as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) to lead the company's commercial organisation. The appointment follows the firm'...
21/04/2026
Layercake has formalised the integration of Bitmovin's video streaming infra...
21/04/2026
The International Judo Federation (IJF) has extended its distribution partnershi...
21/04/2026
Glookast has launched the Cinnafilm Tachyon plugin for its Media Producer and Me...
21/04/2026
Eutelsat has entered into an agreement with Cadena Tres, a division of Grupo Ima...
21/04/2026
Dolby Laboratories and TV Azteca have partnered to introduce Dolby Atmos immersive audio to free-to-air television broadcasts. The implementation utilises the A...
21/04/2026
FOX Entertainment partnered with Verizon to overcome significant production hurd...
21/04/2026
Osprey Video has announced its technology showcase for the NAB Show 2026, highli...
21/04/2026
Riedel Communications (Booth C4908) introduced a range of new solutions at NAB S...
21/04/2026
The NAB Show is in full swing, and the SVG and SVG Europe editorial teams are chasing down the hottest stories from all over the Las Vegas Convention Center. He...
21/04/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced the URSA Cine Immersive 100G, an immersive cinem...
21/04/2026
Clark Wire & Cable is continuing its evolution from cable supplier to full-scale solutions partner for broadcast and live production. At the 2026 NAB Show, we s...
21/04/2026
Rashad Frett attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Ricky at Eccles Theatre on January 24, 2025, in Park City, UT. (Photo by George Pimentel/Shut...
21/04/2026
Five years ago, Spotify arrived in Pakistan, opening a new chapter in the country's music scene. Since then, local listeners have explored across genres, ge...
21/04/2026
Since its launch in 2020, RADAR has been our program for spotlighting emerging artists around the world. This year marks the sixth edition of RADAR Spain, our o...
21/04/2026
Offers compact wireless solution for pedalboards
Taiwanese audio brand Cloudvocal have announced the availability of a new pedalboard-friendly wireless syst...
21/04/2026
Latest hybrid sampling/synthesis instrument arrives
Arturia's Augmented series offerings rely on a mixture of sampling and synthesis, allowing users to ...
21/04/2026
Rohde & Schwarz to host Power Electronics Online Conference From Design to Vali...
21/04/2026
MAS and Lockheed Martin partner to establish an F-35 depot in Canada, enabling in-country sustainment and creating high-skilled aerospace jobs....
21/04/2026
Advertising strategies shift as competition grows for a large, active and qualit...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Layercake Deepens Bitmovin Integration to Power End-to-End Media Orchestration w...
21/04/2026
Cobalt Digital Announces Launch of blueCORE at NAB Show 2026: Compact Powerhouse...
21/04/2026
On-Premise AI Suite from Studio Network Solutions Debuts at NAB Show 2026
Melanie Ciotti April 21, 2026
0 Comments
Unlimited processing, no cloud depe...
21/04/2026
London, 21 April 2026 IBC today announced the appointment of Tim Banham as its first Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), a newly created role that reflects the or...
21/04/2026
Motion Design Tools - April 2026
Roland Kahlenberg April 21, 2026
0 Comments
Within 2 days, Maxon and Canva announced pro-level motion design apps - A...
21/04/2026
Chaos and Zero Density to Showcase Real-Time Ray Tracing for Virtual Studios and...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
Blackmagic Design has 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.
