
Happy Campers Documentary Shot with Pocket Cinema Camera 4K
Brie Clayton September 30, 2024
0 Comments
Pocket Cinema Camera 4K's dual native ISO helps capture difficult to get night shots for award winning doc.
Blackmagic Design today announced that the award winning documentary Happy Campers was captured with Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K digital film camera. Shot in Blackmagic RAW, Director and DP Amy Nicholson relied on the camera's dual native ISO to capture stark sunny days and dark summer nights while profiling the trailer park community of Inlet View Campground.
Photo credit: Grasshopper Film
Happy Campers follows the final days of a working class summer colony as they prepare for their waterfront campground to be sold to developers. Set on a backdrop of rust bitten RVs and stunning sunsets, Happy Campers explores what's beneath the clich trailer park stereotypes of the close knit community. Following the film's premiere at DOC NYC, America's largest documentary film festival, and a limited theatrical release, it's now available on VOD nationwide in US and Canada.
With more than 20 percent of the film captured at night to showcase campfires, fireworks and more, Nicholson identified the camera's dual native ISO as the most crucial element for the film.
Photo credit: Grasshopper Film
I had no lighting package, so I would get up before sunrise and shoot until the light got ugly, then do some interiors or wait until late afternoon, and go back out again. I didn't have the room or time for bounce cards, so everything in the final film was captured entirely as is. There was always a ton of wind, blazing sun, and a million mosquitos, but the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K made it all manageable.
The dual native ISO range was fabulous. When we got to color correction, editor John Young and I were astounded at how little noise reduction we had to do in the campfire and fireworks shots. Colorist Gene Curley at Nice Shoes worked his magic, but the camera allowed me to capture some stunning night scenes, Nicholson explained. When the image was enlarged, we would see detail we hadn't noticed on our dailies. I remember one particular night shot where John and I both yelled out loud, Look at all the bugs!'
Photo credit: Grasshopper Film
Living amongst her subjects, Nicholson took on both director and DP roles for the documentary. While she's previously directed five films, Happy Campers was Nicholson's first time as DP. She noted, Having never operated a camera before was a huge factor when selecting my kit. The Pocket Cinema Camera 4K's settings are clear and simple. Thanks to the Blackmagic OS, I was able to get comfortable with the settings in record time, and spoiler alert: time was literally running out at the trailer park. I had to grab 40 years of memories in a few short months, so I had no learning runway.
Nicholson credits the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K's small design with allowing her to straddle both director and DP roles. It allowed me to be stealthy and friendly, since I was directing at the same time, and I wanted the film to be primarily verit , she explained. For a novice like me, having a very small camera allowed me to operate, but it also kept me friendly. The smaller and less in your face' you can be, the more intimate your footage will be. Happy Campers' is a very intimate portrait of community, and it was extremely important to capture what was there without altering the feeling of the place. We were all very close in the campground, so projecting that feeling and getting close physically made all the difference in the world.
Photo credit: Grasshopper Film
When this project presented itself, and it became clear I would be shooting alone, I knew the Pocket would be great. I was shooting in an RV campground with lumpy dirt roads. I was living in a camper the entire time, and my production office was a small shed just outside with a single work table. Everything in my camera package had to fit into a garden cart, so it was very important that it be small and manageable. Simplicity was paramount, she added.
I am much better at talking and making people feel at ease than I am with F stops and focus. Just ask my editors. But once I got the first few batches of dailies through Resolve, I could shoot with absolute confidence. The sensor was amazing; it looked like film, said Nicholson. When you are shooting alone, sound is a huge factor and you really have to pay attention to your environment, so your brain is getting pulled in that direction constantly. Knowing the picture was going to be fabulous took one worry away.
Photo credit: Grasshopper Film
Audiences and fellow filmmakers are always surprised that I worked alone. But that's the point of the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K; that you can create a beautiful motion picture with a very small, easy to manage package that you can quickly learn, Nicholson concluded. I worked hard to make Happy Campers' feel more like an experience than just simply an observational film. It's an emotional story, and it would be impossible to feel it' had it been shot another way.
October 2, 2024RKM Studios Produces Music Videos Using Blackmagic CloudNick Phoenix's music videos shot with URSA Mini Pro 12K and completed
September 30, 2024Turn Your LOG Footage into Stunning Cinematic Visuals: A Color Grading Guide in DaVinci Resolve 19LOG footage is just the starting point with lots of possibilities. In
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 profess
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...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...