
Feature Film Touch the Water Captured with Pocket Cinema Camera 6K
Brie Clayton February 23, 2024
0 Comments
Blackmagic Design today announced that independent film Touch the Water was shot using a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K digital film camera and edited with DaVinci Resolve Studio editing, color grading, visual effects (VFX) and audio post production software. Touch the Water champions the Native American community and along with its ongoing theatrical run, plans to tour more than 100 reservations across the United States and Canada.
Touch the Water tells the heartwarming story of when an intern at a senior center teams up with an elderly Native American woman to fulfill her lifelong dream to see the ocean again and this time touch the water. Touch the Water was written and directed by filmmaker Travis Holt Hamilton as part of his focus on telling and elevating Native American based stories.
Captured with a Pocket Cinema Camera 6K in Blackmagic RAW, Touch the Water was shot in the hot deserts of Arizona and the wet beaches of California. Hamilton explained, We battled some extreme environments when shooting. The majority of the film was shot in Arizona in the summer, so heat was definitely an issue. When working with older cast in extreme temperatures, time is paramount. The camera's versatility and usability allowed us to quickly get the shots we needed, and it never faltered, even when shooting through heat and wildfire smoke warnings in temperatures above 115 degrees Fahrenheit for days straight. Similarly, it performed great for our wet ocean shots. Whether there was sand, micro dust or moisture in the air, it kept going.
With Hamilton serving as DP, producer and director, he selected the camera for its intuitiveness, citing how its easy to navigate OS helped him move quickly while wearing many hats. However, it was the camera's image quality and latitude that made it indispensable for the film. We were a small crew that was dealing with extreme lighting situations, from midday in the bright, unrelenting sun in the desert, to nighttime shoots that were minimally lit. The camera's dual native ISO helped with lowlight situations, and since we were using a Blackmagic RAW workflow in DaVinci Resolve Studio for post, we were able to easily help any shots that we accidentally under or over exposed, said Hamilton.
For post production, Hamilton, alongside Colorist James Adam and Editor Thomas Manning, used DaVinci Resolve Studio, allowing them to work on the film simultaneously. The real time collaboration in DaVinci Resolve allowed us to work in lockstep for the film, saving us time. We migrated the project into DaVinci Resolve about a third of the way through, and once I saw how seamlessly everything flowed together, I couldn't believe we didn't make the jump sooner, said Hamilton.
My inspiration for Touch the Water' was wanting to tell a simple story that was emotionally and spiritually powerful, connecting with the human heart, noted Hamilton, who has also adopted Blackmagic Design workflows for his other upcoming projects. His production company Holt Hamilton Films recently shot the documentary Break the Mold - The Zach Bates Story using the Pocket Cinema Camera 6K as the primary camera and a Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 digital film camera for interviews. With the film focused on autistic 19 year old Zach Bates' goal of running a 100 mile ultramarathon before his 20th birthday, the Pocket Cinema Camera 6K's compact design allowed the crew to be more run and gun while continuing to battle extreme weather conditions, this time shooting 6,400 feet up in the cold snow of Northern Arizona.
The team is now working on its next film, Finding Hozho which is a Native American story of forgiveness between an older man and his dying father. With the flashback heavy film having two distinct looks, one for present day and one set 40 years in the past, Hamilton noted that the workflow between the cameras and DaVinci Resolve Studio will be paramount in creating the two color stories.
February 26, 2024Feature Film Jacob the Baker Shot and Graded With Blackmagic DesignBlackmagic Design today announced that the independent feature film Jacob the Baker
February 22, 2024Malaysian Feature Film Pagari Bulan Graded and Edited Using DaVinci Resolve StudioBlackmagic Design today announced that the Malaysian feature film Pagari Bulan was
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, and your first and last name below!
-- Sign up: * indicates required
Email Address *
Name
--
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
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 ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
18/02/2026
Audio quality control (QC) is becoming ever more crucial for Olympic Broadcastin...
18/02/2026
The Olympic Games are not only a showcase of athletic excellence, they are also ...
18/02/2026
Netflix is entering the MMA game with a matchup between two of the biggest names ever to compete on the women's side.
Most Valuable Promotions and Netflix ...
18/02/2026
Grass Valley announces that Network18 Media & Investments Ltd., one of India'...
18/02/2026
Cobalt Digital Inc., a designer and manufacturer of video and audio conversion, ...
18/02/2026
Production is divided between a studio in the mountains and a brand-new studio i...
18/02/2026
At the Winter Games IBC in Milan, NBC Sports and Olympics' director of audio...
18/02/2026
The Women's Alpine events at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Center, about a 10-minute drive from Cortina d'Ampezzo, featured some of the most exciting Olympic...
18/02/2026
At the Broadcast Center, 14 audio-control rooms handle the sound in a complex routing and processing regimen
We are exactly where we want to be, Karl Malone,...
18/02/2026
With 300 hours of curling competition in two weeks, it's a safe bet that even the most curling-hungry fan will be satiated. It also requires a production te...
18/02/2026
Always seen as one of the more crazy Olympic events, Bobsleigh is a sport in which athletes must have nerves of steel and pilots must navigate high-tech sleds...
18/02/2026
A typical Winter Olympics day - or should I say evening - inside the Warner Bros...
18/02/2026
The Netherlands has dominated Milan's ice rinks, scooping six speed skating ...
18/02/2026
At the Broadcast Center in Stamford, three discrete intercom systems combine into a centralized infrastructure
Into the second week of Milan Cortina 2026, eigh...
18/02/2026
AI is reshaping operations, capital is scaling ownership, sports are converging with media and entertainment, and venues are evolving into year-round platforms...
18/02/2026
DNA Inc. specializes in crafting next level digital experiences in the Media, St...
18/02/2026
Conflicts have increased, but so have solutions, driven chiefly by pragmatism and the threat of AI music
The only persons on the Figure Skating ice at the 2026...
18/02/2026
Canadian rightsholder deploys its most complex setup at an Olympics ever with ...
18/02/2026
A crew of 1,685 people and 13 control rooms produce nearly every on-air minute f...
18/02/2026
Following an extraordinary 2025 in which he was named Spotify's Global Top A...
18/02/2026
Despu s de un extraordinario 2025 en el que fue nombrado Top Artista Global de Spotify por cuarta vez, algo sin precedentes (y tras su presentaci n en el halfti...
18/02/2026
SBS brings Australians together to mark Ramadan and Eid with communities nationw...
18/02/2026
The Virginia-class attack submarine USS Texas (SSN 775) underway....
18/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
18/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
18/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
18/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
18/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
18/02/2026
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die in theaters February 2026 Photo courtesy of Graham Bartholomew, SMPSP
James Whitaker, ASC reunited with visionary director G...
18/02/2026
TAG Video Systems has expanded its Media Control System (MCS) version 1.7.0 release with Lens, a visual service health analysis interface that organizes monitor...
18/02/2026
Teradek, a global leader in advanced video transmission technology, today announced the launch of RF-X Auto Switcher, a revolutionary appliance designed to deli...
18/02/2026
Train Dreams. (L-R) Director of Photography Adolpho Veloso and Joel Edgerton as Robert Grainier on the set of Train Dreams. Cr. Daniel Schaefer/BBP Train Dreams...
18/02/2026
Cerberus Tech, a leader in cloud-native IP video contribution and distribution, today announced the addition of Akamai Cloud as a supported infrastructure optio...
18/02/2026
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that Office de Radio et T l vision des Comores (ORTC), the national public broadcaster for the Comor...
18/02/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Opens New Office in Mexico CityFrom left to right: Francisco Ramos, Vice President of Content for Latin America; Manola Zabalza, Secre...
18/02/2026
Calibr-Skaggs and Kainomyx launch collaboration to pioneer novel malaria treatments Partnering to speed up the discovery of new malaria drugs that target parasi...
17/02/2026
Eutelsat announces the renewal of multiple capacity agreements with Viewsat, rei...
17/02/2026
At Milano Cortina 2026, one statistic stood out across industry reporting: 70% of global signal distribution is now happening over public cloud. What began as e...
17/02/2026
CP Communications provided broadcast support for Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, Calif. at Levi's Stadium, marking 27 years of working around the Big Game. Th...
17/02/2026
Street-level images of iconic Los Angeles landmarks are incorporated into the regular-season look
With NBC Sports just months into its return to NBA coverage a...
17/02/2026
Sophie Hyde and John Lithgow backstage during the premiere of Jimpa. (Photo by George Pimentel / Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)...
17/02/2026
Johannesburg, 17 February 2026 - The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), ...
17/02/2026
A Green Beret hangs a 60mm mortar round from a M225A mortar system on a live-fire range. (Photo credit: U.S. Army)...
17/02/2026
AI Is Scaling Faster Than Governance And That's a Risk AI adoption hasn't rolled out through neat transformation programmes. It has spread organically...
17/02/2026
Cable Surges 9% on Strength of College Football Playoffs and News, while NFL Delivers Top 15 Broadcast Telecasts
ESPN (+86%) and FOX News Channel (+17%) Combin...