I first noticed Body.io Digicam to Cloud when a good friend of mine invited me to hitch a demo that Michael Cioni was doing on the Zeiss showroom in early 2020. It was nonetheless a prototype, and Michael mentioned he’d been engaged on it for years.
I keep in mind they’d the digital camera arrange, and so they rolled a couple of takes after which Michael took us into the subsequent room to indicate us what we’d simply shot. And our minds had been simply blown.
Not lengthy after that, I went to work for Body.io, and I couldn’t be extra enthusiastic about my job and this chance day-after-day.
Plotting a course
I used to be 9 or ten after I first obtained fascinated with images. I’d seize my household’s point-and-shoot digital camera and take footage of flowers, specializing in issues like a drop of dew on a petal. Instagram had simply come out, and I’d submit my horrible footage on it (it looks a little different these days). However that’s after I first began to fall in love with images and composition.
Quickly I grew to become generally known as the household photographer and obtained a Nikon DSLR and would shoot all kinds of household get-togethers. Then, after I obtained to highschool, I took Darkroom and Yearbook, and was that nerd who actually obtained into the method of creating movie.
I took a few footage that I used to be actually pleased with, together with considered one of my grandma. I submitted it to a contest and out of greater than 17,000 submissions, it made the ultimate 100. That inspired me as a result of it was one thing I actually liked doing.
After I was making use of for faculty, I believed I’d main in images. However then I went to Biola College to tour their manufacturing middle and noticed their edit bays and that was it. It was the one faculty I’d utilized to for manufacturing, and I obtained in.
I did lots of digital camera aiding on pupil productions after which began getting exterior of college and assembly folks as a result of I knew how necessary it was to do this. After which, early in my sophomore 12 months, I used to be requested to shoot a mission and actually loved it. Due to my images background, and understanding issues like composition and pure gentle and the place to search for it, I used to be getting constructive responses and it gave me grounding for taking pictures.
I saved creating my expertise and shot lots of faculty and out of doors tasks through the years, and did some internships, and that’s how I finally met Michael Cioni. Michael was at Panavision then, and I did some advertising for them by way of Light Iron—engaged on their web site and serving to with social media.
A few 12 months after I’d been out of school I obtained a job shooting documentaries for The Salvation Army that concerned doing a number of interviews, and that was a significant step ahead in my profession. Whereas I used to be there, Michael noticed me rising in that position and requested me if I’d shoot some interviews for Songbird [the first Union-crewed film shot during COVID in July 2020].
Apparently it went nicely, and Michael requested me if I needed to shoot the Digicam to Cloud launch video on the Paramount lot. Which was insane—after I was rising up my mother and I went to tour Paramount and Warner Bros., and now I used to be taking pictures there!
A number of weeks after that, Michael provided me a full-time job at Body.io, which actually modified my life.
Life-changing know-how
The primary time I noticed Digicam to Cloud, it was apparent that it was a sport changer. Earlier than C2C, like after I was in class and even at jobs exterior of college, it was at all times all about having to again up drives and carry your media round.
Loads of the tasks for The Salvation Military concerned flying, and we had been touring with these huge drives in Pelican circumstances. They’re big. They’re heavy. You need to lug them round and when you lose them that’s horrible as a result of it has all of your media on it. Now that I’m utilizing Digicam to Cloud it looks like a particularly antiquated method of getting your footage round—actually having a carry-on that goes in a baggage bin above you.
Then, these drives should get to the editors or the submit home, the place they’re making proxies of the entire uncooked media, which takes hours, if not days. After which you may have every thing sitting on drives after the mission, degrading. I nonetheless have drives simply sitting on my cabinets accumulating mud. I’m by no means going to add it wherever, and if I needed to get it to anybody I’d should ship it to them.
It took me some time to totally perceive all the methods Digicam to Cloud would change issues, however what instantly struck me was that I had entry to my footage instantly. Monitoring on a shoot is usually fairly good so I at all times had a good suggestion of what I’d shot, however having the ability to have my footage with me and watch it at dwelling that night time or on a lunch break was actually cool.
“What instantly struck me was that I had entry to my footage instantly.”
If I’m doing a multi-day shoot I can simply scrub by way of my clips after which, the subsequent day, I could make completely different choices to make it even higher. I can even preserve all my reference photographs in Body.io. I can preserve my scripts in there, and my lighting overheads. It’s nice to have the ability to have every thing I want in a single place in Body.io, and if I need to I can share it with different departments or creatives.
Then, final 12 months we went to the Cannes Movie Pageant to do our Digicam to Cloud presentation. I had a RED Komodo and a Netgear Nighthawk in my backpack with an Orange SIM card, and I used to be principally strolling round Cannes taking pictures all of the clips to the cloud. Michael was directing from L.A., and he might see precisely what I used to be taking pictures on the identical time, and he might be, like, “That’s nice” or “Are you able to reframe that?” And it was all occurring whereas I used to be taking pictures! He was leaving me feedback proper in Body.io, on the clips—in actual time—so I might make any changes proper there. That simply couldn’t occur with cinema cameras earlier than with out handing a card to somebody who’s working to someplace with Wi-Fi, plugging it in, and importing it to the cloud.
And it simply blew my thoughts once more. Our editor was in Italy, and our different editor was in Eire, and so they had been all getting the clips as I used to be taking pictures them and chopping them collectively later that very same day.
Extra just lately, we had our editor, Sarah Katz, on set with us for our NAB video shoot. It was a reasonably difficult manufacturing and we had been choreographing lots of transitional strikes to appear like a single take. Sarah was there and was in a position to sew items collectively to see the way it was working whereas we had been taking pictures. Michael might simply stroll over to the place she had her setup and see what we needed to do to enhance the transitions.
That have actually solidified in my thoughts the concept when you can have your editor working in tandem with you, particularly when you’re taking pictures one thing advanced like that, why wouldn’t you? In the event you can see a tough lower by the tip of your shoot day, you may make higher inventive choices—whether or not it’s getting extra protection, or realizing you even have every thing you want and don’t want anything.
It’s saving you money and time since you don’t have to return for pickups, in fact, but it surely’s additionally serving to you creatively. I can’t think about any producer not desirous to have entry to that sort of info as they’re taking pictures.
I do know some folks don’t essentially need everybody’s eyes on their shoot, however for me I believe it’s nice that stakeholders can see what they’re getting. Somebody’s placing some huge cash into that shoot, and so they must be proud of the outcomes. After I know, for instance, that Michael’s proud of what I’m taking pictures, that relieves my anxiousness. I’m an individual who’s at all times second guessing whether or not what I’m getting is sweet sufficient, so now that I’ve obtained that affirmation in actual time I can really feel assured as an artist that I’m placing out my finest work.
What’s additionally nice is that having that sort of on the spot suggestions ripples into different departments. You possibly can alter your lighting, or change a fancy dress, or repair an actor’s make-up, or no matter you want proper there. Or for script supervisors—they’ll actually take a look at the precise clip! There’s no guesswork anymore round continuity. A script supervisor can create a database inside Body.io if they need and have the clips of every setup or angle.
After which there’s the concept you don’t have folks crowding round video village. You may have completely different crew members or stakeholders who’re fascinated with completely different facets of the playback or one thing they notably need to take a look at. Now they’ll simply have it on their particular person gadgets and might take a look at no matter clip they need, as many occasions as they should. It’s not getting in the way in which of what anybody else must see and so they can do it from wherever they’re.
“They will simply have it on their particular person gadgets and might take a look at no matter clip they need, as many occasions as they should.”
One other factor that occurred on that NAB shoot was that we had been doing a behind-the-scenes mini-documentary. I used to be going to be interviewed on digital camera, so I needed to go over to the make-up truck to prepare. And even whereas I used to be within the chair whereas they had been glamming me up, I might see what Michael was doing on set. I wasn’t even in the identical area, however I might preserve monitor of the lighting setups. It was wonderful.
Higher inventive collaboration
Working at Body.io implies that we just about reside in it at each stage of a manufacturing. From the digital camera all the way in which to the ultimate mastering, Body.io is a necessary a part of our course of.
For one factor, the workforce is unfold out. I’m in L.A., however our colorist is in Vermont. For the previous 18 months I’ve been doing colour classes remotely, and I not often have a face-to-face dialog with him—we do every thing by way of Body.io. I go away notes and draw annotations to explain precisely what I’m considering, and it nonetheless blows my thoughts that it’s really easy. It’s additionally handy as a result of we’re in numerous time zones, so I can go away notes at night time if it’s late and he can see them within the morning. Or we can work together as if we’re in the same room.
I truly love doing colour classes in particular person. However what when you usually work with a selected colorist and you’ll’t journey to be within the room with them? It doesn’t matter anymore. You possibly can nonetheless work with the folks you need to work with wherever they’re.
One other instance is after we did the case examine with Old Fast Glass. One of many cinematographers we talked to instructed us about how she wanted to see a lens check. Outdated Quick Glass is in Burbank and she or he was prepping in Atlanta, however with Digicam to Cloud they may present her the lens check in actual time.
What was cool about it’s that they got here up with that workflow, and it was one thing that even we hadn’t considered! My expertise has undoubtedly been that the extra you utilize it, the extra you understand you are able to do with it.
The way forward for filmmaking
After I first began utilizing Digicam to Cloud, it was just for high-end cinema cameras. However occupied with how now just about any digital camera can use that workflow, like smartphones with FiLMiC Pro or the sorts of cameras that wedding ceremony videographers usually use, it simply opens up so many prospects.
You might be at a marriage, capturing the ceremony, and your editor might be on the wedding ceremony and even the world over—it doesn’t even matter. However by the point your company are at dinner, you can have already got a video of the ceremony prepared for them to observe.
We’re a visible society that’s constructed on the concept of on the spot gratification. With TikTok and Instagram and social media basically, it’s actually thrilling that so many extra folks may have entry to creating tales. Earlier than, you needed to have entry to a sure sort of digital camera to shoot and edit one thing prime quality. However now, it’s broad open for youthful folks and college students. Or for anybody, actually.
One of many issues I like about working at Body.io is that I get to share this new method of working with different folks within the business. Just lately, I did a demo for different cinematographers at an ASC grasp class. I stepped by way of a bunch of the ways in which C2C and Body.io have modified the way in which I work and I might see the way it was blowing their minds.
In fact, we’ll be at Cine Gear this week doing demos and we’d love to show you what we’ve been up to. We’ll be at sales space #329, so please cease by and say hiya.
I hope that folks preserve arising with new concepts for the way it modifications the way in which they work after which inform us about the way it modifications their lives for the higher. As a result of I do know it’s undoubtedly modified mine.
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