Novelty of 4K

Happy 2015 from Creative Bay Media! Last year was a year loaded with “new” for us and our clients. One of the major areas that we explored in 2014 was the use of 4K filming as our standard approach. Was the talk surrounding “4K” merely hype, or was this truly the format for us? Normally we don’t discuss the equipment that we use as we would prefer to discuss the media goals, needs, and success stories of our clients. However, after experiencing the benefits of filming in 4K we will rarely return to HD in the foreseeable future.

Here’s why…

Two Shots In One

It all began on day 2 of filming a mobile device demo project. We knew that we needed to film a long list of demonstration steps, that were to include wide shots of a user as well as device closeup shots. Our allotted timeframe would preclude the ability to make time-draining camera setup changes. We also wanted to avoid shooting with multiple cameras, if possible, to reduce production and post-production costs for our client. We hired veteran DP, Marco Solorio, to add his expert knowledge of the 4K format to our production. We discovered that by filming with his Blackmagic Production 4K camera, we could actually produce a clean wide shot AND crop into a closeup without any quality loss on a 1080p project. This meant that our client could ultimately enjoy the benefits of “two camera shots”, at sharp 1080p results, with only a single, continuous shot.

4K native shot.

Same shot with 2x crop.

Best Image Imaginable

We have elected to repeatedly film in 4K for another simple reason: 4K delivers the sharpest image possible for HD output. Without discussing the technical reasons behind “why”, suffice it to say that footage properly downscaled from 4K to HD will almost always yield a better final result than footage filmed natively in HD.

Synaptics – CEO Rick Bergman. © 2014 Creative Bay Media, LLC.

 

Because we want to produce the best visuals for our clients, we have decided to implement 4K into our normal workflow. We have seen the difference and hope you will too!

Happy 2015 from Creative Bay Media!