Drama Series “Life of Hers” Filmed on Blackmagic Production Camera 4K

Blackmagic Design Blackmagic Design today announced that Cardy Films has shot “Life of Hers” on the Blackmagic Production Camera 4K. Written by Samantha Chioma, directed by Olan Collardy and Ola Masha, the brand new micro-budget drama series explores the lives of four women living in London as part of the African diaspora.

“Life of Hers” reflects on the existence and friendships of four millennials in a cosmopolitan city. It explores the complexities of life as a young woman and some of the unique conflicts that can arise between inherited traditions and assimilated new cultures. The pilot series is set to follow the Netflix model of releasing all five episodes at once on YouTube so that viewers can watch the series holistically.

In addition to being the executive producer and cinematographer, Olan Collardy also co-directed the “Life of Hers” with writer friend, Ola Masha. As the cinematographer, Collardy wanted the drama to be filmic in quality with a rustic look and natural skin tones. 

“I knew, having observed the camera space, that the Blackmagic Production Camera 4K and its beautiful rendition of color and skin tones was the right camera for this job. The Super35 sensor really complimented my vast array of EF lenses and the ability to work in ProRes was also preferential,” Olan reveals, before explaining “While I am accustomed to shooting in RAW, it would have been too cumbersome and risky on a time critical and cost sensitive project such as this.”

Collardy wanted muted colors to best reflect the narrative world in which these women lived. “They had conflicts, some external but mostly internal and we felt going with bright colors or brightly lit environments would have detracted from the feeling of introspection that we wanted to get across to the viewer.

“Shooting with the Production Camera 4K, I knew it’s sweet spot was 400ASA so we needed to be meticulous with our lighting. We had two ARRI 650W at our disposal and a few LED lights to accentuate and add fill where necessary. Given we were shooting in relatively small spaces, this was ample lighting sources. We also used a number of practical lamps to add some light to dark corners of the frame.”

He goes on to add: “Due to filming schedules and the time of the year, we didn’t have sun down until around 8pm. That meant every ‘night’ shot had be filmed during daytime and we had to get creative with light placement and gels to cheat a night shot. Filming in ProRes also gave us the flexibility needed to adjust things like the white balance during post.”

“The ability to film in 4K was a massive help during the edit as it meant we could recompose shots in post and punch in for a close up without losing detail. Being able to get your wide, medium and close up from a single shot is a massive win especially when shooting on a tight schedule and an even tighter budget,” he concludes. “Blackmagic Design really does give us the best color science and image quality possible for our budget.”

Product photos of the Blackmagic Production Camera 4K are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/press/images

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and film restoration software for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including stereoscopic 3D and 4K workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, and Australia. For more information, please check www.blackmagicdesign.com.