Blackmagic’s Pocket Cinema Camera 4K brings feature film ‘Three Headed Beast’ to life

IL Tribeca Film Festival has premiered the feature film Three Headed Beast by filmmakers Fernando Andrés and Tyler Rugh, who chose the Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera 4K to shoot the film.

The film premiered at the TriBeCa 2022 Film Festival, where it was competing in the North American fiction section. Three Headed Beast presents the story of Peter and Nina, an established and loving couple experimenting with having an open relationship, and Alex, who forms a deep bond with Peter. Their relationships and personal desires clash in a hot summer in the state of Texas.

This production was filmed exclusively with natural light E stage lighting by a crew of just four. This required a camera that was versatile enough, but did not compromise on cinematographic quality. Director and cinematographer Fernando Andrés finds the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K dual native ISO sensitivity helpful in capturing natural light in a harmonious way, while its portable design allowed his team to shoot with ease on the fly in public places: “The film is a combination of long takes, extreme wide shots, closeups and carefully choreographed panning movements. Since we had such limited time at our many locations and a crew that only ever grew as large as four people, versatility and discretion were key. Luckily, the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K enabled us to capture beautiful high resolution images while looking relatively lowkey and inconspicuous when filming in public parks or dance clubs.”

Andres noted that this camera, in turn, gave the team the ability to overcome any resource constraints: “Without a camera or electric team, I was still able to easily use the Blackmagic OS to get complex and cinematic images out of our surroundings with the added bonus of speed and versatility. Due to the camera’s miniaturized design, if we didn’t like the way something looked, I could easily move it to wherever it needed to go, whether it was on the floor, in the corner of a room or on the floor of a car, all without wasting time setting up lights or rigging a huge camera,” he added.

Between documentary and fiction

The film was largely influenced by Andrés’ personal life. As such, the filmmaking style at times has ended up being more documentary-like than scripted feature film: “This film is based off of many personal experiences and people that I know and love, filtered through a storytelling lens of exaggeration and drama. The camera really made that buffer of false reality as small as possible as I restaged experiences I had been through, making it feel like I was reliving them with the cast and capturing it documentary style with the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K.”

Ultimately, Andres feels that the experience with the Blackmagic Design solution has been completely satisfactory: “The essence of a film does not necessarily demand grip trucks and dozens of crew members and craft services. It demands an instrument for capturing images and people who deeply believe in those images. With the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K, we were able to create the exact film we wanted.”