Fremont, CA, USA - The Center for Collaborative Arts and Media (CCAM) at Yale University is a 5,000 square foot interdisciplinary arts and technology center that incubates creative projects and develops experimental technological workflows, with much of its work grounded in the theory and practice of moving images.
CCAM engages with its community through Studio Fellowships, symposia, workshops, and other ongoing programming and events throughout the academic year. Its Curriculum in Residence brings together a variety of courses from across the university in a range of creative disciplines, including film.
CCAM’s filmmaking equipment is used by faculty, staff, and students alike and incorporates a range of Blackmagic Design gear, including Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K digital film cameras, as well as Blackmagic Video Assist 12G 7” HDR monitor/recorders; DaVinci Resolve Studio editing, color grading, visual effects (VFX) and audio post production software; and Blackmagic Cloud.
The equipment is used for formal programs, classes, and trainings and can be borrowed free of charge. Students use the gear for thesis films and class projects, including shorts, documentaries, music videos, performance documentation, and experiments at the edge of cinematic craft, including the Vicon Motion Capture System installed in the CCAM Leeds Studio.
The Blackmagic Design cameras allow for flexibility across skill levels, departments, and projects. Students, faculty, and staff enjoy that the cameras are compact, reliable, and provide cinema quality. Their ease of use allows them to support a variety of projects, including shooting features. The variety of lenses and built in ND filters are also an asset.
Shooting in Blackmagic RAW allows users to take even more advantage of the cameras’ cinematic images in post with the seamless workflow of DaVinci Resolve Studio, further collaborating in Blackmagic Cloud. The CCAM labs are equipped with the software, and it is also used in event documentation and making short videos to highlight sponsored research projects.
Early each semester at Yale, CCAM produces C-CAMP, a daylong event filled with interdisciplinary creative workshops taught by the CCAM team and collaborators. Past workshops have focused on motion capture, projection mapping, video editing, and more. One of the most popular C-CAMP sessions is the Blackmagic Design workshop, where students learn how to shoot a mini doc on the camera.
While often at the forefront of classes, projects and workshops, Blackmagic Design is also used behind the scenes at CCAM. Originally purchased to support faculty in hybrid teaching environments as they returned from COVID restrictions, an ATEM Mini Pro live production switcher is now used along with the Blackmagic Design cameras to capture, produce, and stream a variety of CCAM events.
In addition to using the cameras and DaVinci Resolve Studio for film experiments and demonstrations, as well as developing documentaries growing from key projects, all of which are shown at CCAM symposia, the cameras and ATEM Mini Pro are used for multicamera shoots and live production workflows.
