Fremont, CA, USA - Blackmagic Design today announced that Filipino feature film “Sinagtala” was shot with the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 12K digital film camera in Blackmagic RAW, with color grading and visual effects (VFX) completed in DaVinci Resolve Studio. A companion music video, released alongside the film’s premiere and featuring live performances by the lead cast, also utilized the Blackmagic Design acquisition to post workflow.

Directed by Mike Sandejas, DGPI and shot by DP Dom Dycaico, LPS, “Sinagtala” follows estranged bandmates navigating adult life after the death of their lead singer, Paola. Her prerecorded inspirational videos act as a spiritual guide, prompting each member to confront their past and rediscover their purpose through music.

“The feature blends intimate storytelling with stylized concert sequences, with performances that hold their own visually and emotionally,” explained Sandejas. “We aimed for distinct visual contrasts to drive the central arc, so Paola’s videos had a bright, angelic feel to them, while the band members watch them in darker, interior settings.”

“Each band member has a cause and effect with each other as they progress through their own battles. I knew I’d be working from different mood lighting and relying on different tones and colors for each character as the story progresses,” said Dycaico. “With that in mind, I wanted a camera that could adjust to the character of the lenses, that provided good dynamic range and that could handle mixed lighting conditions with good headroom for adjustments in post production.”

To reflect the different perspectives and deliver on the shoot’s technical requirements, Dycaico selected the URSA Mini Pro 12K. “We shot narrative scenes in mixed 8K 6:5 with anamorphic 2x desqueeze using DZOFILM Pavos to create cinematic depth,” he added. “For a contrasting texture in Paola’s ‘recorded’ clips we switched to 4K DCI resolution with ZEISS CP.3 lenses.”

Dycaico also highlighted the URSA Mini Pro 12K’s RGBW sensor: “I enjoyed pushing it to its limits, especially in the club scenes and the final concert, which we decided would only have blue tones. Usually when you do this, you end up with noisy red and green channels and an oversaturated blue channel, but in our case, the sensor handled everything beautifully.”

Starting with Dycaico’s viewing LUT as a base grade, Colorist Roque Magsino worked closely with Dycaico during post in DaVinci Resolve Studio, creating different palettes depending on the scenes’ moods and requirements. “When establishing each character and highlighting their individual problems and overall disconnection, we went with a cyan, gloomy palette, with the look evolving with the story, gradually shifting to a warmer, hopeful tone as the band reunites,” explained Magsino.

Lead Finishing Editor Mervin Pangue of Filmpost Studios also noted that the color page’s face refinement and beauty tools played a key role to enhance specific flashback scenes where subtle refinements helped distinguish past from present.

“Resolve kept the effects natural and unobtrusive, from the color page to the Fusion page, which was invaluable for handling complex VFX such as diagonal split screen compositions, screen replacements and object removal,” he said. “Additionally, because we shot at a higher resolution than our final output, I had the flexibility to reframe and zoom in on shots without any quality loss.”

“Sinagtala is ultimately about emotional reconnection and visual storytelling, blending brilliant performances with pleasing cinematography to make it more immersive for the fans,” concluded Sandejas. “The ability to mix narrative drama seamlessly with stylized performance scenes within a unified Blackmagic Design workflow was critical to the collaboration between the team, and ultimately the film’s overall impact.”