Fremont, CA, USA - Blackmagic Design today announced that DP Kofi Yeboah used Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF to create social media posts for wrestling and fitness global star Trish Stratus. The posts were part of a larger branding campaign for the Basic Supplements brand of nutrition products and followed Stratus through a day at a gym.

Yeboah is the CEO and founder of KY Creative Media and is an experienced filmmaker and content creator based in Toronto, Canada. Known for his work filming athletes and lighting expertise, he was approached by Basic Supplements to shoot Trish Stratus as she went through a day of rigorous training. This included shooting a large amount of run and gun fitness exercises, B-roll, BTS and interviews in the complicated lighting of a working gym.

Yeboah explained: “This was a fun and cool shoot because we could highlight high level athletes along with the Basic Supplements’ brand. I usually work with a small team, with the goal of shooting material for Trish’s social media channels along with product shots for Basic. Basic as a company is new and needed the footage to be a bit more on the corporate side, while at the same time we needed to capture a larger than life person like Trish.”

The 30 second film, which included a crew of 5 and had to be completed in 6 hours, was shot in 8K and needed to be delivered in 9x16, 16x9, 1x1 and 4x5 formats. Shot in a dark gym that required extensive creative lighting, Yeboah chose to use the Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF as his A camera for the project, while using DaVinci Resolve Studio for color correction.

Yeboah relied on the camera’s ability to be able to shoot using different resolutions without losing quality when punching into an image, as well as the ability to shoot in Blackmagic RAW. URSA Cine 12K LF’s inclusion of dual audio channels on the camera itself was also an advantage for the project since it included multiple interviews.

“There is a lot going on with this camera. Being able to shoot multiple frame rates, dual XLR ports, 12Bit BRAW and high dynamic range. We could shoot in open at high resolution and the sensor let me punch into any part of the image and maintain quality. And BRAW really gives post a lot of options and control,” he explained.

With years of experience filming athletes, in particular wrestling and in gym locations, Yeboah knew that he needed the URSA Cine 12K LF to be flexible.

“Working with pro athletes is always going to call for times when you have to think outside of the box. This shoot was no exception. We got there and the wrestling ring we had been planning on using had been moved. And the lighting in half of the gym had changed. But you have to think on the fly, make some concessions with how you light and shoot, and the URSA Cine is great for that,” he explained.

“Having a built in ND filter played a big role where we were getting our lighting set up. But also getting us that background separation we needed because we wanted to shoot wide open. The high dynamic range let us adjust to whatever lighting challenges we faced. And because Trish had scripted lines, having dual audio channels on the body itself was a big help. It is the features like these, which the URSA Cine has plenty of, that makes the camera such a good choice,” Yeboah finished.