Arri ALEXA Shoot with MINDCASTLE

The folks over at MINDCASTLE continue to amaze. Casey Warren sent over some behind-the-scenes pics from their latest shoot and they’re all kinds of awesome. Lots of Arri Alexa in action on our Atlas 200 camera slider, on our brand new Dromos Bowl Riser & Hi Hat and in a few handheld-in-hot-tub configurations. And then, there’s the ladies.

Besides some great photos Casey had lots to say on using Arri’s camera;

“Shooting with ALEXA meant we had lots of headroom for latitude, so we lit like we were shooting film. In a way it’s useful to think of ALEXA like film, with this specific camera there is huge advances in color rendition and latitude when compared to other camera systems out there. We also shot on the new firmware upgrade that allows for 120fps recording. We used our 27″ iMac that we would simultaneously offload and backup footage as well as preview it as we shot. The footage came out beautifully and we didn’t run into workflow snafus. Every time I get a chance, I use this camera system on projects because of the simplicity, speed of the workflow and the stunning imagery that the sensor can produce. The workflow is plug and play, not transcoding, encoding, etc.”

“The Atlas 200 held up amazingly well with a larger camera like ALEXA on it. Although it is much bigger than the Atlas 30 we still found it to be highly mobile and we were able to fit it into some pretty tight locations, and quickly too. We also utilized the hand grips on the 15mm rails system that we mounted with the ALEXA.”

“For monitoring, we utilized the Cinevate Grip Sticks and a Noga cine-arm to help support and maneuver the Small HD Dp6. We originally bought this monitor for use with HDSLRs but it made for an absolute perfect fit with the ALEXA. It made hitting focus a breeze and was a huge help on set. Definitely one of the best production monitors out there on the market today.”

Casey, as you may have guessed, was the Cinematographer/DP for the shoot, while Danielle was Production Manager (for the Seattle Crew) and Media Manager. As always, to stay updated with all of MINDCASTLE’s adventures and even more production details check out their Blog or follow them on Twitter.

Gear and Technical Info:

Arri Alexa (shot mostly at 60 or 120 fps)

Lenses:
Optimo 30-80mm T 2.8 Cine-Zoom
Arri Ultra Prime 20mm T1.9
Arri/Zeiss Primes (35mm, 50mm, 85mm all T 2.1)

Lighting:
Lowell Blender LED lights
Lowell Pro-lights
ARRI tungsten fresnels (650w & 1000w)
Kino Flo Diva 400 and 200
K5600 400w Joker HMIs