Blackmagic Design El Niño Despertador

By Miguel Ernesto Yusty, Director and Filmmaker

Miguel Ernesto Yusty is a filmmaker who has worked in Spain and Colombia on various film production projects. In addition to making ‘El Niño Despertador’, he also wrote the screenplay. The film, El Niño Despertador, was shot on location in Colombia. He is a professor of Specialty Digital Cinema in CICE Media School, Madrid, Spain.

This tender thriller, El Niño Despertador, is about a restless six year old boy, Dito, who frequently visits “el Loco Viera” -- the crazy old man -- a toy inventor who lives nearby. “El Loco” tires of Dito’s visits but cannot bring himself to tell him to stay away. One day though, Dito drinks the liquid in a small bottle he finds in the old man’s home workshop. “El Loco”(the old man), uses this opportunity to tell Dito that everything will stick inside of him because he drank the liquid.

Last year, when we began pre-production of El Niño Despertador, we knew that we wanted to make a low-cost digital film that looked like 35mm film, but wasn’t, and one that we could be proud of. We also didn’t want our audience to think about how it was made – if it was 35 mm film or video. So we had to develop a new workflow that would work for us within our parameters.

We had a script that a distribution company was interested in, but our funding was limited, so we had to figure out a way to produce this film and stay within our budget but not sacrifice quality. The best way was to choose the appropriate technology and workflow. We knew that if we filmed in High Definition instead of 35mm, we could save a considerable amount of money in production costs. This was because we could wait until the final stages to transfer the material to 35mm for the theatrical release. If we filmed in 35 mm, we would have to go through a photo chemical process during the film’s production, making the cost prohibitive. Because we chose the right products (such as Blackmagic Design), and the right workflow, we were able to stay within our budget and make the film.

First, though, we needed a camera and suitable hardware and software with which to record the video. We choose the JVC ProHD 251 (GY- HD251) and captured 1280x720p/50 images on an external disk, using the tape only as a back up. Additionally, we used the JVC HZ-CA13U ProHD PL film lens adapter which has an all-optical-relay system that maintains an aspect ratio equal to 16mm, enabling us make use of full HD resolution images. But mostly, the camera had the option to output uncompressed material at 10 bit 4:2:2 color depth. We captured the uncompressed signal through the component connection of the camera and everything looked fantastic.

However, we still had to overcome one remaining problem. Namely, in order to capture high quality images, the majority of video capture cards required expensive computers. To take care of that problem, we looked for a capture card that would be compatible with a cheaper, no-brand, do-it-yourself PC computer. We also required a solution that would enable us to capture directly from the camera, bypassing any compressed format. We discovered the most flexible and versatile video capture cards and products are from Blackmagic Design.

We contacted Blackmagic Design, explained that although we had a tight budget, we wanted to film in HD. After we described our proposed workflow, they suggested that we use their Multibridge Pro, an external capture and playback solution that instantly switches between SD, HD and 2K, in 4:2:2 or 4:4:4 video quality. We got the Multibridge Pro and, in spite of our initial concerns about our workflow, everything worked perfectly, beyond our expectations.

Clearly, the combination of factors – the camera, lenses, computers, and capture device - required learning new methods of filming, production, and editing using new tools. But thanks to the Multibridge Pro’s compatibility with Adobe CS4, we were able to move forward without any problems.

In the end, we made El Niño Despertado which was shown in theatres for two months in more than 200 cinemas throughout Colombia. It has also been shown throughout Spain where it won the support of the Embassy of Colombia and the Casa de Las Americas.

With this film, we were able to prove that you can get digital image quality that looks like 35mm, at a reasonable, low cost. We are also proof that some companies’ technology really does suit the needs of its users. The Blackmagic Design Multibridge Pro suited our needs perfectly and was the determining factor in the success of El Niño Despertador.