Canadian indie film uses Blackmagic camera to create cohesive story across different universes.
Fremont, CA, USA – Thursday, January 30, 2025 – Blackmagic Design today announced that the sci fi romantic comedy “Do I Know You From Somewhere?,” directed by Arianna Martinez, was shot using a Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 12K digital film camera. The film, captured in Blackmagic RAW, explores the alternate reality of a missed connection and had its global debut at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
“Do I Know You From Somewhere?” focuses on a couple, Olive and Benny, as their shared history begins to give way to an alternate timeline; their memories and belongings start to vanish and subtle hints of another life begin to replace their own, transforming their home into a liminal space. As a result, they must decide whether to embrace newfound joy or hold onto their fading bond before it slips away forever.
“Do I Know You From Somewhere?” is the debut feature film from award winning Canadian production company Strike Pictures, led by Martinez, Lance Kenneth Blakney and Gordon Mihan. Shot in five weeks, the team had to wear multiple hats during the production process, making a smooth and cohesive workflow essential. They turned to the URSA Mini Pro 12K for its cinematic quality, aiming for global exposure at TIFF and Busan International Film Festival (BIFF).
According to Blakney, who served as the film’s coproducer, DP and coeditor, “Our initial camera tests with the URSA Mini Pro 12K showed that the camera would handle the stylistic requirements we were aiming for on set and in post. This allowed me to focus on the creative and do my job as DP, since I knew that the camera was reliably delivering what we needed from a technical perspective.”
The film’s visual language relied on a stark contrast between handheld and static shots, reflecting the complex timeline of two colliding universes. Blakney switched the URSA Mini Pro 12K between shoulder and tripod setups seamlessly, thanks to the camera’s intuitive and portable design. This flexibility was crucial, especially with Blakney juggling multiple roles and needing a high quality cinema camera that wouldn’t cause fatigue during long shoots.
The URSA Mini Pro 12K was outfitted with a matte box for filters and a large glass prism for specific shots, to create a softer, memory like feel for the visuals of the film. The camera’s adaptability ensured that the production team did not have to choose between maintaining a high quality aesthetic and implementing creative visual elements, making the URSA Mini Pro 12K an essential tool in achieving the film’s artistic vision.
Despite the nature of having a tight timeline and a small crew, Strike Pictures aimed to keep the production as low stress as possible, ensuring the wellbeing of the crew whilst facilitating creativity. In part, they achieved this by filming in Blackmagic RAW straight onto SSD drives, which were then handed off to the DIT on set, resulting in a fast turnaround that allowed the DIT to avoid late nights of file transfers and editing dailies. This created a more straightforward editing process and kept the file sizes small, which provided the perfect balance for an independent production company producing a feature film.
“Blackmagic Design has certainly enabled us to grow by creating a cohesive gear ecosystem that works across the multiple types of content we create, ranging from commercials and music videos to community outreach campaigns and more,” Blakney continued. “With our Blackmagic Design gear, we’re able to adapt easily no matter the location, lighting conditions and visual requirements from our clients. The gear is also intuitive enough that if we hire a freelancer who has never used Blackmagic Design before, they can pick it up and run with it right away.”
“Before we started using Blackmagic Design gear, it was hard to create a consistent visual quality across our creative and commercial work. Different camera angles were hard to match, the quality varied, and this resulted in different file types,” said Blakney. “Now, since we’re shooting in Blackmagic RAW, we can keep consistency in our footage, making it easier to handle in post as well.”
Blakney concluded, “Technology should allow us to focus on being creative rather than gear troubleshooting, and that was exactly what happened with the URSA Mini Pro 12K. It enabled us to produce a film of high enough quality to showcase on global stages like TIFF and BIFF. Experimenting with new camera technology helps us push creative boundaries and enhance our offerings, and with the success we’ve had using the URSA Mini Pro 12K, we’re excited to continue to use other Blackmagic Design gear.”
Press Photography
Product photos of the URSA Mini Pro 12K and all other Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/images
About Blackmagic Design
Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com
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Do I Know You From Somewhere? Shot with URSA Mini Pro 12K
