Fremont, CA, USA – Friday, July 19, 2024 – Blackmagic Design today announced that the Hamil Bros Studios, based in Lubbock, Texas, recently produced an advertising campaign for Champion Xpress Carwash using the Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K digital film camera, and DaVinci Resolve Studio editing, grading, visual effects (VFX) and audio post production software.
Working in the Lubbock, Texas market, Jacob and Ross Hamil were accustomed to challenging productions, but when advertising agency Flint Avenue Marketing reached out about a series of spots for client Champion Xpress Carwash, the brothers were excited for the opportunity. “Our initial deadline gave us seven weeks to complete,” said Ross Hamil. “We immediately left the meeting and called cinematographer William Hellmuth.”
Hellmuth and the Hamils had met through various filmmaker user groups, and had developed a respect for each other. “William brought in J Scott Worthington to produce, and we started a whirlwind process of developing concepts and prepping for the shoot,” added Jacob Hamil.
Hellmuth, a long time Blackmagic Design shooter, chose the Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K camera for the spots. “We wanted a very cinematic look for these commercials, and I was eager to shoot in a full frame style,” said Hellmuth. “There’s something special about full frame, with its shallow depth of field. Combine that with the Blackmagic Color Science and it’s a look we really wanted to embrace.” Hellmuth shot in Blackmagic RAW, constant bitrate at 5:1 for the entire shoot. “I haven’t found a codec that I prefer more than Blackmagic RAW. It’s efficient, takes up so little space and retains so much data and quality.”
Each commercial had its own unique challenges and rewards but none more than the “Hard Work” spot. Set at a horse ranch, the crew started before sunrise to capture the critical shots they needed. “We had a 4:30am call time to catch the sunrise, and it was freezing cold,” said Hellmuth. “But I loved being on the ranch and filming out in the country.”
The crew was challenged throughout the shoot, enduring 30 mile per hour winds on some days. “Working in that kind of wind just batters your senses. But it was worth it and we think the footage speaks for itself,” said Jacob. “William worked well with us and our vision, and we got some incredible material out of it.”
Sometimes a good mixture of creativity, both in production and post, can help land a spot, as it did in the “Hard Work” ad. “There’s a shot of the interior of the pickup truck we used, looking out the windshield,” said Ross. “While we were in post, I was having a hard time connecting the ranch footage with the car wash footage and it dawned on me that Champion might have their own branded car fresheners. We reached out and were met with a ‘yes.’ So, that day, we went to their offices and picked up a handful of them. Using a pop up green screen, a baby C Stand, and a couple lights, we took our Cinema Camera 6K out in the garage and let the wind blow the air freshener for a moment. Fortune smiled on us and the swaying of the freshener matched the motion of the vehicle and no one was any the wiser.”
Ross and Jacob shared the editorial duties, cutting with DaVinci Resolve Studio in house. Both were pleased to have shot using Blackmagic RAW, knowing the efficiency of the format inside of DaVinci Resolve. “We have not had great experiences with other camera formats in the past, but we know Blackmagic RAW like the back of our hand,” said Jacob. “We knew what to expect with the workflow, and we knew on our very tight turnaround of a month we could trust Blackmagic RAW and DaVinci Resolve to be as efficient as possible.”
Although Jacob created most of the long form master edits, he said, “I would say [Ross is] our post supervisor, although there are only two of us. He’s got a great bearing on it all, from editing, to VFX, sound, color, and finishing. I assistant edit, do motion graphics, and for this project in particular, I was in charge of behind the scenes. The best part of DaVinci Resolve is that we work on the Blackmagic Cloud, so we can both be in the same project at the same time. I could be editing the 15 second deliverables while he edits on the 30s. He can then move over to check the shorter spots, and I can jump into the master timeline and place motion graphics. It beats the old days where our project hierarchy had a bazillion XMLs for edits, then to color, and then making sure the XML translated the edit correctly, plus many other inconsistencies that could arise.”
“We pulled off post for this in 28 days and the credit really goes to DaVinci Resolve and the Blackmagic Cloud collaboration,” finished Jacob. “They both allowed us to stay as efficient as possible. This was certainly the single largest project we’ve ever produced but we went in with confidence knowing that we had the right camera and the right NLE ecosystem to deliver on time.”
Press Photography
Product photos of DaVinci Resolve Studio, Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K 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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Hamil Bros Studios Use Blackmagic Design On Champion Xpress Campaign
