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Blackmagic Robbed & Releasing Camera by Doniphan Blair
Security camera shots of thieves who recently made off with almost two million in camera gear around Fremont photo: courtesy Mac House
IN THE BEGINNING OF OCTOBER, THERE
was a spate of camera and computer robberies around Fremont, California.
Highly professional thieves—shown in surveillance footage to be two, mid-20s men wearing hoodies and bandannas—cut communication lines, disabled alarms and grabbed some $1.85 million of equipment.
Suffering the worst was Blackmagic Design, a little-known but very high-end camera company, based in Melbourne, Australia.
States-side Blackmagic's HQ is in Fremont, only a mile from where Charlie Chaplin's Essannay Studio made the area California's first film center. They lost 350 cameras and production computers to the tune of $1.5 million.
“[It's] someone that knows the industry,”ABC7 Television News was informed by Kenny Dang, of Core Microsystems, where the thieves tunneled through drywall to steal $200,000 worth of equipment. "They were coming in and gearing towards the video equipment that they wanted to take."
“We got lots of cameras and all our lenses are pretty much gone. They cleaned out the entire gear room," Viet Mac, of Mac House, told ABC7. He also posted the surveillance footage on his Facebook page and claims they were "two 'Hispanic' looking males."
"We suspect that they live within 15-20 mile radius of our Fremont location, if not closer. If anyone recognizes these men, we are offering a $10,000 reward," Mr. Mac wrote on his Facebook page. "Thanks for your help and please share this video so we can get more people to help us."
It was probably an inside job, noted Fremont police investigator Lt. Geneva Bosques, who added that they were very fast and probably shipped the gear to China where laws are laxer and the film industry is exploding (see full article).
The incredibly well designed and high-end but not so high-priced Ursa Camera from Blackmagic Design. photo: courtesy Blackmagic
Fortunately for us, there are plenty more Blackmagic cameras coming back across the Pacific. Indeed the company announced two new product releases in early November.
Plus cameras are not all they do. Blackmagic also builds world-class video editing, color correcting and ancillary equipment suitable for the feature film and broadcast industries.
They became known for their DeckLink capture cards, which helped trigger the postproduction affordability revolution around 2000, and built on the reputation of their award-winning DaVinci color correction systems which have been dominant in television and film since 1984.
BM's new Pocket Cinema Camera is a beautiful new machine, beta tested by the hit band Thirty Seconds to Mars on a recent tour.
“Our motto is, ‘if you didn’t film it, it didn’t happen,’ which is why we film absolutely everything on tour," according to the band’s videographer and DP, K.C. Lauf, who typically shoots in ProRes.
Lead by the actor Jared Leto, Thirty Seconds to Mars, recently released a striking indie doc, "Artifact", about their struggles with their label.
Blackmagic's rather small Pocket Cinema Camera is a true Super 16 digital film camera which records 1080HD resolution ProRes 422 (HQ) files direct to fast SD cards. photo: courtesy Blackmagic
"We post videos of the tour... and we want a real look to it,” Lauf said. “Fans watching the videos can feel like they’re on stage or with the band having a VIP experience. The camera’s dynamic range... helped create that."
The English daytime drama “Moving On”, recently renewed by BBC One, was filmed entirely on Blackmagic cameras. LA Productions, out of Liverpool, shot just over a quarter of the show in 4K, with the rest in ProRes 1080p25.
Although “our storage calculations at the time simply didn’t allow us to shoot the whole thing in RAW," Patrick Hall of LA Productions said, "anything that we knew we wanted to punch in on during post, or that required specific paint and visual effects work, was all shot at 4K resolution."
"Otherwise, the 10 bit flavor of ProRes gave us plenty of latitude... I was able to push and pull significantly where required,” see full press release.
Well, the lord giveth and the lord taketh away but a word to the wise while shooting, especially in urban settings:
• Never leave equipment accessible
• Know the neighborhood
• Post a guard
• Drywall is not reinforced concrete
Doniphan Blair is a writer, film magazine publisher, designer and filmmaker ('Our Holocaust Vacation'), who can be reached .