With over two decades of experience in Natural History filmmaking, Multi-Emmy and Bafta award winning Toby Strong has captured awe-inspiring sequences for Planet Earth II & III, National Geographic’s ‘Secrets of the Elephants’ and One Strange Rock, all of which involve the Kinefinity line-up.
Working with the elements
Toby’s sequences regularly take him to extreme locations to capture wildlife narratives and dramatic landscapes. He explained that complete trust is needed in his chosen kit as shoots often require complete isolation from the outside world (sometimes for weeks at time), and potential replacement equipment! Being able to rely on his camera’s performance under environmental stress is paramount, he recounted the extremes both he and his kit have withstood in order to capture award winning sequences:
“I’ve been to Antarctica where we’ve had below -50 degrees. There was one situation in particular that I think spoke volumes, we were dropped off at the top of Mt Erebus, an active volcano in Antarctica. The outside temperature when we got out was about -40 to -50 degrees. We then broke into these fumerals and abseiled down inside these ice caves which are formed by thermal gases rising. It was plus 30 degrees inside the caves from this thermal action, so we went from -50 to plus 30 in the space of a minute or two.
Toby recalled the anxiety inducing moments during the descent as temperature changes of that magnitude often wreak havoc on camera circuitry as rapid freezing and warming can result in condensation. But to his relief, “the Kinefinity didn’t falter and it was absolutely fine in both of those situations."
Manifesting a vision
Connecting audiences with the natural world through spectacular and often emotional sequences is the driving force behind why the majority filmmakers do what they do. Bringing the deserts of Namibia or the boreal forests of Siberia to our living rooms as well as getting intimate glimpses into the lives isolated native communities, allows us to experience the abundance and fragility of our one planet. Responsible for delivering this to our screens, is most likely Toby’s Kinefinity MAVO 6K camera and it’s ability to manifest the cinematographer’s “ideal vision”:
“One’s imagination should always exceed one’s grasp, so you must strive to achieve your ideal vision. That camera with its beauty, softness and its small form factor allows me to get really close to manifesting my imagination, and the tools I’ve developed over the years enable me to get as close as I can to achieving that vision.”
Toby revealed that a large portion of his creative vision begins with assessing the way light and softness interacts within classical artworks: "At heart, I’m a romantic. I look at the old masters and how they painted and what they were able to achieve with oil paints hundreds of years ago. Since the start, I’ve always strived to achieve an organic, soft image, the way I see the world in my imagination. I adore the softness of the Kinefinity image. I love the colour rendition, I love how it deals with the highlights, I love how it deals with the darks, there’s a real artistic beauty to it that keeps drawing me back."
The right tools for the job
"Sometimes I will just have the Edge 6K with me and if I’m shooting wildlife, I’ve had a plate made so if I’m shooting on the Canon 50-1000mm it just steps me up so that I can very easily shoot 50-1000mm and I can drop it to super 35 and that gives me that extra punch in because that lens only covers super 35.
For the majority of my handheld shots, I just have 1 handle on the side, the top monitor and my prime lens, and that allows me to be so understated. If I want gimbal shots, the Kinefinity is small enough and can be mounted with a battery on the Ronin RS3, it’s such a low profile.
If budget and time allows and if I’ve got an assistant perhaps, I’ll keep the Kinefinity for the beauty shots and for the people, I’ll have the RED on the 50-1000mm lens and then I’ll always have the Sony FX3 as well, just because it’s just there for when I need it and there’s nothing that can touch that for super low light at night.
So, I’ll always have those 3, but the Kinefinity my prime camera there."
A seamless workflow
Throughout our conversation, Toby gave us an insight into how he uses equipment to achieve various sequences from navigating crowds, filming under darkness and capturing wildlife from a vehicle. With a job as changeable and unpredictable as Natural History filmmaking, having complete trust that your kit will deliver, is a bare minimum. He explained “from the start of my journey with Kinefinity I’ve been fairly tentative, but because of my work I’ve had to push it right to the edge, I’ve been in jungles with very high humidity and sandstorms, again no problem. “
When asked about his decision to select the Kinefinity MAVO 6K for his documentary work, Toby explained “when I bought the Edge I deliberately chose the 6K rather than the 8K because of that extra stop and a half for low light, for me at that time it was more important than the extra 2K.” Equipped with a dual ISO, the Kinefinity MAVO Edge 6K is designed to offer high performance under low light conditions with a small form factor to support on-the-go shooters like Toby. “It is a magical camera and it’s small enough that I can stick it on the Ronin RS3. For handheld work, I have one hand grip on the side, and I can move around with it for hours, it’s just so understated and low profile.”
Generally, he doesn't get involved after the footage is bundled and handed over the the post-production team. However, during this process he can often be met with slight trepidation as Toby reveals that generally at this stage, people are more familiar with the popular Sony and RED workflows, and less so with the Kinefinity. He explains “there are often questions at the start”, however "they go through the workflow and realise ‘this is really easy, we’re super happy, this looks beautiful.’"
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