“Cinematic Raw – Aerial Dancers” Shoot

– by James Cawley

Motion, emotion, lighting and movement are a vital part of telling a story in a visual way. When ZEISS sent me some new lenses from the Milvus series, the Milvus 2.8/15 and Milvus 2/135, I wanted to put them to the test in the style I do best and refer to as “Cinematic Raw”. I define this style as understanding traditional filmmaking practices but embracing the “real” moments and emotion of the scene while not loosing them to the technicalities. This process often gives me a unique mix between a raw documentary style and cinematic professional setup, while also letting me test both “run and gun” and “controlled” setups with equipment on one shoot.

Still from the video, © James Cawley

Once again I worked with my talented friends at Avien Allure, who specialize in aerial performances and fire dancing (read more about the project on LENSPIRE) and we began planning an epic test shoot. Knowing I was testing a 15mm ultra wide angle lens and a telephoto 135mm lens the subject matter for this test seemed perfect. To really put these lenses to the test I decided to add a ton of fog/haze atmosphere with dramatic lighting to emphasize the motion and see how well the lenses would hold up visually in these conditions.

Behind the Scenes, © James Cawley

My main camera setups included a RED Dragon, Red Scarlet MX and Sony A7S ii for handheld/gimbal shots. On these wide angle shots I wanted to be able to get right up in the action so I used a DJI Ronin gimbal and a Zacuto marauder to keep things very light and mobile. The Milvus 2.8/15 quickly became my new favorite gimbal lens keeping the image super sharp and absolutely no vignetting issues. I was very surprised at the quality of image I was getting from the lens with all the atmospheric effects recording internally on the A7S ii. I utilized the Milvus 2/135 for most of the locked off shots. The sharpness at 60FPS was amazing on the RED Dragon in these low light conditions.

These new additions to the Milvus line are superb. ZEISS has always been known for its quality lenses, but the Milvus series is setting the bar for affordable and professional glass for photography and cinematography.

See more of James Cawley’s work on his website: www.ExploringFilmmaker.com

YouTube: www.youtube.com/ExploringFilmmaker

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ExploringFilmmaker

Instagram: www.instagram.com/jamesdcawley

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