Ikuta Rira’s new music video “Sign” interview with Kishi Kentaro and Hoshiko Shunko

Kishi : When I first heard “Sign,” I felt the emotion in every part of the song. Not only was the song wonderful, but I was also moved by how delicately Ikuta-san had woven the image. I wanted to shoot a PV that would directly convey that.

The MV depicts a side story of the characters in the drama. So if you watch the drama after watching the MV, you’ll be able to see parts that weren’t fully depicted in the drama. The lyrics of “Sign” also link to the drama, so you’ll feel it even more when you follow the story.

Kishi : Almost all the staff involved in the drama are still involved in the MV. There was no worry about communication among the staff. We shot the drama and then continued to shoot the MV. The lighting crew consisted of colorist Hoshiko-san, director Matsumoto, and Otsuka-san, who was an assistant in the drama.

Shooting in the city required us to deal with irregular situations. We also took shots that we hadn’t anticipated. I think we were able to shoot while taking on various challenges within the time limit.

Kishi : I had the opportunity to see some music videos and short movies shot with the ALEXA LF ​​and GFX100 II combination on the internet, and I was surprised at how good the results were. I thought, “This could work.” This prompted me to test the GFX100 II on its own.

It was my first time shooting in F-Log2 under the same day and night conditions as the TV drama. I was able to confirm that the images have the nostalgia of Fujifilm, have low noise, and can go up to ISO 5000.

During the grading of the drama, I tried it with Hoshiko-san and created a LUT for Fujifilm and used it. When I actually checked it, there were no problems. The results were good, so we decided to use the GFX100 II as our secondary camera.

Kishi : The B camera lenses for the drama were LAOWA’s “OOOM” and “Ranger,” and the main and sub cameras for the music video were LAOWA’s anamorphic lens “Proteus 2X.” The entire film was shot with the Proteus 2X.

However, the Proteus 2X is a fairly heavy and long lens. It can be used with the AMIRA and a tripod, but if you attach the Proteus 2X to the AMIRA for gimbal work, the maximum horizontal length will be exceeded.

However, it occurred to me that maybe the GFX100 II could support this. I tried combining it with the Ronin 2 and found that it was compatible. The lens was long and it was quite a tight fit when I attached the matte box, but I decided to use it as my secondary camera.

The premise for this MV was to record all the cuts in 4K/60p, but we were able to do so using the “Premista mode” which supports 4K/60p. The width doubles after shooting, but because it’s doubled, we were able to use the best parts.

Kishi : One of the attractions of the GFX was its low power consumption. It could supply up to 15Wh of external power via the USB Type-C port. I felt this was a considerable advantage.

This time, I mounted the GFX on a DJI Ronin 2, and the Ronin 2 itself powered the camera via D-TAP. As a test, I attached an external 5V3A battery to the Ronin 2 handle and powered the camera directly. I was able to operate it for a whole day without changing the external battery (5v3a, 20000mah battery).

Moreover, it reduces the power consumption of the Ronin 2. It’s a small thing, but it’s something I found to be quite good when I actually used it.

Hoshiko : I previously had the opportunity to participate in the archive team for the 49 4K digital restoration of the “Otoko wa Tsurai yo” series. Fujifilm was used in about 45 of the Tora-san films. This series was like tracing the history of Fujifilm, and I looked through all of the negative scans.

The 21st film, “Tora-san’s Way of Life,” starring Takeda Tetsuya, used color negative film “A,” and it is simply amazing.

I did digital grading and pre-grading on the new scans to archive them, and it turned out to have a coloring I’d never seen before. It was a coloring I’d never felt before with digital, and it wasn’t gaudy, it was deep and the colors were well-balanced. I can’t forget that feeling. When I asked other people, I found that “A” has a lot of fans.

Fujifilm has many types of film for cinema, including A250. When the color management system “IS-100” was released, I wanted to have a variety of film stocks. I wanted to somehow create a LUT that reproduces the curve of the old film provided by Fujifilm, which is pure.

This is an absolute asset. I think it’s an asset that can’t be imitated overseas. I really like the look of Fujifilm, so I wondered if I could take it to the next level and make the most of that asset in digital cinema.

Kishi : Hoshiko and I have been talking for quite some time about how Fujifilm is the only Japanese manufacturer that can compete with ARRI.

Fujifilm is the only company in Japan with a long history of experience and a proven track record in film, so we chose the GFX as a model case to pave the way for new Made in Japan products using a new camera.

After using it this time, I could clearly see its potential. No one can tell the difference when mixed with AMIRA.

Hoshiko : Recently, we’ve seen an increase in color science, from display-referred to scene-referred ACES. Technology is developing that uses IDT (Input Device Transform) to convert input values ​​and match different cameras.

That being said, every camera has its own curves and characteristics. Of course, it’s fine to smooth out the characteristics to some extent and grade from scratch. However, since I come from a film background, I place emphasis on how to utilize and match the characteristics of the film and the camera.

In such cases, I use DaVinci Intermediate, which is log-based, among the scene referred files. Just by using it, it is easy to keep it as a unique character, and on top of that, the compatibility is high. Just because there is ACES doesn’t mean you can choose any of them. It’s better to take a step further and set a look. The higher the original compatibility, the easier it is to grade and the higher the quality.

This time, we were able to obtain DCTL (DaVinci Color Transform Language) with the cooperation of Fujifilm. In addition, DaVinci has been updated to version 19 and now supports F-Log2.

This time, I was able to try three in total, including “using DCTL” and “color space conversion in DaVinci Resolve 19’s F-Log mode.” As a result, DCTL was the best.

Looking back at the results, the F-Log2 color space conversion in the current version of DaVinci Resolve 19 seemed to hit the highlights too much. When this gamma was changed to ARRI’s LogC3, the range was extended in a way that felt very natural.

After looking at various sources, including an overseas website, I found that the F-Log2 curve has a fairly close affinity to LogC3. If DCTL had not been provided, I would not have been able to achieve a satisfactory conversion.

In the end, I received the DCTL and converted it from Fujifilm’s F-Log2 to an ACES linear curve, and then converted it further to the DaVinci Wide Gamut and DaVinci Intermediate curves used this time, which resulted in better extension of the dark areas than the ARRI LogC3 curve.

Although it is a difference that can only be seen on a master quality monitor, I thought it was quite a big difference. Considering the current DaVinci version and various other situations, this combination was probably the best.

Hoshiko : First of all, ARRI has an excellent Log curve. I think LogC is truly superior. I think this is because, ever since the days of ARRI’s film scanners, ARRI has spent many years researching and developing how to create curves for their scans in accordance with the Cineon standard for digitizing film.

These curves have been installed in digital cinema cameras since the ARRI “D-20”. For cameramen familiar with film photography, this is a very easy-to-use Log curve. It is also strong against highlight stickiness and imbalance, and this is an area where ARRI is overwhelmingly superior.

As I mentioned earlier, my first impression of F-Log was that it was a bit harsh. It seemed to be contained within Log, so I thought that unless the sensor performance and Log mechanism improve, it would be difficult to unlock that. I
used Fujifilm’s color science for the first time in a while with the GFX100 II this time, and with the new Log curve F-Log2, I got the impression that it was the first curve that was compatible with the sensor and that I could handle the files in a compatible state.

I think this is a very impressive curve. I hope that the conversion can be done well in DaVinci, but I think the potential of F-Log2 is great.

Hoshiko : As Mr. Kishi said, I thought the images were beautiful and had little noise, probably because it’s a medium-format camera. It also matches well with cameras made by other companies.

During the test with Mr. Kishi before the first MV was recorded, we conducted the high sensitivity test that I explained earlier, and the results were so good that we could tell that we could raise the sensitivity to this extent. There was no anxiety this time either, and we were grading again today, and we felt like we were able to work straight through without any special processing.

I also felt that the dynamic range was comparable. The only concern is that with normal DaVinci color space conversion, the highs of F-Log tend to be crushed, but when you open up the pure sensor information without that with DCTL, it extends quite beautifully. That’s where the dynamic range is very easy to handle, and I felt that the quality was comparable.

Kishi : I also felt that it was very effective, and since it has a high affinity with the ARRI curve, it can be used as a sub-camera for ARRI products. This time it was a music video, so I recorded it in ProRes, which allows internal recording, considering the mobility of the shoot, but the GFX can also output RAW.

You can use Blackmagic Video Assist or ATOMOS SHOGUN to record in Blackmagic RAW or Apple’s ProRes RAW. From what I’ve heard from people around me and from seeing demos of works that were actually shot in RAW, I got the impression that it gives a sense of depth that is one step further than RAW.

I got the impression that the medium-format sensor size has a certain airiness to it, and that it is one step ahead of the large format of current digital cinema cameras. If I get the chance, I would like to try it in RAW.