Happy Campers Documentary Shot with Pocket Cinema Camera 4K

Pocket Cinema Camera 4K’s dual native ISO helps capture difficult to get night shots for award winning doc.

Blackmagic Design today announced that the award winning documentary “Happy Campers” was captured with Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K digital film camera. Shot in Blackmagic RAW, Director and DP Amy Nicholson relied on the camera’s dual native ISO to capture stark sunny days and dark summer nights while profiling the trailer park community of Inlet View Campground.

“Happy Campers” follows the final days of a working class summer colony as they prepare for their waterfront campground to be sold to developers. Set on a backdrop of rust bitten RVs and stunning sunsets, “Happy Campers” explores what’s beneath the cliché trailer park stereotypes of the close knit community. Following the film’s premiere at DOC NYC, America’s largest documentary film festival, and a limited theatrical release, it’s now available on VOD nationwide in US and Canada.

With more than 20 percent of the film captured at night to showcase campfires, fireworks and more, Nicholson identified the camera’s dual native ISO as the most crucial element for the film.

“I had no lighting package, so I would get up before sunrise and shoot until the light got ugly, then do some interiors or wait until late afternoon, and go back out again. I didn’t have the room or time for bounce cards, so everything in the final film was captured entirely as is. There was always a ton of wind, blazing sun, and a million mosquitos, but the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K made it all manageable.

“The dual native ISO range was fabulous. When we got to color correction, editor John Young and I were astounded at how little noise reduction we had to do in the campfire and fireworks shots. Colorist Gene Curley at Nice Shoes worked his magic, but the camera allowed me to capture some stunning night scenes,” Nicholson explained. “When the image was enlarged, we would see detail we hadn’t noticed on our dailies. I remember one particular night shot where John and I both yelled out loud, ‘Look at all the bugs!’”

Living amongst her subjects, Nicholson took on both director and DP roles for the documentary. While she’s previously directed five films, “Happy Campers” was Nicholson’s first time as DP. She noted, “Having never operated a camera before was a huge factor when selecting my kit. The Pocket Cinema Camera 4K’s settings are clear and simple. Thanks to the Blackmagic OS, I was able to get comfortable with the settings in record time, and spoiler alert: time was literally running out at the trailer park. I had to grab 40 years of memories in a few short months, so I had no learning runway.”

Nicholson credits the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K’s small design with allowing her to straddle both director and DP roles. “It allowed me to be stealthy and friendly, since I was directing at the same time, and I wanted the film to be primarily verité,” she explained. “For a novice like me, having a very small camera allowed me to operate, but it also kept me friendly. The smaller and less ‘in your face’ you can be, the more intimate your footage will be. ‘Happy Campers’ is a very intimate portrait of community, and it was extremely important to capture what was there without altering the feeling of the place. We were all very close in the campground, so projecting that feeling and getting close physically made all the difference in the world.”

“When this project presented itself, and it became clear I would be shooting alone, I knew the Pocket would be great. I was shooting in an RV campground with lumpy dirt roads. I was living in a camper the entire time, and my production office was a small shed just outside with a single work table. Everything in my camera package had to fit into a garden cart, so it was very important that it be small and manageable. Simplicity was paramount,” she added.

“I am much better at talking and making people feel at ease than I am with F stops and focus. Just ask my editors. But once I got the first few batches of dailies through Resolve, I could shoot with absolute confidence. The sensor was amazing; it looked like film,” said Nicholson. “When you are shooting alone, sound is a huge factor and you really have to pay attention to your environment, so your brain is getting pulled in that direction constantly. Knowing the picture was going to be fabulous took one worry away.”

“Audiences and fellow filmmakers are always surprised that I worked alone. But that’s the point of the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K; that you can create a beautiful motion picture with a very small, easy to manage package that you can quickly learn,” Nicholson concluded. “I worked hard to make ‘Happy Campers’ feel more like an experience than just simply an observational film. It’s an emotional story, and it would be impossible to ‘feel it’ had it been shot another way.”