Ben Ruffell Blog

Red Bull 'Conquer the Crown'

2013-05-06T14:15:00.000-07:00

Director Ryan Heron asked me to be the Director of Photography for this clip for Red Bull.

To be perfectly honest, when we first started talking I thought "what a fantastic idea… it will never happen…they will never give permission for a road closure." When Ryan called me up with the green light I couldn't believe it!

This job involved a lot of logistics. There was plenty of prep, and we had a great, experienced crew. We were able to section off the road into three parts. With each section we were able to have a five minute road closure every thirty minutes. Which mean't we could send Mad Mike Whiddett through for one run each block. With such a small shooting window we needed to make the most of each run.

We used several cameras on the job. Two Red Scarlet's shooting at 4K so that we could reframe and stabilise in post. I shot one of the Scarlet's for the establishers and end sequence, and it was also the camera I had on the tracking vehicle. Simon Tutty operated the other Scarlet on the tripod shots. Jamie McKenzie bought down his Sony F5 and he was shooting the slider shots. Daryl from Phantom Effect came down with a Phantom V642 which we shot at frame rates up to 2500fps. Minicam expert Ben McAlister was in charge of the Go Pro Hero 3's. Finally, we had Peter Thompson there with his Cineflex in the helicopter.

We were lucky enough to have Pete Bradshaw as the Grip / Precision Tracking Vehicle driver. It was the last job for the 'Expert' vehicle before retirement… and I think we gave it a good send off. I shot from both the front and the rear using a gyro stabilised bungy system. We planned through the shots careful, and chose the corners where mike would be at a close (but safe) distance to the lens. We essentially kept to separate lanes and Mike would then drift the car through frame with Pete holding a safe line, and me holding on and locking into the frame that I wanted. It was fantastic seeing the control that Mike had and the shots that we were able to pull off.

Post Production was handled by Mandy in Auckland with Smoke Artist Andy Timms and Colourist Dave McLaren.

This was a great job to shoot. Really different to conventional car commercials where we have to stay at the speed limit and keep within the white lines!

Photos courtesy of Graeme Murray and Miles Holden

Nikon 'D5200'

2013-03-18T13:43:00.000-07:00

I was the 2nd Unit DP / B Camera Operator on this TV Commercial for Nikon.

Henrik Hansen was the Director and Marc Flennert was the DP.

Big Fish was the production company and Leilani Tomaszewski from the Sweet Shop handled the production in both Australia and New Zealand.

We filmed exclusively on Nikon D800 cameras. At the time they had only just been released, and we were pleasantly surprised by the image. They were great to work with, and provided a really nice picture.

We mostly used their Prime Lenses, and a semi flat picture profile. We did tests with an external recorder, but found that there was little benefit for the added bulk and complications.

We filmed part of the spot in remote Fiordland, New Zealand with access by Helicopter.

We filmed the other part of the commercial at Lake Gairdner, Western Australia. We stayed at Mt Ive Station. It was a major undertaking to get the crew there. We travelled in convoy, in Toyota 4x4's with extra water, tyres, and in constant radio contact. It was a very long journey… but the location was worth it.

Lake Gairdner is a Salt Flat Lake, and it was beautiful. We travelled all that way for the early morning reflections and we spent about a week to get the perfect shot.

Our Australian crew was excellent and their expertise at working in the outback was very appreciated.

We also shot a few more stand alone clips for Nikon, and they will be released over the coming months.

It was a great shoot with a wonderful crew, and I am hoping to work with my Australian friends again soon.
Thanks to Joe Wigdahl and my assistant Paul Shakeshaft for the photos.

Shotover Camera Systems with Red Epic

2013-03-09T12:41:00.000-08:00

I recently had the opportunity to operate the Shotover Camera Systems stabilized gimbal for a wine film project.

The gimbal is six axis stabilized, and the results were perfect.

Alfie Speight was the pilot, and we filmed in the Gibbston Valley, near Queenstown, New Zealand.

We flew with a Red Epic camera and an Arri / Fujinon 18-80mm lens. (I used the wide angle as I wanted to be very close to the vines for this shoot. The Optimo 24-290mm is another easy lens to fly).
The system also takes Alexa, and both 2D and 3D are supported.

The Red was integrated very neatly into the setup. I had full menu control of the camera through the laptop controller, and I could adjust frame rate, shutter angle etc very easily. It was just like using a Redmote, but with a joystick.

I had overlay lens information from a PCB, and my Focus, Iris, Zoom position could be displayed or hidden on the monitor as required.

We achieved some beautiful images. I look forward to shooting with the Shotover again soon.

Sam Neill 'Cornucopia Vitus'

2013-01-28T13:11:00.000-08:00

Here is a fun little job that I shot for the 2013 Pinot Conference. Roger Tompkins was the Director and we shot it on one of my Red cameras with a tiny crew.

Ssang Yong 'Rexton'

2012-11-11T15:14:00.000-08:00

Leigh Hart from Moon TV asked me to be the DP on this car commercial for the new Rexton.

We only had one day to shoot the job, and there was a lot to get through. Stunts, pyrotechnics, bonnet rig, side rig, dialog, tracking vehicle and aerials. The only way to achieve all of this in one day was to shoot without road closures. Moon TV found a great private track at Boomrock, just outside Wellington.

I flew up from Queenstown with my Grip, Josh Dunn. All of my equipment is packaged for travel. I bought up a Red Epic, Red Scarlet, Leica Primes, Canon Zooms, Monitors, Mattebox, Filters etc. Everything we needed for a two camera shoot. Josh travelled with his full rigging kit and even a 3' slider. With my Air New Zealand status we flew with all of this gear for only $60 excess luggage costs!

We picked up the rest of the crew locally, with Roger Fenstra on focus, and Kim Thomas assisting.

Because we had a very small crew we were able to move quickly and efficiently. Leigh was Directing as well as staring in the commercial. Once I was happy with a take, we would review playback directly from the Red camera and move on.

Having both the Red Epic and the Red Scarlet on set was a huge time saver. I was able to shoot one of the cameras while the second one was being pre-rigged for the next set up. This allowed us to move very quickly. Also, because of their small size I was able to rig both cameras on the bonnet at the same time, so we could shoot a two shot and a close up simultaneously.

A few of the behind the scenes pictures of the 'camera crew' being taken out by the water were 'leaked' on Facebook before the commercial was released. This caused a huge amount of feedback, and the viral campaign was a great success.

Here is the infamous 'Camera' that was taken out during the filming of the commercial… (rest assured, everything went as planned).

I really enjoyed shooting this commercial. Everyone involved was fun to work with. The script was refreshing, and I am very happy with the result.

Thanks to Brady Dyer for the photos.

Sir Michael Hill: Family Tree

2012-10-08T15:37:00.000-07:00

Here is a short video that I made for Sir Michael Hill. Glen Wallace from Announce Design organized the shoot, and I took care of the Production.

I filmed on my Red Scarlet camera in 4K HD so that I would have the option to reframe in post. I also took full advantage of my Macro Lenses, capturing great close up's of Sir Michael's cartoon drawing.

It's always a pleasure to work with Sir Michael. I always learn something from him, and I hope that you find his cartoon meaningful.

Annabel Langbein: Simple Pleasures

2012-10-01T18:13:00.000-07:00

I was the B Camera DP for a few weeks on the current season of Annabel Langbein that is screening on TV One.

Hamish Wilson was the main DP, and responsible for the shows great look. I spent a lot of time on the Mini-Jib, and it was great fun shooting so many hero food 'pack shots' each day. Not to mention all the tasty food!

We shot on Sony PDW-700 XDCAM HD Cameras. You can catch it at 7pm Saturday TV One, or online.

Cinematography Montage 2012

2012-09-09T15:49:00.001-07:00

Here is a selection of my recent work.

Hellers

2012-07-12T15:46:00.000-07:00

I recently shot a campaign for Hellers.

The commercials were produced by Shuriken and Directed by Richard Bell. It was great working with Richard. He has an extensive background in the industry having worked on some of the most iconic music videos made in the last 20 years. His planning and Direction made the shoot go very smoothly.

It was good working with Leigh Hart aka 'That Guy' again. Leigh is always professional and is a pleasure to work with. The last time we shot together back in 2008 we made this spot for Speights.

We shot Hellers on the Red Scarlet with Zeiss Super Speed lenses. It's such a great camera to work with and I am very happy with the results.

We had a great team on the shoot. We negotiated the weather, and shot around the shortest day of the year to capture 3 commercials in 3 days.

Sarah Alainn 'Breathe in Me'

2012-06-28T15:09:00.000-07:00

Universal Music Japan asked me to be the Cinematographer and Director for this music video for Sarah Alainn, for her debut album 'Celeste'.

(This online copy is a very low quality short version. There is a HD Blu-ray disc included with each CD).
The Album has just been released in Japan, and is currently ranked at number 5 in the iTunes charts.

We filmed around Queenstown for two shoot days, taking advantage of some of the beautiful locations. Miz Watanabe was the NZ Line Producer. The Japanese Production company was Cinq. I had worked for them previously, almost 10 years ago, and it was good to strengthen the relationship.

I chose to shoot at several spots around the region where I have not filmed at previously. Taking advantage of the sun at each location.

I shot on my Red Scarlet camera, and used my vintage lenses. I decided to use a lot of lens flares and optical effects to make Sarah look ethereal.

Sam Strain was my grip and we used a Panther Mini Jib extensively, along with some tracking shots in the forest.

Stu Gotting was my DIT and we delivered Colour Corrected ProRes 422 movie files at the end of the shoot.

It was a great shoot with a high quality result achieved by a small team. Sarah is hugely talented and I really enjoyed working with her. I am confident that her album will be a success.

Red Epic Camera

2012-05-21T20:04:00.000-07:00

My Red Epic camera has arrived.

I have been running the Scarlet for the last couple of months, and I have been so impressed by it that I got the Epic as well.

(The Epic is a 5K camera with high frame rates for excellent slow motion. The Scarlet is 4K with standard frame rates).

These Red cameras are tiny, they are light weight, and they are a lot cheaper than alternatives.

I can now offer a Red Epic and a Red Scarlet camera. The accessories are interchangeable. The Scarlet make a great back up body for the Epic, or I can rent them out together as a two camera kit.

Both cameras can take PL Mount Lenses or Canon Mount Lenses.

I have all the accessories and spares that your would expect.

I am really looking forward to shooting these great cameras this coming winter!

Nurofen 'Be Sure'

2012-05-03T15:05:00.000-07:00

Sam Scott asked me to shoot this commercial in Auckland.

Because we had a lot of visual effects involved, along with a dolly track and focus pull I decided to shoot on my Red Scarlet camera. The camera gave us 4K resolution which really helped the compositing. It also gave us a Raw image to grade from. Andy at Metro Film rented me a set of Zeiss Ultra Primes. Bryce Swainson was my focus puller.

Sam Scott was also responsible for the 3D set. (The only physical set in the bathroom is the mirror, cupboard and the green set flat that it's attached to. Everything else is generated).
I had the light boxes built into the set, and we lit the first scene to be quite harsh and abrasive. With the flickering lights really adding to the sense of discomfort.

Then, in the pharmacy I went with a classic soft beauty light on the talent.

Miquel Ubeda was the 2D Compositor and the Colorist. Spencer Locke-Bonney was the Gaffer. It was another successful shoot with a small crew, and the client is very happy.

Munns

2012-04-23T23:03:00.000-07:00

Amanda Jenkins from AJ Films put myself and Director Robin Shingleton together to film this brand commercial for Munns.

We took advantage of the great locations in Oamaru, choosing this wonderful traditional street in the historic part of town.

I used Andy Rennie as my gaffer and he came down from Christchurch with his team.

The challenge was to light the dark suits so that they looked stylish on camera, while still keeping the dramatic night time feel. I separated the guys from the background by using a moon colored backlight, and I lit the foreground with large tungsten sources to be soft and flattering. I really enjoyed playing with the colored lights in the back of shot, and it was great fun lighting the entire street.

I wanted to achieve crisp sharp images to match the sharp suits and I shot on my Red Scarlet camera. I used Canon L series lenses as they resolve an amazing sharp image and are just perfect to use at night.
Robin wanted to have a slow motion feel to the images, so we chose to shoot at 48fps, 3K. This gave us a high resolution image with great detail.

We only had 3 hours with the talent on set, and everyone worked very hard to make sure that we came in on time, and on budget.
Whitebait TV produced and edited the commercial and I worked with Auckland based colorist Miquel Ubeda on the grade.

It was a great shoot, and and I am very happy with the result.

Hotel St Moritz

2012-03-21T20:30:00.000-07:00

Before I lived in Queenstown, I came here often for work. Many times I stayed at the Hotel St Moritz and it was always perfect. I recently filmed a promotional video for the Hotel, and it was a pleasure to see that the Hotel is still beautifully maintained, and perfectly run. It's a timeless classic in Queenstown, and it was an honor to film it.

Darren Simmonds Directed the shoot, and we filmed over a couple of days. We had a lot of locations to cover, and many set ups.

I decided to work with the new Sony F3 Camera and Zeiss Compact Primes. Recording to my NanoFlash.

It was great working in my home town, and I really enjoyed working with my Queenstown crew. Max Catterick was my Gaffer. Josh Dunn was Grip, and Raj Patel was my Camera Assistant.

Canon 5D Mark III Camera

2012-03-21T14:52:00.000-07:00

My Canon 5D Mark 3 Camera has arrived in Queenstown.

It's a nice improvement over the groundbreaking Canon 5D Mark 2.

There is a huge improvement in the picture quality for motion. Audio has been improved, and importantly timecode is now supported.

Along with the HD improvements, there are also significant improvements in the stills capabilities.

Red Scarlet Camera

2012-03-09T00:05:00.000-08:00

Very proud to announce that my Red Scarlet camera has arrived in Queenstown. It's fully operational, producing great images at 4K resolution. The camera takes both Canon mount lenses as well as PL mount, making it a very flexible and affordable choice for high quality imaging.

I have filmed a couple of jobs with it already and I am absolutely blown away by the quality of the images.

The post production process is easy to work with and I have a great team of editors and graders available to work with in Wellington and Auckland.

I am convinced that this will be the camera of choice for high end production value at an achievable budget level.

Documentary Montage

2012-02-01T15:49:00.000-08:00

Here is a small montage taken from a few of the Documentaries that I have shot recently. I have been lucky enough to travel extensively meeting some really amazing people. My work has been broadcast worldwide including Discovery Channel, Channel Four UK, and TVNZ in New Zealand.

'Solar World'

2012-01-23T13:22:00.000-08:00

Amanda Jenkins from AJ Films asked me to DP this film for Peter Keil. This was a huge honor for me, Peter is regarded as one of the world's top car photographers and I have admired his work for many years.

This was not an ordinary car shoot. The Solar World GT car is circumnavigating the globe in a race, powered only by the sun.

We did not want to waste any power with multiple takes, and we had very little control over the car. Most shots were achieved on the fly, with only one take.

GT was our location scout and fortunately he directed the German crew to leave State Highway 1 and head through the Lindis Pass and into Queenstown. The scenery down here speaks for itself and I love shooting cars on these roads.

We had a tiny crew. I shot most of the job with my PDW-700 XDCAM in Full HD. I also set up Canon 5D2's as additional cameras, and had the camera assistants hit record on these extra lock off shots.

I worked closely with Editor Paul Wedel in Wellington and Visual Effects and Grading was handled by Miquel Ubeda in Auckland.

This was a really fun job, and I am proud of the result. I wish the team all the best for their travels around the world.

'Atomic Tracker'

2012-01-16T19:02:00.000-08:00

I shot and directed this film for the new Atomic Tracker bindings. We shot during the New Zealand winter, for a Northern Hemisphere winter release.

The Tracker is a Back Country Binding, that has two functions. It allows the skier to skin up the hill easily, and comfortably then at the top they can clip in and ski down with the performance of an alpine binding.

Daron Rahlves was the skier, and his fitness and stamina was amazing. Daron hiked for multiple takes in challenging terrain. He wasn't gentle on the product, jumping off 50' cliffs and generally skiing super aggressively. The binding passed with flying colors, and Daron was a pleasure to work with.

We shot for several days in the Southern Alps. We needed clean, beautiful, inaccessible backgrounds - and we found them outside the ski area boundary. Each shot takes a lot of time to get to, let alone set up and shoot safely in this environment. We were all avalanche aware, and equipped. My camera assistant Stacey Farrell has ten years Ski Patrol experience.

Because we were working off ski's and we had to carry all our own gear I chose to shoot with the Canon 5D Mark II. It's a great small camera for hiking with, but very slow to set up and make adjustments to when perched on a ridge. It was hard work, but the results speak for themselves.

"Chi" TV Commercials

2011-12-16T13:43:00.000-08:00

IndyFX Producer Sam Scott asked me to film these commercials for the rebranding of the iconic New Zealand Herbal Mineral Water 'Chi'.

We shot at White Studios in Auckland. I decided to shoot on my Canon 5D Mark II camera kit. This was a great choice for the shoot as we had to supply both commercials with a quick turnaround, and I also had to deliver several high resolution stills photographs of the newly branded bottles.

The commercials were directed by Gilbert Hunt. The brief was for our model to be very clean and pure, wearing white, while against a white background. I went for a very classic soft beauty lighting design, while achieving good separation from the background so that she was well defined, and not lost in a sea of white.

We shot the pack shot and the pour with the logo in the background practically, with the logo printed on card and placed behind the bottle. It was very old school, but it was the best way for the product to look great in the glass. VFX were supervised by Miquel Ubeda who handled the 2D compositing, and the grade, and Sam Scott was responsible for the 3D elements.

It was another fun, successful shoot with my usual crew in Auckland. It was also great to shoot for 'Chi'… I have been a fan ever since I discovered the cocktail 'Falling Water' while filming for 42 Below Vodka!

"Toi La Who?" Short Film

2011-10-13T15:27:00.000-07:00

Producer David White from White Balance Pictures and Director Sally Tran asked me to be the DP for this short film shot in Wellington. I had worked with Sally on a music video for Hanna Grace, and she was keen for me to shoot this interesting story.

Sally's unique visual style again came through with this film. The art direction and costumes are bold and interesting. The performances and choreography are amazing. Having twelve children moving through set and all synchronized together was a pretty huge achievement. Best of all, the script was good, and the story compelling.

The film was funded by through Creative New Zealand's Independent Film Fund, and David also secured some great sponsorship deals. The script was very ambitious, but with such a strong and compelling story many suppliers and crew gave their time and equipment generously.

We shot in Wellington where myself and Steadicam Operator Alex McDonald were kindly accommodated in fantastic apartments by The Museum Hotel. We had two days filming on location, and the rest of the shoot took place on set in a studio kindly provided by Camperdown Studios and Jamie Selkirk.

We shot on Red MX cameras provided by Rubber Monkey. The bulk of the shoot was shot with two cameras, as we were on a very tight schedule working with a lot of young children.

Matt Hearte was my Gaffer, and we worked with a small lighting package also provided by Rubber Monkey and Portsmouth. Working closely with Rubber Monkey was fantastic. They supplied me with a great camera and lighting package, a Panther dolly, and viewing the days rushes in their comfortable screening room was excellent.

The Wellington Camera Assistants and Grips also gave their time generously and I was lucky enough to work with a great roster of locals... we even managed to pull Claude Dasan out of retirement!

Without giving the story away, there are two distinct looks throughout the film. I achieved these different looks with on camera filtration, and lighting cues. This was all tied together nicely in the grade and visual effects by Miquel Ubeda.

This is just a small montage of shots from the completed film, please be sure to keep an eye out for it at a festival near you soon.

Annah Mac 'Celia'

2011-09-09T16:39:00.000-07:00

Sony Music recently asked Director Darren Simmonds and myself to make a music promo for Annah Mac.

Darren wanted to keep the video looking fresh and vibrant, with a fun hand held feel. He wanted a quirky look with a lot of lens flairs, and a bit of a retro feel.

I decided to achieve this by using my Nikon lenses, shooting on my Sony EX3 with Letus lens adaptor and recording at a high bit rate to my NanoFlash.

I used Spencer Locke-Bonney as my Gaffer and the lighting setups were pretty straight forward. I lit Annah with beautiful soft light, and used every trick I had to flair out the lens!
My assistant Oliver Cross shot the band on the bicycle and playground shots with my Canon 5D Mark II, and also took these behind the scenes shots.

Edited by Paul Wedel in Wellington, graded by Andrew at ToyBox. Paul synced all of the clips using PluralEyes. It was a real time saver on set to not have to film a timecode reference each take.
Channel Four came along and made a small Behind the Scenes piece. The clip and Annah's album were just released this week, and already it's receiving very positive reviews.

Annah and the band were great to work with. It was another fun shoot in Auckland and I am proud of the look that we achieved on a very limited budget.

RWC: Irelend Blue Screen Pickups

2011-09-06T15:15:00.000-07:00

Chris Kirkham from NZ Greenroom Productions asked me to film some blue screen pickups for ITV's coverage of the Rugby World Cup.

Very basic stuff, but it was fun getting to meet the players Tony Buckley and Shane Jennings and getting involved with the Cup.

Max Catterick from Local Action came along with a lighting truck, and we set up a 20x20 blue screen in a local hotel. I used kino flows to light the screen and the players. They were the perfect choice to keep the heat down and for their low profile in the small space. I also needed the soft output to match the original shots taken in the UK. The only room available was very small. and I had to get my calculations right to fit in Tony Buckley... all 6' 5" and 135KG's of him!

I shot full HD 422 50i on my PDW-700 XDCAM HD, and the disc was couriered to Auckland to be down converted to HDCAM for the ITV crew... looking forward to seeing the final result when Ireland kick off on the 11th!

Young Lyre 'Cinema Smile'

2011-08-23T15:50:00.000-07:00

Tanya Cathro from Fatboy Media Group asked me to DP this music video for Auckland based band Young Lyre.

Jordan Dodson was the Director. It was our first shoot together, and it came together nicely. Jordan wanted to capture the energy of the band hanging out together and having fun. I really liked his concept of a night shoot with the band, a bonfire and the fireworks. It felt natural, and fun to film and watch. The fireworks were great to shoot, and blowing up the tent reminded me of being back at Film School!

I had my choice of camera on this shoot, and I thought it would be a great test for the new Sony F3. I sourced the camera package from Gavin Stroud. The package consisted of the camera, a set of Zeiss CP2 primes and a NanoFlash. It was my first time shooting with the F3, and after a quick test I settled on a Cine Gamma Profile and decided to record at a very high bitrate to the NanoFlash (bypassing the cameras internal compression). I shot the whole video handheld, and although the camera was nice and light the ergonomics are terrible! It is not a shoulder friendly camera at all. I decided to pull my own focus for aesthetic reasons, and because we were moving very quickly in the dark, and shooting pretty much wide open. Despite all of the camera's design shortcomings, the image it produces in low light is quite remarkable. I lit by eye, left the meter in the case and was referring to my Sony PVM-740 HD Monitor to confirm my decisions - the camera was literally seeing into the dark!

Spencer Locke-Bonney was again my Auckland Gaffer of choice, and I kept the lighting very clean and simple, with just a few units coming out of his truck and using the bonfire and fireworks as one of my primary lighting sources. For the reflection shot of the fireworks in the window with the girl in the car I lit the girl with some subtle 'moon' light, and set off a small firework to fill in the shadows on her face and capture the reflection in the eyes. The firework reflection was augmented in post.

Everyone on the band and the crew was great to work with, and for me it was another really satisfying music video shoot.

Hanna Grace 'Red Lips'

2011-05-04T16:46:00.000-07:00

I was on an Air New Zealand flight recently, and as we were boarding this clip was playing. The boys around me were all staring at the screen, the flight attendant commented 'If only you would pay that much attention to the safety video!' The irony was that as the DP I was responsible for the images!

Produced by Fish n Clips, the video was Directed by Sally Tran. This was our first project together. After this video we went on to shoot a short film called "Toi La Who" in Wellington. The film is not out yet, but it again showcases Sally's unique visual style.

We shot the Red Lips video in Auckland on location in one day. We used a Red One camera from Metro Film, and I was lucky enough to have Alex McDonald as my Steadicam Operator.

Spencer Locke-Bonney was my Gaffer and we made full use out of his fantastic combo truck. The art department and wardrobe were also instrumental in the look that we achieved, along with Sally's great choreography.

I find having a decent digital stills camera on set really helps me with my exposures. I have pretty much replaced my spot meter with a Canon 5D2, and a Zeiss 50mm prime. I am now setting the exposure using a combination of incident meter, stills camera, HD monitors, waveforms and histograms.

For this video I went with classic beauty lighting. Using big soft sources inside and a lot of daylight control outdoors. I used a little diffusion on the lens, and the grading was done at ToyBox.