Fremont, CA – August 4th, 2022 –Blackmagic Design today announced that Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K digital film camera was used as the main camera for the new horror short film “Rachel.” The shark attack film, which was shot in black and white on a micro budget during Covid restrictions, was chosen from more than 900 entries for the Festi-Short du Printemps Anglophone film festival and is currently being developed into a full length feature film.
Created by Filmmakers Glenn Cutler and David Kotkin, “Rachel” tells the story of a man working towards sobriety and taking revenge on the shark that ruined his life. The film was created using mostly practical effects, with Cutler doing double duty as the film’s main character, and with a large part of the film taking place on a small inflatable raft floating on a lake.
Kotkin, a former high school arts teacher, inventor and now filmmaker, worked with creative partner Cutler as a two man crew, which included both of them learning DaVinci Resolve editing, color grading, visual effects (VFX) and audio post production software.
“One of the beliefs we both have as filmmakers is to take any weaknesses we have and turn them into strengths. For us, we had no skilled professionals helping when making the movie. Although this seems like a disadvantage to wear so many hats, it ended up being an advantage for us because it forced us to learn and always be thinking about ways to do things better and faster. The Pocket camera is so powerful and affordable that we could practice and then go for every type of shot,” said Cutler.
The two had originally paid for a crew to shoot with an expensive rented camera but did not feel that the initial footage from the camera matched their vision for the story. Within a week, Cutler and Kotkin had gone through a large part of their entire budget.