The brand new documentary “Unusual Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror”, from DP Warren Kommers, was shot with Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Digital camera 6K Professional and Blackmagic URSA Mini Professional 12K cameras.
The fiftieth anniversary of the cult traditional “The Rocky Horror Image Present” movie has been broadly talked about in latest weeks, and from household and pals gatherings created to see the movie and share that viewing expertise to interviews with the residing actors, it’s been onerous to flee the entire magic of the second. Now, we’ve some extra information about that magic and the way Blackmagic Design cameras had been used to shoot the brand new documentary “Unusual Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror”.
Blackmagic Design shared that “DP Warren Kommers shot the brand new documentary “Unusual Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror” with Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Digital camera 6K Professional and Blackmagic URSA Mini Professional 12K digital movie cameras” including that “counting on the Pocket Cinema Digital camera 6K Professional’s kind and picture high quality, Kommers created an efficient search for the documentary.”
The brand new movie chronicles the historical past of the cult traditional “The Rocky Horror Image Present,” from its beginnings as a stage play in London to its rise because the longest operating theatrical movie launch in historical past. Celebrating the story’s fiftieth anniversary, the documentary delves into creator Richard O’Brien via the private lens of Director Linus O’Brien, his son, and options most of the authentic solid together with Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick and Patricia Quinn, alongside commentary from Jack Black and Trixie Mattel.
When Kommers first joined the undertaking, he labored alongside Linus O’Brien to find out the search for the movie, deciding how they’d like to chop between interviews and archival footage throughout the previous 50 years, together with current day footage of Richard O’Brien and at present’s shadow casts.
Kommers detailed, “Linus wished to make use of an Interrotron format for the interviews, creating direct eye contact, whereas having comparatively deep background depth in every of our areas. It was our intention to distinction the rambunctious archival footage with constant framing, whereas additionally creating cohesion via lighting and colour.
“On documentaries, you by no means know what areas you’ll encounter, and choices will be restricted, so that you want versatile instruments from the beginning. For ‘Unusual Journey” this was particularly vital for sustaining the interviews’ constant framing and background depth, which required appreciable distance between our topics and the background. We determined to make use of a Pocket Cinema Digital camera 6K Professional as a result of its shallow ergonomics and compact nature gave us the perfect likelihood at reaching the depth we wished whatever the areas’ limitations. Its shallow kind issue allowed me to slip the primary interview angle proper as much as the wall, maximizing digicam to background distance, whereas delivering premium picture high quality. It was essential to us getting the shot in some situations, like after we had been capturing Susan Sarandon’s interview in a small loft in New York.”
For the remainder of his equipment, Kommers chosen an URSA Mini Professional 12K for his B digicam and a Blackmagic URSA Mini Professional 4.6K G2 digital movie digicam as his handheld verité digicam.
“We used the URSA Mini Professional 12K for a few of our interviews after we knew we had bigger areas properly upfront,” Kommers famous. “I knew the cameras would intercut completely as a result of they had been utilizing the identical lovely Technology 5 Shade Science. Moreover, it’s a extra conventional and acquainted digicam when working with a overseas crew; in a single case I remotely lit and framed the interview over Zoom.”
He added, “We used the URSA Mini Professional 4.6K G2 for verité footage due to its stellar low mild efficiency and conventional shoulder ergonomics. Whereas I’ll use an Easyrig, I nonetheless favor the hand-held conduct and perspective of getting the digicam on the shoulder. I discover there’s a tendency to cradle smaller, lighter, suspended cameras properly under the eyes of the topic if the digicam shouldn’t be on one’s shoulder. That’s not how we expertise most of our human interactions, particularly if you happen to’re conveying a extra goal reality, which is usually the case in documentary filmmaking. I additionally love having my eye on a viewfinder. It actually feels such as you’re sitting with the viewers in a darkish theatre in there. It’s the perfect place to watch.”
“So far as I can bear in mind, I’ve been drawn to the democratization of premium transferring photos. And that basically is Blackmagic Design,” Kommers concluded. “The story of ‘Rocky Horror’ is as pertinent now because it was 50 years in the past, and I’m so glad we have now these instruments to inform it.”
“Unusual Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror” premiered at SXSW Movie and TV Pageant 2025 and is presently in theaters. As a footnote to this data, we’ve added some extra movies and trailers and a video from Leisure Weekly, a latest interview with the celebrities of ‘The Rocky Horror Image Present’ — Tim Curry (Dr. Frank-N-Furter), Barry Bostwick (Brad Majors), Patricia Quinn (Magenta), and Nell Campbell (Columbia) as they reunite to rejoice the fiftieth anniversary of the cult traditional that ceaselessly modified midnight films. Collectively, they give the impression of being again on the wild early days of ‘Rocky Horror,’ from their surprising casting tales to the unforgettable chaos on set.
