By Ferdinand Ekechukwu
Canon has unveiled its new cinema EOS Camera range. The unveiling was done last Tuesday to an exclusive media audience virtually. The latest model in Canon’s Cinema EOS Camera range features Canon’s newly developed Super 35mm 4K CMOS sensor and comes with 16+ stops of dynamic range, professional codecs in a compact, modular body. Alongside the unveiling, Canon Central and North Africa (CCNA) launched a knowledge-sharing initiative for the African filmmaking community called ‘Canon Tech Talk Series’, during a webinar which discussed filmmaking to support aspiring and established filmmakers in the Africa market.
The opening session explored the features of the Canon C500 Mark II, where the filmmakers shared their experience with the camera during their recent high-profile productions, which were fortunately concluded just prior to the coronavirus outbreak. The new initiative will extend for three months over 42 pro-video webinars for the film market in Africa and will be conducted in various languages including English, French and Arabic with the aim of reaching a larger audience.
The first webinar featured Canon’s Sales and Marketing Director for Canon Central and North Africa (CCNA), Amine Djouhara, alongside leading African filmmaking practitioners including Hamoudi Laggoune, Kunle Afolayan and Algerian Merzak Allouache. They hailed the EOS C500 Mark II for elevating their latest productions. Speaking at the unveiling, Afolayan who has used the new camera to shoot his upcoming film, ‘Citation’ said before his collaboration with Canon, he had acquired the A50, Mac 1, 2 and 3 which he still uses until now.
“A lot of the documentaries we have done, we shot with these cameras. There are some elements I see in Canon; I wanted a camera that is not heavy. I reached out to Canon and they agreed on the collaboration to shot ‘Mokalik’ my last film with their cameras” he explained. After using the new EOS C500 Mark II to shoot his gritty, hard-hitting movie, ‘Citation’, he bares testimony. “I first saw the Canon EOS C500 Mark II at IBC 2019 and I was amazed at its capabilities”.
The Nigerian actor, producer and director, added: “Normally it’s not a director’s place to tell a director of photography (DOP) what kit to use, but I always wanted to shoot in 4K full-frame, and I knew that this camera would make it to the Netflix approved list, which was vital for this production.”
Algerian cinematographer, Hamoudi Laggoune worked alongside legendary 86-year-old Merzak Allouache on a new cinematographic masterpiece ‘Une Famille’, which plunges the audience deep into an intensely real political and family drama.
“The film benefited from the technology provided by Canon. The production team was provided with a Canon EOS C500 Mark II camera and a range of Cine Lenses and accessories so that the film could be shot entirely in 5.9K at 24 fps. The EOS 5D Mark IV and EOSR were also used throughout, to shoot the film and to photograph the behind-the-scenes footage. The camera provides complete flexibility and freedom to choose the image formats, bokeh effects and lenses that are best suited to the filming conditions,” Hamoudi Laggoune added.
