Eden Creative is a multi ACS award-winning one stop TVC, video and audio production facility based in Sydney. With full in-house facilities, Eden Creative promotes complete end-to-end production and the best camera crews using the best high definition digital equipment.
Their latest acquisition was a new ARRI ALEXA XT Plus camera.
Eden Creative Media CEO Adam Eden explained, “The biggest factor in buying an ALEXA XT Plus was that my clients were constantly asking for it. I waited until ARRI had a one piece camera that could shoot RAW as I am very used to shooting RAW and then I was ready to buy.”
Eden considers his equipment purchases carefully as the quality of his work is one of his hallmarks.
He continued, “The ALEXA impressed me from the word go. The picture right out of the box is fantastic and the dynamic range is unbelievable, better than film in my opinion. Also the ability to have removable internal ND filters is great, especially not having to worry about IR pollution anymore. In my opinion the ALEXA XT is definitely the best camera on the market right now.”
In a production landscape where there is often fierce and intense competition Eden was particularly keen on buying a camera that would give him an edge. He considers the ALEXA to be that camera.
Eden added, “The ALEXA gives me the ability to have ‘what you see is what you get’ from the field to the colour grade. Most other cameras look totally different in the grading suite compared to what you see in the viewfinder. I can absolutely trust the image and exposure I am getting from the viewfinder on the ALEXA and it is great to have a camera that is matched to a standard light meter. If I put up a grey scale card and measure the exposure on my Seikonic light meter, it totally matches up in the edit suite and I find I am only making minor adjustments in the grade. That is a big plus.”
Eden generally posts about 90% of what he shoots himself as Eden Creative Media is a company with extensive post facilities including a full sized Da Vinci Resolve suite and large Da Vinci panel.
Eden continued, “I like the flexibility of RAW and especially having the full codex option. On the VFS I choose ARRI Raw and also ProRes. Its great to have the 2880×1620 sized ProRes in log option because the straight ProRes on board is only HD or 2K. I recently bought an Odyssey 7 so I can have my ProRes HD in realtime and also with a baked-in REC709 look. It does save a lot of time by shooting this way and the Odyssey is also a great field monitor.”
Eden cuts the footage he shoots on Avid Symphony by linking via AMA to HD ProRes files and then conforms and finishes back from the .ARI files on his Da Vinci. He then backs up all of his master footage files onto LTO-6.
Discussing how he uses his ALEXA to the best of its capabilities Eden continued, “I mainly shoot retail TV commercials and they always have a tight deadline in post. I have my own TV studio so the ALEXA is great for a fast, quick setup. We shoot a lot of green screen and the ALEXA keys perfectly. We also shoot a lot onsite at people’s houses, where the ALEXA’s high dynamic range makes it a great choice as I haven’t pulled out an 18k HMI since I bought it. Usually a 6k HMI is more than enough light as the ALEXA at 800EI is great. Typically when shooting outside I am winding down the EI so I don’t need as much ND and it is great that I can change the EI later if needs be when shooting RAW. I also shoot a lot of product shots, car shots, talking heads, green screen and comping. I do like to shoot 50fps for overlay shots when shooting testimonial style TV commercials. In truth whatever I shoot the ALEXA always delivers beautifully.”
For a company like Eden Creative Media the work and their production schedules are always fast and there is a big necessity to be efficient and effective. Something not lost on Adam Eden when he chose ARRI Australia as his equipment supplier. He concluded, “Stefan, Mel and Rey are great. The after sales support I am getting from Mel and Rey is excellent, I had a couple of teething problems initially that were sorted out over the phone easily. You can’t get any better service and support than these guys give.”
For more information on Eden Creative Media go to: www.edencreative.com.au