Cristian Dimitrius: Taking the Amira Underwater
Emmy award-winner for wildlife cinematography, Cristian Dimitrius, has been commissioned by National Geographic, BBC, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, History Channel, and Globo TV to film various documentaries. His projects have brought him to different remote locations all around the globe filming endangered species.
He aspires to share the beauty of nature to his audiences, instill respect for, and value of earth’s natural resources.
Armed with the ARRI Amira, he goes underwater filming wild manatees in their natural habitat in Florida.
Dimitrius sought to capture images of how wild manatees behave in the shallow waters of Crystal River. These gentle creatures converge in the winter, giving him a great opportunity to capture their natural behavior in film – maybe some mother and cub interactions, swimming around, and any unexpected events that might happen when filming animals in the wild.
His goal was to have a very cinematic yet, much natural look as possible that can draw an emotional response from his audience. Since his subject is s bit larger than usual, albeit smaller for normal underwater standards, guaranteeing focus on the whole animal meant a shallow field depth will not be an option.
Dimitrius has used the ARRI Alexa in Brazil filming a natural history productions. He loves how the sensors work in the camera on land-based subjects and wanted to bring the experience in underwater filming and still retain the look and feel he desired. For this, he knew he needed the Alexa’s little sister, the ARRI Amira.
He chose the Amira not for the quality alone, but the securely sealed electronics that provide added protection against humidity and accidental drops that comes when working on boats on the water.
The Amira’s efficient cooling system makes it a good camera to place inside any underwater casing. He also thought that the Amira has the just the size and weight for the job.
He was very satisfied about the camera’s ergonomics, how it would be perfect for a small team or one-man operations. During land takes, it can be easily positioned on a tripod to accommodate low-angle shots.
While underwater and inside the housing, he can move the Amira around with great ease, only requiring assistance from one person when putting the camera into the water and back on the boat. This makes the Amira an efficient camera for wildlife documentaries as small teams are needed in this kind of environment.
shot with ARRI AMIRA
Need more information about the ARRI Amira? Aimimage is proud to offer this documentary style camera to hire. Just give us a call at 020 7391 265. We look forward to hearing from you.
Leave a Reply