Capturing the Soul of Sundance's "Come See Me in the Good Light" with Canon

This is part of our exclusive Sundance interview series, where we sit down with filmmakers to explore how they use technology to bring their creative visions to life.

PH: What key features made you choose Canon cameras for your project, and how did they enhance your storytelling?

Brandon Somerhalder: I chose Canon primarily for its reliability as a documentary camera - with this being a verite shoot, we never knew when the moments that would make the film would happen, but I needed a camera that could sustain the long hours, that I knew wouldn’t shut off in an emotional moment. 

PH: Can you describe the most challenging scene to shoot and how your gear setup helped you achieve it?

Brandon Somerhalder: The most challenging scene to shoot was definitely a live show in which our subject Andrea performs to a crowd of 2,000 in downtown Denver. We’d established a very intimate style up to that point and I wanted to make sure we didn’t lose that aesthetic with the scale of the theater - that it didn’t feel like an objective multi-cam live taping or something similar. We had the Canon C500 Mark II and C70, as well as a slew of Sony cams perched throughout the theater embedded in the crowd to make sure we felt the intimacy of Andrea’s performance as well as the reaction by the crowd. I also was operating about six hours straight from before the show, through and after, so having a nimble rig that I could operate onstage with Andrea and carry extra cards and batteries on me was vital to make sure I was there for the best moments.

PH: How do you decide what equipment makes it into your gear kit when working on a tight budget?

Brandon Somerhalder: Being primarily a doc cinematographer, I always try to balance the highest quality gear with the logistical needs of long, rugged doc shoots. The camera sensors these days are so phenomenal in terms of dynamic range that for me story always takes priority over a particular camera or lenses. Of course, the subtle changes in better quality gear make a difference to the end product, but on a verite film, if I can shoot 15 days on the best gear in the world or 40 days on the gear I own or can wrangle from friends, I’ll always choose more days.

PH: Were there any unexpected benefits of using Canon products during the production process?

Brandon Somerhalder: I was very impressed with the internal stabilization on the C500 Mark II and used it whenever we jumped in a car. Also it wasn’t unexpected but the dual card slots and onboard audio were vital for this shoot.

PH: What advice do you have for emerging cinematographers looking to build their first essential gear kit?

Brandon Somerhalder: The first real camera I owned and filmed things on was the Canon t2i, and subsequently bought a 6D - and I feel like I owe so much to just having a camera to play around with. I learned so much from bringing those cameras on trips with friends, filming shenanigans, renting lenses for a day to see how they felt. It’s always hard trying to know what to buy and what suits you - my kit is so specific to how I like to shoot and hold and work with the camera, and that only develops from experience, days and days of shooting to decide what works best. The best advice I can give is to buy one camera and one lens and start. You can always buy more, but get that camera in your hands.