URSA CINE 12K LF USED TO CREATE VISUALS FOR STUTS’ K-ARENA CONCERT

  Organic visuals projected on a giant screen create a powerful chemical reaction in the live venue.

Manchester, United Kingdom - Friday, June 5, 2026 - The concert Odyssey, by trackmaker, music producer, and MPC player STUTS, was the largest live performance of his career to date and was held last September at K-Arena Yokohama. Numerous rappers and singers, whom STUTS has produced over the years, appeared as guest performers, making the show a major success. The visual presentation using the massive screen installed at the venue was also spectacular, as the music created by STUTS harmonized with the visuals and lighting, bringing the excitement of the audience to its peak.

The visual direction for the performance was handled by Spikey John, who has worked on many of STUTS’ music videos. This was his first time directing for a live concert. John created the visuals using the Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF digital film camera and DaVinci Resolve Studio. Cinematography was handled by Kaito Muranaka, and color grading was carried out by Seiya Uehara. Footage of the natural landscapes of Yakushima and Nagano, Tokyo street scenes, and past music videos were presented in sync with the music. In order to achieve the resolution and tonal range required for projection on a massive screen, the URSA Cine 12K LF was selected.

We spoke with John, Muranaka and Uehara about the production of the visuals for the giant screen.

WERE THERE ANY DETAILED REQUESTS FROM STUTS REGARDING THE VISUALS FOR THE SCREEN?

John: I’ve worked with STUTS many times before, so when it came to the visual direction for the screen, he simply said, “Please go with the usual feel,” and entrusted it entirely to me.

WHAT WERE YOUR IMPRESSIONS AFTER SHOOTING WITH THE URSA CINE 12K LF FOR THE FIRST TIME?

Muranaka: Shooting with the URSA Cine 12K LF felt like taking photographs with a medium format camera. Even when capturing ordinary scenery, it was exciting. I was able to maintain that excitement throughout the long term shoot. Because it’s a large format camera, the sense of atmosphere is incredible. It felt like projecting reality exactly as it is. The dynamic range is also very high, and the level of resolution was something I had never seen before. Since I wanted the audience to share the atmosphere of the filming journey just as we experienced it, the camera was a perfect match for that vision.

HOW WAS THE USABILITY OF THE CAMERA?

Muranaka: Because of the high resolution, focusing is very precise, but the zoom to focus feature made it easier. I filmed with a minimal setup without attaching rigs, and I didn’t even use an external monitor, relying only on the viewfinder on the side of the camera. Even with that, I felt it was enough to handle everything. Compared with previous Blackmagic Design cameras, the body design has evolved significantly. I also used the built in ND filters, and there was no color shift. Overall, I thought it was an excellent camera in every respect.

DID SHOOTING IN 12K RESOLUTION MAKE DATA HANDLING DIFFICULT?

Muranaka: Each day involved long shooting hours and a demanding schedule, but by using the Blackmagic Media Dock, we were able to back up the 12K footage quickly.

Uehara: In DaVinci Resolve Studio, I graded on a timeline set to the final output size, but Blackmagic RAW is very lightweight, so I was able to work without any stress.

WHAT ASPECTS DID YOU FOCUS ON WHEN CREATING THE COLOR GRADE?

Uehara: Much of the footage consisted of natural shots of the ocean and forests. At first I tried more punchy colors, but because these are landscapes people are used to seeing, even slightly unnatural colors can feel uncomfortable. The shots are relatively long and they’re shown on a huge screen, so any roughness in the color becomes immediately noticeable. I aimed for a natural tone so that the visuals would intertwine organically with STUTS’ music. Since the footage was shot in 12K, I felt the best direction was to convey the atmosphere of the locations as they were. If the footage had been shot with another camera, I might have added a bit more stylistic character.

Muranaka: The URSA Cine 12K LF is a camera that can produce beautiful images, even with very natural tones. With 12K, you might expect the high resolution to make the image feel overly sharp and have a video look, but in reality it’s almost too real to feel video.

In the set list, the song “99 Steps” featured the vocalist Hana Hope, who could not attend the concert that day. When the vocal part began, a close up of Hope appeared from the center of the giant screen with a wipe effect, which created a big reaction from the audience.

John: STUTS asked that this particular scene be shot more like a music video. From the impression of the song, I imagined Hana singing in a vast grassland with the sky close overhead. I wanted to surprise the audience, so I designed that kind of entrance. It had been raining until just before the shoot, but miraculously the sky cleared and the light came in perfectly, creating a mystical scene.

Muranaka: That was the only scene in which we filmed a person. The URSA Cine 12K LF also renders skin tones beautifully, and it’s a great camera for shooting people as well.

Uehara: In that scene, there were many brown plants, like pampas grass, growing in the field, and their color reflected onto the skin tones. I paid close attention to how to separate those colors. Also, the colors on the venue’s screen appeared different from the studio monitors, and skin tones tended to look very pink. I learned the characteristics of the screen during the rehearsal the day before, then went back to the studio and adjusted the colors. Since I couldn’t check the colors on the screen while grading, I relied entirely on my memory of the rehearsal, so I was nervous until I saw the result on the day of the performance.

SINCE THE GRADING WAS DONE FOR AN UNUSUAL ASPECT RATIO, HOW DID YOU APPROACH THE WORK?

Uehara: The aspect ratio was 6:1, so when displayed on a grading monitor, the image became extremely wide and thin. Sometimes I zoomed in on the monitor until it appeared closer to a 16:9 frame to work more comfortably. For this project, I zoomed into many parts of the image more than usual to make fine adjustments. It felt like retouching photos taken with a medium format camera. I was amazed that the image quality didn’t break down no matter how much I zoomed in.

LOOKING BACK ON THIS PROJECT, WHAT ARE YOUR REFLECTIONS?

Muranaka: It was the first time I had continuously shot so many real landscapes and also the first time my footage was shown on such a large screen. By repeatedly interacting with nature during filming, I felt that the images could express something beyond words.

Uehara: Ironically, reproducing natural colors as they are is the most difficult thing. It made me rethink my approach to color. On a small smartphone screen, punchy colors may have more impact, but the larger the screen becomes, the more powerful natural colors feel. I especially realized this when the visuals were combined with the music and lighting in the live venue.

John: Because processed images using filters have become so common, I think people are moved by visuals that present things just as they are.

PRESS PHOTOGRAPHY

Product photos of URSA Cine 12K LF, Blackmagic Media Dock, DaVinci Resolve Studio and all other Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/uk/media/images

ABOUT BLACKMAGIC DESIGN

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com/uk

