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Cinematographer Si Bell Pushes the Gangster Series into Darker Territory

The saga of a criminal gang family in Birmingham, England, between the two World Wars has moved into darker political territory in Season 5, but Peaky Blinders keeps its stylish assault on the senses unabated.

Continuity with a twist was the creative touchstone for Cinematographer Si Bell, who picked up series photography from the template laid down by George Steel and preserved by DPs Laurie Rose, Cathal Watters, and Simon Dennis. “I’ve worked with (director) Anthony Byrne a number of times before and we knew we wanted to do justice to the ‘Peaky look,’ such as using shafts of light and darkness set by George (Steel) in Season 1,” Bell says. “The big thing creatively that we wanted to do was a lot of developing shots with minimal coverage to tell the story.

“I was blown away by how good the MONSTRO looked”


“It’s a big deal to change spherical to anamorphic,” Bell adds. “I went through a crazy amount of lens tests in prep. The look was important, but also we needed to know we could deliver these developing shots.”



Tests with an array of different manufacturer’s glass mounted on the RED DSMC2 confirmed that a Cooke 65mm macro would enable Bell to capture both extreme close-ups and wide angles in a single moving shot. He complemented this with a set of Cooke primes and Angénieux lenses for contra zooms and slow-motion shots.

“I am amazed by how far I can push the ISO on the MONSTRO 8K VV sensor and how well it holds up. It’s really impressive to me how clean the image is in very low light conditions. The colour depth of skin tones are also really mind blowing, the MONSTRO is the best sensor on the market.” - Si Bell, Cinematographer for Peaky Blinders

“We found that if we shot 4K at 1:1 aspect ratio, we could use the maximum amount of the image circle of the lens. If we shot the full height of the sensor this allowed us to get a square anamorphic picture from the sensor (de-squeezed to 2:1 aspect ratio for delivery).” The developing shots choreographed around the actors for this series are a fittingly bravura flourish for a show abounding with style.

MONSTRO gives cinematographers clean and natural imagery with exceptional depth of field control. Featuring an incredible 17+ stops of dynamic range, it delivers increased highlight retention and color contrast. And when it comes to low-light performance it outshines the competition with lower noise and fine shadow detail. All of which, unlock unrivaled creative options and the flexibility that every creator dreams of.

The MONSTRO 8K VV sensor is available in both the modular DSMC2 and all-in-one RANGER camera systems.

DSMC2

MONSTRO 8K VV

  • 35.4 Megapixel CMOS Sensor
  • 40.96 mm x 21.60 mm (Diag: 46.31 mm)
  • 60 fps at 8K Full Format (8192 × 4320)
  • 75 fps at 8K 2.4:1 (8192 × 3456)
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RANGER

MONSTRO 8K VV

  • 35.4 Megapixel CMOS Sensor
  • 40.96 mm x 21.60 mm (Diag: 46.31 mm)
  • 60 fps at 8K Full Format (8192 × 4320)
  • 75 fps at 8K 2.4:1 (8192 × 3456)
Shop Now

2013 | TV-MA | 5 Seasons | Award-Winning TV Shows

A notorious gang in 1919 Birmingham, England, is led by the fierce Tommy Shelby, a crime boss set on moving up in the world no matter the cost.

Starring:Cillian Murphy, Sam Neill, Helen McCrory
Creators: Steven Knight

Watch PEAKY BLINDERS