One of the longest surviving classical languages in the world, Tamil has more than two thousand years of written history. Launched in 2019, Houston Tamil Sangam’s Thirukkural competition brings together teams who compete by demonstrating their knowledge of the Thirukkural, one of the most celebrated works of Tamil literature, comprised of 1,330 verses.
To capture the event, volunteer videographer Senthil Kumar Kulandaivelayutham built a multicamera production workflow backed by Blackmagic Design. The Blackmagic Studio Camera 6K Pro was positioned to capture the main stage and recorded directly to an external hard drive in Blackmagic RAW. The Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K G2 was used throughout the venue to capture B roll footage and close ups. Both cameras fed into the ATEM Mini Pro alongside a third camera feed.
I am passionate about making professional tools accessible to young minds and showing what is possible through real world examples,” Kulandaivelayutham began. “My goal with this production was to elevate beyond a single camera setup and to prove that professional grade tools are practical and manageable, even for a small volunteer team. We achieved that goal with Blackmagic Design, and the picture quality was a clear step up from any previous attempts.
It was great to see how quickly everyone picked up the workflow,” Kulandaivelayutham noted. “One of the volunteers helping me was even a high school student who was in charge of the ATEM switching. I barely had to explain anything. The intuitive controls really made a difference.
Kulandaivelayutham credited his previous experience with the Blackmagic Camera app for helping him become comfortable before moving to the Blackmagic Studio Camera models.
My familiarity with the free Blackmagic Camera app introduced me to things like focus peaking, which is not available in standard phone camera apps,” he said. “Because I already understood how to use it, I was immediately comfortable applying it on both Blackmagic cameras during the event.
Kulandaivelayutham continued, “My favorite feature of the Micro Studio Camera 4K G2 was absolutely its compact form factor, which meant that I did not need a large rig, making it ideal for capturing B roll footage throughout the event. What impressed me even more was how well it achieved accurate focus despite its small lens.”
Kulandaivelayutham also credits the Blackmagic Studio Camera 6K Pro’s ease of use for making it easy to operate for volunteers who had limited camera experience.
The built in screen with the sun shade was a game changer,” said Kulandaivelayutham. “There was no guesswork because you could clearly see exactly what the camera was capturing at all times. I set the focus peaking to red highlights and simply told volunteers to make sure the red lines stayed on the main subject. The large, intuitive screen made that possible.
The ability to record directly to an external drive also proved valuable during the fast-paced event.
Being able to connect a drive and immediately start recording, without hunting for a memory card, was incredibly convenient,” Kulandaivelayutham explained. “There was a moment during the event when I was not fully prepared to record. Recording in Blackmagic RAW gave me a significantly greater dynamic range compared to any other camera format I have worked with.
After the event, Kulandaivelayutham backed up the footage and began preparing it in DaVinci Resolve.
I was introduced to DaVinci Resolve because it is free,” he said. “But what surprised me was how much capability is packed into the free version; it is genuinely mind blowing. The learning curve was minimal thanks to the wealth of content available on the DaVinci Resolve training website.
Until this year, we simply did not have the resources to properly capture and record an event of this scale,” Kulandaivelayutham added. “Organizing the competition takes so much effort and manpower that recording it became secondary. I wanted to make this year’s event special so that people who could not attend would still be able to understand and appreciate what we do, while also inspiring more participation in the future. Blackmagic Design helped me achieve just that.
Kulandaivelayutham regularly uses DaVinci Resolve in his volunteer and professional work, including Houston Tamil Schools, where he introduces students and volunteers to creative technology.
The most daunting task about video work for me has always been editing,” concluded Kulandaivelayutham. “When I tried the Speed Editor, I was blown away by how easy it is to navigate and perform cuts and edits. Stage programs in particular have lots of pauses, and I used to rely on keyboard shortcuts to handle them, but it was still slow. With the Speed Editor, the search wheel is butter smooth. The cherry on top is DaVinci Resolve Studio, which lets me pull the transcript and cut the silences automatically. I cannot express how much I wish I’d incorporated this sooner.
Product photos of ATEM Mini Pro, Blackmagic Studio Camera 6K Pro, Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K G2, Blackmagic Camera, DaVinci Resolve, DaVinci Resolve Studio, and DaVinci Resolve Speed Editor are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/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.
News submitted by: Grace McInnis
