Cinematography in Canada Since 1957

@martinbuzora #AssociateMemberCSC #martinbuzora

I first arrived in East Africa in 2013 during the peak of the poaching crisis, to direct my documentary series “Kenya Wildlife Diaries”.

One of my earliest memories is visiting Budapest Zoo in a stroller in the mid-1980s and witnessing an orangutan pacing back and forth under what I later learned was a severe case of zoochosis. Before I could speak, I understood there was something deeply broken in our relationship with other animals. This moment marked the beginning of my lifelong effort to protect wild things, and filmmaking is the most effective tool I found to bring the realities of wildlife conservation to a wider audience.

I took these images over the last decade and a half while working on documentaries in Africa.

It is difficult to describe the duality of documenting wildlife conservation; some of the darkest moments of my career have occurred alongside the most beautiful things I have ever seen. This dichotomy of darkness and light has shaped my psyche over the years, as well as my perspective on the world.

I want my documentary work to honour the rangers on the front lines, who put their own safety at risk through long days and dark nights while the rest of the world goes about its business. If our children are to see elephants and rhinos in the wild, it will surely be because of their efforts.

The first images depict members of the Kenya Wildlife Service, a specialized “wildlife police” force tasked with combating wildlife crime and collecting animal remains to keep them out of illegal markets.

The group photo at night is a portrait of my friends in Northern Kenya’s elite 9-1 anti-poaching team, made up of members of different tribes, many of whom have been historical enemies now working together to protect their shared wildlife heritage.

The single portrait is of a ranger named Nanyuki: a notorious ex-poacher who has dedicated his life to protecting wildlife.

I genuinely believe humanity owes a debt to these people that can never be paid, and I want these images to honour their sacrifice.

@martinbuzora #AssociateMemberCSC #MartinBuzora

Screenshots from a feature thriller I had the good fortune to D.P. with the wonderful @thisisnataliebrown. Working with Natalie felt like going to the movies every time I looked at the monitor. Always present and effortlessly precise, any time she was in frame she turned coverage into cinema and was my daily reminder that I have the best job in the world.

I became a cinematographer filming thrillers and metal videos, so darkness has always been my natural habitat. Getting to work with a brooding palette like this with a cast operating at that level felt less like a job and more like I found a cheat code to life. Huge thank you to @christopher_giroux for asking me to shoot this.

Grateful to Key Grip @vitalson_n for his effortless prowess and a heartfelt thanks to my Gaffer @terror.vsn for being my trusted visual aid throughout the shoot.

Film: A WIDOW SEDUCED (Amazon Prime Video)

Production Company: @vortexmediainc
Producer: @christopher_giroux
Producer: @jesseikeman
Line Producer: @papachills
Production Manager: @aligoldthorpe

Director: @movibill1951
Writer: @jesslandry28
Director of Photography: @martinbuzora
A Cam: @alx.han
B Cam: @thektgg
C Cam: @guevarafilms
1st Assistant Camera: @maxlitzgus
1st Assistant Camera: @royzhengfilm
2nd Assistant Camera: Dongjie Lai
Key Grip: @vitalson_n
Gaffer: @terror.vsn
Best Grip: @cameron.william.macdonald
Best Grip: @preston.whitfield_film
Best Electric: @alexmallon_
Production Sound: @jcutproductionsound

#nataliebrown #amazonprime thriller canadiancinema

@adammadrzyk #adammadrzyk #AssociateMemberCSC

Shooting on Film!

Today I’ll be breaking down two projects: Eddie Benjamin’s “Driving” shot on 35mm for director @adrian.villagomez, and Movember’s “More Than Enough,” shot on S16mm for director @alexandersworik.

Both were an absolute thrill to be a part of.

“Driving” was shot 4-perf on the Arricam LT in the hot Malibu sun. We had about 7 rolls of 35mm, which felt like plenty - however, there were a number of sequences we wanted to shoot off-speed, which would have chewed through a lot of our stock. We also wanted to do a few underwater shots using housing I could operate myself, without needing a dedicated underwater operator. With that in mind, we brought in a Sony FX3 rig for these “specialty shots,” which we would then grade to match the 35mm.

Since most of the project was shot on film, our amazing colourist and close collaborator @clintonhomuth was able to use our 35mm footage as a reference for what the FX3 should look like. To my surprise, they both cut together incredibly seamlessly - to the extent that I couldn’t even tell which shots were which.

I’d done a similar process before on a project where we couldn’t afford to shoot on 35mm. I shot a single reference frame on 35mm just before each setup and graded the digital footage to match. It worked quite well.

For Movember, Alex and I knew we wanted to shoot on S16mm, but the budget was tight. When we did the math, we realized that shooting on S16mm meant we couldn’t afford a 1st AC. I know that seems a bit counter intuitive, but we both felt the story would really benefit from it, so we went for it and I’m glad we did. 

I handled camera prep, loaded my own film and pulled my own focus. It brought me back to my film school days and reminded us both why we got into this industry in the first place: to tell great stories visually, with friends, for the love of the art.

My process with shooting on film: I rarely shoot with an 85 filter, and didn’t use one on either of these projects. On “Driving,” I pushed our night scenes by 1 stop to increase saturation/contrast and overexposed our day scenes above 1 stop for a low-contrast look with lots of density.

@adammadrzyk #adammadrzyk #AssociateMemberCSC

Today’s recap is music videos!

I’ve shot a fair bit of music videos, and feel like they’ve been coming back a bit.

In 2024, director @jonahaber and I we were fortunate enough to have our video for “Nasty” for artist @tinashenow nominated for an MTV VMA - under the “best trending video” category with @bt.studios.

Growing up watching the awards on TV, it felt surreal to see our video amongst some of the biggest videos of the year - but it feels even more special with a long time friend and collaborator.

We shot two music videos back to back in one weekend. One for “Nasty” and the other from “Getting No Sleep” - which I wanted to share a few moments from.

Shot on FLIR thermal camera + Alexa 35 w/ Cooke Speed Panchros.

1-10. “Nasty” music video frames.
11. Steadicam digital > thermal camera > back to digital (with selective frame by frame rotoscoping).
12. Digital > wipe transition to full thermal.
13. Flash thermal cuts > Body double used as Tinashe’s twin > thermal intercut.
14. More thermal intercuts.
15. Frame grab (Alexa 35).
16. Frame grab (Flir Thermal Camera).
17. Frame grab (Alexa 35).
18. BTS - camera prep testing out the side by side Alexa + FLIR thermal rig.
19. BTS - shooting Alexa 35/thermal simultaneously.
20. “Nasty” BTS video.

Had a blast shooting these two videos. “Getting No Sleep” was surely a technical challenge, experimenting with thermal imaging through a side by side dual cam steadicam setup where we ultimately shot simultaneously on the FLIR system and an Alexa 35.

#cinematographer #musicvideo #thermalcamera alexa35 cookepanchro flir flircamera