Scott Cunningham, ASC, and the Sony VENICE 2 Make Simple Look Big Budget for "JUMP" by BLACKPINK

Filmmaker Interview: How Cunningham Developed the Look of JUMP for BLACKPINK

Filmed over four days, JUMP was captured on sets with green and blue screen, and in the streets of South Korea. However, before Meyers and Cunningham came to set, the duo meticulously planned every sequence.

"I study every artist that I work with. I look at their previous work and try to figure out how they seem to like to be lit. What looks best for them?" Cunningham said. "I'll look at still photos, look at magazine covers, and try to get a general idea of where that artist is in their visual preferences. Then I take that through my own filter and figure out how I want to approach that."

BLACKPINK is a girl group comprising four members: Lisa, Jisoo, Jennie, and Rosé. While the group exists as a single musical force, each member stands out as an individual artist, posing a unique challenge for Cunningham. 

"You've got four different artists that may have different aesthetic preferences, some may want to be lit from the right side, or somebody may want to be lit from the left side," Cunningham explained. "There is a bit of a balancing act that we have to figure out in how to help them look their best or the way that they like to look."

But it is the music video as a whole that unites these four artists. With a wealth of experience behind them, Meyers and Cunningham work like a well-oiled machine, sharing concepts, ideas, and inspiration to bring fresh ideas to the table. 

"Dave is obviously a creative genius and brings so many ideas and concepts, that a lot of what I'm doing is reacting to what he brings to the table," Cunningham said. "I'm also trying to find some other inspiration where the music may inspire me, or the artist inspires me to try something different, or just even a line out of his treatment. One sentence or one word may spark an idea that I want to then research and share with Dave."

"His stuff tends to be very technically driven. There are a lot of gags, a lot of stunts, a lot of visual effects. So, my responsibility is to figure out how to do it so he can stay in the creative space, then I can dive into the technical space.”

There's a constant back and forth between the two creatives. A constant dialogue that allows them to refine their creative choices and make sure the mood and tone of the piece are spot on. Every project aims to elevate the music through the visual medium, making it distinct from what the duo has done before, while still being interesting to the audience and fans. 

"I was really fascinated by shooting in South Korea. There were locations and a visual palette that I don't get a chance to shoot very often," Cunningham said. "The blue screen work is always a fun challenge in how to keep it real but keep it interesting, knowing that we're not working with a giant studio budget."

"So, we have to create studio-style looks on a tighter budget and tighter timetable. But on this particular BLACKPINK music video, I really wanted to feel South Korea and understand the cultural idea of the life that they live, or what that environment did for me.”

Filmmaker Interview: Why Cunningham Chose the VENICE 2 to Capture JUMP by BLACKPINK

With only four days to shoot the music video and countless ideas from Meyers to translate into something that he could capture, Cunningham needed a camera that would be versatile in the field and provide a format large enough to capture all they had planned.

"The reason I shot with the VENICE 2 on this project was, for me, it's the most flexible of the camera options that are out there right now," Cunningham said. "I can shoot large format and get 8.6K resolution.”

"We shot with the Leitz HUGO lenses, which are a large format lens, for our prime work. For our zoom work, we were shooting Angénieux zoom lenses, which don't cover full frame. But on the VENICE 2, there's plenty of resolution if I go into a standard Super 35 mode," Cunningham added. "So, I can shoot that camera on large format and quickly swap over to Super 35, and I still have plenty of resolution to give post-production choices and give editorial choices.”

Due to the speed of the production, there may be times when Cunningham won't be able to get all the compositions he needs. With the resolution of the VENICE 2, the cinematographer can provide choices for the director in the editing bay without slowing down production. 

"The video shoots so quickly that sometimes later on in the edit, the director may decide on something a little tighter," Cunningham said. "If we only got a medium and never got as close as we wanted to, with the VENICE 2, I know that Dave can punch in and grab a tighter shot because we still have the resolution.”

However, even if a director asks Cunningham to pivot on set, the VENICE 2 allows him to adapt on the fly, offering more creative options. 

"The higher ISO of the VENICE 2 is one of the other options that I feel comfortable with," Cunningham said. "If the director wants to go 72fps, then my answer can always be yes, even if I wasn't necessarily prepared for it ahead of time."

"It's really the overall feature set that the VENICE 2 gives me," Cunningham continued. "From the large format, standard format, smaller form factor, higher ISO, and built-in NDs, it's just so much faster on set, and I can deal with any surprises."

This support is evident in various sequences throughout the music video. In some cases, where a specialty rig might be needed for a camera movement, Cunningham found that he could lean on the resolution to craft digital camera movements. 

"One of the advantages of the VENICE 2, with its high resolution, was for any of the shots that had the camera tilting back, left, and right. It was all a digital tilt," Cunningham said. I just created a frame line that was punched in to give me enough workaround room. So that way, the editor could tilt the camera perfectly."

"And then everything else was relatively low-fi. It was people getting dragged on wires or just literally leaning sideways and pretending that they were falling on the ground.”

Filmmaker Interview: When Lo-Fi makes Something look Big Budget

Cunningham's work is characterized by its powerful visuals and impactful camera movements. His compositions can feel big budget, even when the workflow is simple in its execution.

"My hope is to do it as simply as possible because it does feel more natural," Cunningham said. "My brain often goes to these large studio superhero movie concepts and then I need to deconstruct that and figure out how we can pull this off in just a couple of hours without all the added support that a big film might have."

With JUMP for BLACKPINK, that simplicity brought a city of dancers to life and let the group soar through the sky. 

As Cunningham moves on to the next hot single, learn more about the Sony VENICE 2 and the other cameras in the Sony Cinema Line by visiting our Camera Comparison Chart.