Mexico. With a portfolio of world-renowned properties, real estate developer Thor Urbana Capital is renowned for transforming spaces into amazing tourist destinations with its unique designs. The launch of his latest project, the 'Calle Corazón' shopping complex in Mexico, is no exception. The retail superstructure, which rises amid the frenetic energy of downtown Playa del Carmen, was designed by leading firms Seijo Peón Arquitectura & AS Arquitectura, and occupies 105 meters from Fifth Avenue, attracting nearly 30,000 visitors a day to its restaurants and high-end stores.
Adding to the atmosphere of Heart Street, the new Thompson boutique hotel is located above the shopping complex. Designed by Niz Chauvet, the rooftop hotel features a 3,000-square-meter recreation park with swimming pool, luxury cabanas, restaurants and a spectacular panoramic view of the Caribbean.
Both places are connected and combine traditional Mexican aesthetics with forward-looking architecture — the distinctive style with which both groups of architects are known — to transform downtown Playa del Carmen into a totally cool urban destination. The two new structures also symbolize the changing tide of Mexican tourism and respond to the growing demand for world-class lifestyle accommodation, innovative and offering more than just a room and a few extras. These are iconoclastic spaces designed to offer an exclusive experience.
Capturing the energy and charm of Heart Street and the Thomson Hotel required more than just a regular brochure and a few photos on TripAdvisor. The promoters, through Alejandro Abeijón, director of marketing, connected with the Mexican production agency Polenta Films and the advertising agency Saumerio, to produce a film commercial that transmits the genius of the property through a creative narrative with an incomparable image quality; as befits a hotel complex with a lifestyle designed for the most accomplished travelers and buyers of the present.
The high design of the properties in Playa del Carmen required production tools of equal superiority, so Polenta went in search of quality, and Blackmagic Design, to produce a commercial as attractive as the beautiful backdrop of the Caribbean.
Destination: 4K
Founded in Guadalajara in 2007 by filmmaker Javier Huerta and his partner and producer María Noel Volpe, Polenta Films is known for creating commercials with high production value for clients such as Grupo Omnilife, Estudiantes Tecos, Honda, Astatl Records, Ganafan and Pounce among others, as well as music videos for various artists. Polenta Films was a natural fit for the thompson Hotel and Heart Street production project.
Hailing from Uruguay, Javier first began his career focused on post-production, but soon found himself behind the cameras. As an independent director, Javier developed a reputation for quality that earned him enough major fans to launch Polenta Films. Managing his own production company gave him new opportunities, including larger commercial projects, but Javier soon encountered an obstacle along the way, when applications began to arrive for 4K projects, one of which was filming in Playa del Carmen.
"Our team at the time was not set up to work on projects in 4K, but, luckily for us, Blackmagic Design had just presented its line of cameras characterized by great image quality for 4K projects," recalls Javier. " We got a couple of these cameras and played around with their features a bit in various projects of our own. We were hooked. Dynamic range is out of this world and for commercial work, this is critical."
Immediately, Javier and his team managed their orders for a Blackmagic Design URSA and a 4K Production Chamber to meet the project requirements.
"UrSA was especially crucial for our transition to 4K projects," says Javier. "Many of our shoots require the assembly of an outdoor studio. URSA gives us the flexibility and power we need to do these projects without compromising image quality."
A new way of seeing the world
Apart from the 4K requirements, the logistics for the filming of Calle Corazón was a great production challenge. Because the commercial specified aerial approach shots over several city blocks, filming from a helicopter was ruled out. The best option was a drone, the first drone in Polenta's production arsenal.
"We had never mounted a 4K camera on a drone, but we were sure that with our Blackmagic Blackmagic 4K Production Camera, we could perform the mission, and perform it as it should be," adds Javier. "With a few subtle adjustments, we subjected her to several test flights which she executed with very good results."
With the URSA focused on ground shooting and the 4K Production Camera in the air, the team was able to cover all angles. They placed the 4K Production Camera on top of a gimbal with an actuator for check-in and stop control. This setting made it easy to capture the perfect images without recording a steady stream that would have to be cut off in the editing room. The global shutter was ideal while the camera was moving in the air. Shots that usually come out blurry, appeared with perfect focus and movement, creating the best possible content for post-production. This was crucial for the commercial as it provides a normally unattainable overview of the hotel and shopping complex and how they complement the beauty of Playa del Carmen.
Like filming from a helicopter, two people worked on the aerial shots, one of them piloting the drone, and the second after controlling the camera shots. Since both ground and air material were compatible in quality and image format, Polenta did not have to pronounce that usual comment of "we will solve it in post-production".
"We shot the whole project in RAW format. The quality, sharpness and sharpness of the images were incredible," says Javier.
On land, Javier and his team used the URSA for all shots, including several scenes at time intervals, as required by the script. Although most directors would have used a still image camera for this purpose, Javier knew that the quality and performance of the URSA were superior.
"We used the URSA often to record with time lapses and I was delighted to see that the material it produced was compatible with everything else we shot. " It was also very reliable in these situations, which gave us the peace of mind to efficiently shoot full of dynamic shots."
With their first 4K project finished, the Polenta team has started shooting all their projects with 4K Blackmagic Design cameras, obtaining future-ready content whether it is to deliver in 2K, HD Ultra or any intermediate format.
When asked why he chose Blackmagic Design cameras for his production, Javier did not hesitate to answer: "The cameras are an extension of the director's vision. With Blackmagic I am capturing my vision almost perfectly, with all the detail necessary to strengthen the story. With that vivid image feature, we are able to deliver hyper-realistic quality projects on a modest budget and
