Brain Farm Digital Cinema Gets Extreme with Fujinon Lenses in The Art of Flight

FUJIFILM North America, Optical Devices Division, has announced that Jackson Hole, Wyoming-based Brain Farm Digital Cinema selected several FUJINON lenses for the company’s aerial cinematography and extreme sport shooting. The feature film, The Art of Flight, is Brain Farm’s latest feature film release using the FUJINON lenses. The death-defying film follows a team of professional snowboarders through remote backcountry terrain from Alaska to Jackson Hole to Patagonia as they conquer uncharted snowboarding territory.

Click HERE to see a trailer for the film. Links to stills from the making of the film can be found HERE.

FUJINON lenses used for the film include the extreme telephoto HA42x9.7B zoom and the HA14x4.5B wide-angle ENG/EFP lens, incorporated into Brain Farm’s Cineflex stabilized HD aerial camera system. Brain Farm deploys this system primarily in helicopters for aerial cinematography, but also with land and boat based vehicle mounts in other productions.

“What stood out to me the first time I saw footage shot with the FUJINON lenses was the accurate color they produced and the sharpness of the lens,” says Chad Jackson, Executive Producer at Brain Farm. “We often film a subject from a very far distance, usually a mountain away. With the FUJINON lenses we captured extremely smooth, sharp images.”

In addition, other FUJINON lenses used in production of The Art of Flight included the HA25x16.5BERD, HA23x7.6BERM and HA14x4.5BERD zooms used on Panasonic VariCam 3700 camcorders. The FUJINON TS-P58A image stabilizer was used with their HA14x, HA25x and HA23x lenses on VariCams whenever they needed to stabilize ground-based images.

Brain Farm has used its FUJINON lenses in almost every project, including a current Visa Blackcard commercial, a series of World of Red Bull commercials, National Geographic’s critically acclaimed documentary program Great Migrations, and Nat Geo Wild’s adventure series Expedition Wild.

“The FUJINON 42×9.7 we use in our Cineflex gimbal is very fast, with minimal fall off, and it has an incredible zoom range,” says Jackson. “We’ve never before been able to shoot so far away and keep the image so sharp.”

Curt Morgan, CEO/President/Owner of Brain Farm Digital Cinema, is the primary DP of the footage they shoot all over the world.

“We’re thrilled to be involved with the breathtaking images that Curt and his team produce,” says Chuck Lee, technology manager, FUJIFILM North America Corporation, Optical Devices Division. “They really know how maximize the full visual potential of our lenses, and given the extreme weather and challenging conditions they are used in, Brain Farm’s work is a testament to the true durability and reliability of FUJINON lenses.”

The Art of Flight is now available on Blu-ray, DVD and iTunes. The film follows Travis Rice, John Jackson, and other extreme snowboarding daredevils as they dream up new global adventures and elevate the sport to unimaginable levels.