VIDEO: The Making of the Ferrari 458 Italia Movie

Behind-the-scenes footage is always fun to watch, especially when we're talking about photography and video production involving fast-moving high-performance cars. In this unique look at the making of the Ferrari 458 Italia Official Movie, we get a glimpse of the work director Alexander Paul and his crew accomplished in order to make their dazzling promo clip. We all know it takes plenty of planning and perfect execution for a shoot like this but it's amazing to see the vast amount of equipment that is required as well as additional lead-follow vehicles.

So, what's it take to produce a high-quality full-motion video of two Ferrari 458 Italias in all their glory at the Mugello circuit during the hot Tuscan summer? For starters, you need a modified vehicle with platforms in the front and rear to hold a videographer/photographer for in-action shots. Next, you'll need an SUV (in this case a blacked out Mercedes ML-55 AMG) outfitted with a 400 pound Ultimate Arm gyro-stabilized camera crane with a Lev Head motor for angular positioning. This amazing device can rotate a full 360 degrees in only 6 seconds. What's so cool about this setup is that the operators can manipulate the camera and crane from inside the truck using special joysticks.

The video cameras used are from Red Digital Camera, a company that may not be familiar, but their equipment has been a favorite of directors like Steven Soderbergh and Peter Jackson since the first product release, the Red One in 2007. This was really the first digital movie camera that matched the detail and richness of 35mm analog film. The Red One records motion in an amazing 4,096 lines of horizontal resolution, or "4K" in filmmaker mumbo jumbo, with 2,304 lines vertical. For comparison, the top-of-the-line HD TVs, so called 1080P, can only display resolution at 1,920 by 1,080. This camera is light and fast and perfect for capturing all sorts of sporting events. These cameras are also very versatile and can be a rigged in a multitude of ways. As you will see, there is a ridiculous number of on-car mount components including suction cups, cheese plates, grip heads and spuds.

For the still photography, the stellar Mamiya 645ZDb digital camera is paired with a variety of Carl Zeiss lenses. The Mamiya is different than your typical high-end Canon or Nikon in that it shoots in medium-format, which means that it has a sensor larger than that of a 35 mm film frame. As such, this 22MP camera can capture millions of pixels of resolution to allow for poster size reproductions or tight cropping without any loss of image quality. These run for about $11,000 with a variety of expensive lenses also in the thousands of dollars.

Ferrari is going all out with the release of their new 458 Italia and it is great to see them embrace the power of the viral video.

The Making of the Ferrari 458 Italia Movie

The Ferrari 458 Italia Official Movie

Source: YouTube