Sex Education
and the Sony Venice Camera
Channel 4
Sex Education is a Netflix teen comedy-drama that follows the lives of older teenagers in Britain today as they navigate sex, relationships, and many other tricky dilemmas.
Filmed in both England and Wales, Sex Education is a massive production across numerous units, has a cast and crew-load of globally rocketing talent, and used state-of-the-art equipment. Films at 59 provided all kit rental services to the series for its entire 4-season run.
As Dave Wride, Head of Rental at Films at 59, explains ‘we were involved with the production from the very beginning, arranging and supporting the testing and prep phases that eventually made the Sony Venice the camera of choice for one of Netflix’s binge-worthiest shows’. Speaking with Definition Magazine about working on the series DOP Jamie Cairney describes working with the Sony Venice camera
“…In my tests it proved to be better than other digital systems. Of most interest was the 16-bit colour reproduction, which is far superior to any other system and extremely sensitive to the nuance of the colours we were putting in front of it. Basically, it seemed to be behaving like film transparency with colour, and a bit like film negative with shadow and highlight detail.
Although the camera has a 6K Full-Frame sensor, I was more interested in capturing in 4K. The bonus was, in this mode, Venice allows the use of any 35mm lens out there. I didn’t need expensive and scarce large format lenses or unusual mounts. I could pick up anything PL and pop it on. This opened up all the lens options in the world…”
“Further testing continued in prep, where we took the Venice to the main location and spent several days testing lenses, skin tone, colour, exposure, LED lighting, filters and movement. The camera continued to perform really well…”
Dave went on to say that ‘as the Sony Venice had only just been released in time for Season 1 we had to work collaboratively with both Jamie & Sony to ensure that the needs of the DOP & Production were met whilst “road testing” the new camera. Sony lent us a third camera body to ensure that a back-up was always readily available should the need arise’.
‘As software updates were released we used the back-up body to test these before implementing them into the Sony Venice cameras that were already taken onto shoots. By the end of the shoot the Sony Venice had proved itself a very reliable camera option which also gave the production the look that they required for the show. This same package was then replicated across seasons 2-4’.
Jamie took a moment to share his experience of working with the Films at 59 Rental Department, in particular, Head of Rental Dave Wride:
“Films at 59… provided all our camera equipment. A special shout-out to the one and only Dave Wride, who was happy to go out and buy several Venice cameras when no one else had them and spent so much time perfecting our kit. Films at 59 and Dave have a really lovely down-to-earth personal approach.
They invest themselves, give you time and knowledge, and give every job priority, no matter how big or small. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them.”
