Cynematik • Cyndi Greening

Ah the envy … Shawn Downs has finished his thesis film THE HUNTER and it’s a beautiful, well-edited, well-acted, satisfying piece of cinema. I enjoyed it tremendously.

A graduate of Arcadia High School (in Phoenix) and FilmZambia Gaffer, Shawn is a visual filmmaker. Of course, I was eager to know the production details. He said the movie was filmed on 16mm Kodak 250 daylight film on an Arriflex SR2 camera. The film was transferred to HDCAM in telecine. He was able to work with everything from XL2s to high-end Sony HDCAM cameras to 16mm and 35mm Arriflex and Panavision cameras. Shawn says, “HD can produce some amazing images under good light and great production design, but there is nothing like film.” I have to agree. It is gorgeous.

He’s heading into industry now … it should be a fun career to follow.