Factory Media Centre is pleased to offer this online Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro Menu Walkthrough with Michael Penney!
This video workshop will help our membership make the transition from HD Digital cameras to our newly acquired 4k quality camera. We encourage all filmmakers to review this video before renting our Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro to become familiar with it’s functions before taking it on set!
Please consult our full equipment library to learn more about renting the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro. Click Here for more information.
Factory Media Centre’s acquisition of the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro was made possible through the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
About the Facilitator
Michael Penney graduated in 2002 from Ryerson University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film Studies. He began working on HGTV shows such as Designer Guys and So Chic With Steven & Chris, first as a Camera Assistant, then as Continuity and eventually Assistant Director. In 2005, he formed the production company Afterlight Films, through which he has written, produced, directed, filmed and edited a number of narrative and documentary shorts.
Most recently, Michael produced and directed Beat Nick, a dark comedy that is premiering at the 2019 Hamilton Film Festival. He won first prize in the festival’s micro-short competition in 2018 for his film Hellfie. His comedy short Game Night, was also screened that year.
In 2017, he produced and directed Kingdom of the Sun, a documentary exploring the struggle to establish a system of ethical gold mining in Bolivia, which was a follow-up to his 2008 documentary The Last Gold Rush about conflict mining in Colombiaʼs Chocó rain forest.
Michael has worked with the Mod Club Theatre and Virgin Mobile to produce concert videos and interviews with bands such as Muse, Metric, and the Killers. In 2014, he directed the music video Valentine for Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductee Platinum Blonde, and is once again working with the band on a new music video.
He has donated services as cinematographer, editor and director to a number of charities including KidsFest, Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, Polo for Heart, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and War Child. In 2008, Michael was a co-founder of HoHoTO, a Twitter-based non-profit that raised over $285,000 for the Daily Bread Food Bank in its first 5 years.
Michael also worked as a videographer and editor for Milestone Casting Studios in Toronto for over 10 years providing casting services for such series as Orphan Black, Hemlock Grove, Suits, Flashpoint, Republic of Doyle, Murdoch Mysteries, Schitt’s Creek, Nikita, Vikings, 12 Monkeys and Hannibal; and features such as Robocop, The Hulk, Pacific Rim, Mama, The Time Traveler’s Wife, Hairspray, Resident Evil and Suicide Squad.
In 2011, Michael wrote, produced, directed and edited the BravoFACT Yeah Rite which opened at the Calgary International Film Festival. It played a number of other festivals, including the Tottering Biped Film Festival, where it won the People’s Choice Award for Best Short and the Grand Jury Prize. He also wrote and directed the comedy shortNevil’s Night (2015), and just released his latest horror short Trespasses on Halloween of this year.
Michael lives in Hamilton with his son and continues to develop narrative and documentary film projects.