"Apis Mellifera: Honey Bee" a high-speed short from Michael N Sutton / @MNS1974 on Vimeo.
Last week I wanted to film something in high-speed (I shoot something every week to keep it fresh). My Bullfrog film had done well on the internet and I wanted to step up and challenge myself. I have wanted to film bee's for quite a while and luckily for me there happened to be an apiary in my town. Allen Lindahl owner of www.hillsidebees.com stepped up and allowed me to film his hives. It was 92 degrees out and the sun was bearing down, but I was told sunny days are when the bee's are most active. Without a bee outfit, I was ready to shoot. I was able to get pretty close to one of the hives (about one and a half feet) which was perfect for using the Canon 100mm Macro IS. I primarily filmed with the Canon 30-105mm Cinema zoom lens wide open. I also used a 300mm Tamron and a Nikon 50mm. I had my trusty Sound Devices Pix 240i as a field monitor and for recording ProRes via the HD-SDI out of the Photron BC2 HD/2K. It was very hard to track the bee's as they fly very fast and were getting a little bothered by how close I was to the hives. I was only stung three times which is pretty remarkable due to my proximity and my lens poking almost into the entrance way of the hive. I shot for approx 2.5 hours each day. It was so hot I got a pretty bad sunburn and the camera was hot enough to cook a fat porterhouse. There was a few moments that were intimidating when bee's started landing on my arms, face, in my ear and on my eye. I just stayed still and they went on their way with the exception of the three stings (1 on the arm, 1 on the neck and 1 under my ear). Bee's are actually quite docile and would prefer not to sting. They just want to make honey.
Shot/Dir/Edit by: Michael Sutton @MNS1974
Equipment used:
Camera: Photron Fastcam BC2 HD/2K high-speed S35 camera system w/ custom trigger & batteries (1000-6800fps) 2K, HD (1080p & 720p) and SD
Lenses: Canon 30-105mm Cine zoom, Canon 100mm Macro, Nikon 50mm, 300mm Tamron SP
Recorder: Sound Devices Pix 240i w/ Sandisk CF cards
Support: Kessler Crane Carbon Fiber Stealth, Manfrotto 516 head w/546GBK tripod
Music Licensed via:
Licensor's Author Username: lacisz
Licensee: Michael Sutton
Song: Dubstep Drift
http://audiojungle.net/item/dubstep-drift/4234563
Item ID: 4234563
Purchase Date: 2014-07-01 23:08:46 UTC
Special thanks to:
Mike Cohen
Allen Lindahl of Hillside Bee's
Heather Sutton
Eric Kessler and Chris Beller of Kessler Crane
Contact: Michael Sutton
website: www.frozenprosperity.com
email: mike at frozenprosperity dot com
phone: listed on website
twitter: @MNS1974
&
@frozenpros
