China's First 8K Rap Music Video: Behind the Scenes
"The MAVO Edge 8K now feels very solid and reliable overall—the image quality and specs are robust, and it has already satisfied all my needs for shooting."
Qin Shuo
Qin Shuo is a post-95s young director. He's passionate about sensing music through the lens and expressing attitude through imagery. Entirely self-taught, he turns his passion into the driving force behind all of his work. He has participated in numerous short narrative film and music video productions. For this project "Dumb" (直白), he serves as director. His directing credits include: "Love Cha Cha" (Gem), "In the Mood" / "Zhong Fa Bai" (Teacher Liang Tsing), "Dumb" / "直白" (APEX LEGGO), and "Common Dream Cypher" (GAI / Bridge / Vava / Ai Re / Fox / Will), among others.
Zhuoyao Can you briefly walk us through this shoot?
Qin Shuo This MV is the final part of a trilogy, continuing the apocalyptic twilight tone established by the previous two songs. But unlike the fully CG visuals of the earlier entries, this one is shot entirely on location with zero visual effects—which also suited my approach to filmmaking very well. The prep period was relatively short, about two weeks, and we ultimately chose a desert landscape as our location. Most of the shooting was done on a gimbal, so I chose lenses that were wide, lightweight, and high quality—well-suited for a smaller gimbal.
"Summer Is Over" production set photos
Zhuoyao How was the camera configuration set up?
Qin Shuo The A-camera choice was Kinefinity's MAVO Edge 8K, paired with a 24mm wide-angle lens, fixed on a gimbal to handle the main shots. The B-camera was the TERRA 4K, also from Kinefinity. These two cameras work together seamlessly—I think this configuration is genuinely a powerhouse setup for productions with a modest budget that still want polished imagery.
"Dumb" MV screenshot
The MAVO Edge 8K on a gimbal—you only understand how good it is once you've used it. Honestly, if I had to choose a gimbal pairing from all available cameras, I'd absolutely go with the Edge. You feel the difference physically. My next project used a certain competitor's mini camera—it felt heavy and cumbersome, physically draining, and required more crew and more setup time. Overall efficiency was much lower.
A-camera MAVO Edge 8K and B-camera TERRA 4K on set
Zhuoyao Did you personally operate the camera during the shoot?
Qin Shuo Most shots were operated by my cinematographer, though I handled some as well. I had used Kinefinity cameras before—I bought the TERRA 4K back in 2017—so I picked up the Edge very quickly with no difficulty. Compared to 2017, the camera firmware is now very stable. We didn't encounter any issues, and completed some technically demanding shots very smoothly.
"Dumb" MV screenshot
Zhuoyao Now that you've shot with the MAVO Edge 8K, how was the post-production experience?
Qin Shuo Two days before the shoot, once I had the camera, I ran some tests and ultimately decided to shoot in ProRes 4444 at 8K oversampled to 4K. The image quality and post-production latitude were both noticeably excellent. The MV's color grading was done by Hangzhou Ran Dian. Unlike conventional TVC and MV color grading philosophy, this time we actually graded some shots in directions most people would consider 'wrong.' For example, in the desert sculpture scenes, I asked the colorist to grade all the sand pink in post—and the result was really striking, with beautiful color space and texture.
"Dumb" MV in post-production
I especially want to mention that this was entirely an exterior shoot—except for a single night scene using red rod lights, there was absolutely no artificial lighting; everything relied on natural light. In the desert, that means extremely intense direct sunlight, so having a built-in ND was incredibly convenient. For bright exterior shooting, I think it played a very important role.
Red rod lights on the "Dumb" set
Zhuoyao Did you encounter any unexpected incidents during the shoot?
Qin Shuo We had a fairly small crew—only 12 people including the driver—and the shoot went very smoothly overall. The only unexpected factor was the weather. On the first day we hit a sandstorm, and on the second day we got hit by a heavy rainstorm. But the cameras held up perfectly.
Before shooting started, I told both the artists and all crew that if a severe sandstorm hit, our first priority would be protecting the cameras—because we still had two more days of shooting. Equipment damage caused by a sandstorm in the middle of nowhere is simply impossible to fix.
"Dumb" MV production set
When the sandstorm first started, we weren't too concerned because it was relatively mild and I thought the camera could handle it. But eventually the sandstorm became extreme—visibility was very low, and the wind was so strong it would instantly blow your hat away. The drone and cable cam shots we had planned were completely grounded.
But I think extreme weather like this actually becomes its own emotion—and since we were already there in it, we had to shoot it. After that shot, everyone—including the artists—came running over to wrap their arms around the camera to protect it first. Back at the hotel, I just cleaned the camera with a blower bulb, and we had no further issues during the rest of the shoot. To hold up like that in a sandstorm—that's genuinely impressive.
"Dumb" MV production set
Zhuoyao After using the MAVO Edge 8K, do you have any feedback or suggestions for the camera?
Qin Shuo I'd love to see the built-in microphone improved. Shooting music videos often involves lip-sync situations, and when the camera is fixed on a tripod it's fine to add an external mic—but when shooting on a gimbal, an external mic becomes a bit of a hassle. Another minor thing: I found the V-mount battery plate a bit rough to insert and remove—on the second day of shooting it got stuck, though in practice it wasn't really a problem; I solved it with some gaffer tape. The MAVO Edge 8K overall feels very solid and reliable now—the image quality and specs are robust, and it has already satisfied all my needs for shooting.