Interview with Director Luo Xiaozhou
"Program" is a short film directed by Luo Xiaozhou and shot by cinematographer Zhou He, which won Best Film at the 12th 37 Short Film Festival. As a senior Kinefinity user, Director Luo Xiaozhou shares the behind-the-scenes story of this short film—from subject matter and production design to camera and lens selection—in hopes of being helpful to all Kinefinity users and friends interested in the MAVO LF.
Program
Q: Why did you choose this subject matter?
The subject is fairly unusual. I came up with the idea on a whim—the competition deadline was approaching and I was just lying in bed scrolling through my phone. Everyone has a smartphone nowadays, always on and connected. All your information is flowing through the network, in a constant state of 'exposure.' In a sense, privacy has already ceased to be private. So I thought: could I start from that idea and find a fresh angle to explore?
There was another point that drew me to this subject: the people who appear safe are the ones who get the highest level of access. Like the police officer character I set up in the film—very upright and serious, the kind of person who would be granted the highest access privileges. So an APP already running on your phone can access all of your information. A hacker might still need to conduct an attack to break into your phone, but what about those apps and the people who made them? They can get everything they want just through the app itself. Today's big data analysis and targeted advertising prove that these apps that have long been sitting on everyone's phones are only seemingly 'safe and harmless'—in reality they've been 'collecting' your privacy all along. These are the reasons that led me to choose 'surveillance' as my subject.
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Q: Was there anything special about the shooting locations?
Nothing particularly special—first, to control costs, our shooting locations didn't need to be complex. Second, I wanted to clearly express what I was trying to convey within a limited space, without a lot of elaborate staging. Wouldn't a simple, naturalistic lighting setup do the job? Since we had already determined the camera when designing the sets, I wasn't very worried about lighting affecting image quality. So the lighting setup was very simple—we just taped a soft panel light to the ceiling as a general ambient source.
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Q: Why did you choose the MAVO LF? What lenses did you pair with it?
I wanted to get the best possible image quality under natural light, so the camera had to be full-frame and perform very well in low-light conditions—that was my baseline requirement. Some people might ask: can you use a Sony A7? Of course you can, but for me it's not the optimal solution. I needed a full-frame camera with a large enough sensor for cleaner imaging. Getting sufficiently clean images under limited light was also very important to me. So the only and exclusive choice at the time was the MAVO LF.
Q: Why was it the only choice?
When we were shooting last year, there weren't many full-frame cinema camera options, and even setting aside cost, the alternatives might have been too large and heavy for a space under 30 square meters. We had designed the whole shoot to be entirely handheld from an objective point of view. Using a very heavy and large camera would put enormous physical strain on the cinematographer. Camera selection has to be based on multiple factors: your shooting environment, your crew, your shooting rhythm, and more. If I had a 100-person crew in a large space, I wouldn't need to think about any of this—any equipment would work, bring the heavy rigs. But our conditions were clear: a 30-square-meter space, moving around constantly, entire shoot handheld. Only the MAVO LF could satisfy all our needs: high image quality even in natural light, and—even with a follow focus, shoulder mount, wireless transmitter, and other accessories—its weight and size remained within an acceptable range.
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Now for lenses—we used the Spirit Lab Xu Lai set with the MAVO LF. These lenses are excellent: the housing uses a very distinctive, highly recognizable purple color, the image quality is superb, and the size is well controlled. Without data or comparative test results to back me up, it's hard to be objective about exactly how these lenses perform and where they excel. So let me share my subjective impressions: first, the size and weight are genuinely well done—mounted on the MAVO LF they don't feel oversized, which is very friendly for small and medium teams. Beyond that, the overall look of the set is very stable and balanced, with no strong or obvious stylistic signatures. I think these lenses are better than the Sigma set—the out-of-focus rendering is very comfortable, natural, and soft, not stylized in an obvious way—what the old masters would call a buttery, melting quality. I only used them for two days, so my judgment may not be entirely accurate, but my experience was genuinely very positive, and the aesthetics are truly attractive.
Q: The shoot was very fast—how did you pull it off?
We shot everything in two days total, at a very fast pace, so we had to distribute each team member's responsibilities very clearly. In fast-paced shoots, communication is critical. You have to make sure every member understands what they're doing—the director's vision, the shooting logic, the direction, and what you're trying to express—all needs to be communicated clearly, quickly, and directly, and only then does everyone work together effectively. We learned this the hard way: back in 2018, we wrote a more complex screenplay with more convoluted logic, and the actors—who had a commercial background—didn't quickly grasp what we were trying to convey. Their professionalism and engagement with the characters were both lacking, and we ended up having to reorganize the script. This time we handled it much better—even with a fast pace, nothing was chaotic. A lot of people in this industry learned from a master-apprentice model, so they do things the way their teacher did without thinking critically. If you want greater efficiency and clarity, it's always better to brief all your crew members in advance, or work with people you already know well.
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Q: What stabilizer did you use?
None—we shot entirely handheld using a flight handle. I felt that with a follow focus, wireless transmitter, and all those accessories on top of a stabilizer, it would actually be slower than just shooting handheld. We were only moving in straight lines, and handheld worked perfectly. Since the camera itself isn't heavy, the cinematographer can fully stabilize the image and capture cleanly—simple and efficient. Why not do it that way? So whether you use a stabilizer really depends on your needs. We also did no stabilization in post, and the images were completely fine.
Q: What resolution and codec did you use?
Oversampled 4K, with ProRes 422HQ. The MAVO LF can shoot 6K ProRes 4444, but there was absolutely no need for that. We weren't doing heavy compositing, no green screen, no detailed digital restoration—so 422HQ was completely sufficient. Even computers without top-end performance can handle it smoothly, and it saves hard drive space.
Q: What was your impression of the footage?
The biggest impression was that you can do whatever you want with the footage. Image quality, color, and skin tones fully met my requirements—basically no heavy grading needed, straight out of camera it looks great. Though I think the official LUTs could be better—haha.
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Q: You previously ran your own team but eventually dissolved it—do you have any advice for small teams?
A small company that purely takes commercial work is better off not forming in the first place, unless you have a stable pipeline of jobs and excellent client resources. If you're not a genius, your competitive edge in the industry isn't that strong, and the value of your output isn't that high. Even the top-tier small ad companies don't have the returns people imagine—it might actually be the teams with average production standards but an owner with strong business connections who do reasonably well. So think very carefully before starting a company.
Q: "Program" won Best Film at the 12th 37 Short Film Festival—shot on the MAVO LF, which ultimately also won you a MAVO LF. How do you evaluate it?
This is absolutely a camera with a very high overall score. Compared to other full-frame cinema cameras, the MAVO LF has significant advantages in price, image quality, and size/weight. Especially in terms of imaging—definitely at the 80+ out of 100 level. The size is perfect, and factoring in the price, it's very competitive in this category.
Speaking of price—it recently dropped. For new Kinefinity users that's good news. Objectively speaking, existing users might feel like they've been shortchanged—haha. But everyone bought the MAVO LF to work with, so it's fine really. The price drop makes me think a new camera is coming?