Interview with DP Parris Steward
From KineMINI to MAVO, American DoPParris Stewardhas been a longtime friend of Kinefinity—creating many outstanding projects along the way. In 2019, Parris was invited to shoota commercial music video for cosmetics brand E.L.F, expressing the brand's ethos through vibrant colors and an upbeat rhythm. In this interview, Parris shares behind-the-scenes details covering equipment, shooting techniques, and post-production—in hopes of being helpful to Kinefinity users and all friends interested in Kinefinity cameras.
E.L.F
Q: Parris, please introduce yourself and how you got into the film industry.
Parris: My name is Parris, and I've been in the industry about 13 or 14 years now. We had a small record label in New York, and with a $2,000 budget we tried to hire someone to shoot a high-quality music video in the style of Hayley Williams—which cost $450,000. When I saw the final product, I thought the gap was just too big. I figured I could do better myself. So I studied a lot of music videos and shot my first one using a friend's Canon XL1. After that, I went to Atlanta to shoot music videos for DTP, the label associated with Ludacris—Grammy winner and star of the Fast & Furious franchise. Ludacris was amazed that we were shooting music videos with such a small camera. Soon I was getting invitations from many artists to shoot their videos. In all of those early projects, my role was director—there were dedicated cinematographers handling the camera. Over the following decade, I gradually transitioned from director to full-time DP. I know that's unusual, since people typically go the other direction—from DP to director. Very rare. I've never heard of anyone else who went from director to DP, haha. I simply prefer shooting over directing. I love analyzing the look I need to achieve and creating beautiful images through the interplay of camera and light. Over 13 years, I've shot numerous music videos and commercial TVCs for major artists and brands.
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Q: Tell us about your first encounter with Kinefinity cameras.
Parris: It was around 2014 or 2015. I first saw the KineMINI at a friend's place—it was love at first sight. To me, it was the closest thing to RED or ALEXA available at the time, somewhere between the RED ONE and the Alexa. You know how most people are skeptical about a company or brand they've never heard of—I was no different. My standards for image quality are extremely high. But the KineMINI's image quality won me over completely. The very first time I encountered it, I was hooked.
Q: Let's talk about your most recent project—can you tell us about this music video? When was it completed, and who was involved?
Parris: This was a shoot for a brand called E.L.F—a cosmetics brand whose name stands for Eyes, Lips, and Faces. I wasn't familiar with the brand, but I felt the project would be great. The brand's marketing agency had already selected the well-known song 'Make Your Day' for the video. This MV production is tied to commercial marketing—social media and other factors. It's like before when I had to satisfy record label requirements—now I adapt to the marketing agency, the brand they represent, and the performing artists. For this shoot, I wanted to showcase diverse people's makeup looks—whether they're vloggers, young skateboarders, or just anyone in the park. So I began building a scriptural framework for the shoot scenarios to help the team independently complete this particular project. Worth noting: the shoot was relatively extended, with locations in both New York and Los Angeles—since New York was too cold, many scenes could only be shot in LA. The shoot ran about seven days total. Sometimes it was a full crew including gaffer, grip, and DIT; other times it was just me, the producer, and two camera assistants. It was a very fun project, and the brand was wonderful—they gave me great trust, ample time, and plenty of crew!
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Q: Let's talk about the equipment. What lenses did you use and how did you pair them with the camera?
Parris: I have no attachment to any particular lenses—even on big projects, I won't casually choose heavy, bulky glass. Sometimes lenses like the UP and MP series are the right choice, but when the crew is smaller or you need to move fast, I prefer lighter, more compact lenses over ones that cost $30,000 a piece. That's why we used the Rokinon CINE DS lens set for this project. A lot of people are drawn to them for the price, but for me it's the image quality and extreme portability that made them the right choice. For the follow focus, we used the NUCLEUS-M. Most of the equipment we used was my own—I only rented a small portion. If you own a kit, you don't have to go to a rental house every time you have a shoot. Besides the lenses, I had the KineBACK-W expansion module and Movcam cage on the MAVO body, and that was completely sufficient. For wireless video, we used two Hollyland Storm 400S transmitters with a SmallHD for the director's monitor. I really recommend that camera owners set up a kit like this—otherwise your camera package alone will weigh and cost as much as a small car. Lighter gear also means I have more energy left for working with the talent. To create a more authentic feel, we shot entirely handheld throughout—no tripods, no gimbals.
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Q: Did you do any stabilization in post?
Parris: I'm actually quite skilled at handheld, so there was no need for post-stabilization. We primarily used the Rokinon 20mm, which is the best lens in the set. We also had the help of the KineEnhancer speedbooster adapter, which gives the MAVO S35 an equivalent full-frame image. It's very reliable—absolutely no issues.
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Q: Let's talk about the lighting design for this project.
Parris: In a music video, the lighting needs to align with the music's tone and the artists' vision. We put a lot of thought into the lighting to create something different. In past shoots, I primarily used Mole-Richardson—its color rendering is something LED simply can't match—but because of the enormous power consumption, we compromised and chose ARRI M18s instead. During the actual shoot, we also used Lightstar Luxed-4s, Aputure 120Ds, rod lights, and some very affordable RGB mini lights. When shooting the performers, we used the M18 to create rim light—amazing results. The Aputure 120D runs on battery, which is great! In some scenes we also used Tiffen 1/8 Black Pro-Mist filters. Since we had ample shooting time, we could really think through and design the light for each scene—especially making the most of available natural light, like golden hour. Many scenes were deliberately scheduled around specific natural light conditions. This let us allocate more budget to talent, locations, and color grading, making it much easier to produce excellent work.
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Q: This shoot included a huge variety of scenes—interior, exterior, daytime, nighttime—yet I noticed all the images are remarkably clean. Can you share any tips about capture or post adjustments?
Parris: Indeed, some of these scenes were genuinely challenging for any cinema camera. In most situations I typically set ISO at 800, but if needed I'll go lower or higher—which is a bit different from some other DPs who stick to ISO 800 for everything based on Alexa experience. Using a light meter, the camera's waveform, and close collaboration with the gaffer, you get accurate exposure. Needless to say, the MAVO is really exceptional—I pushed ISO as high as 3200 and still got very clean images. So even in scenes with insufficient illumination, I rarely had to compromise on aperture or shutter angle to get more light.
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Q: Let's talk about editing and color grading. What codec did you use?
Parris: ProRes 422HQ.
Q: Did you do the editing yourself?
Parris: Yes, about ninety percent of it. Over seven days we shot a tremendous amount of footage, so only I really knew how to cut it to create the best result. People recommended DaVinci Resolve, but I typically use Final Cut X for editing—it's very convenient and efficient.
Q: The color grade on this film is excellent. Did you do that yourself?
Parris: I wish I could say yes, but honestly no—haha! It was done by an excellent colorist in New York using Baselight. He didn't know the footage was shot on a MAVO, or what lenses were used—he probably assumed it was an Alexa with very expensive glass. Because the dynamic range was fully preserved, the grading was completed very smoothly in a single day. For me, the footage looked good on the monitor during the shoot and in the edit, but when the colorist did the fine grading, you realize there are so many layers and so much room to work with—I was truly amazed by both the footage quality and the colorist's work. In short: the DP captures good footage on set, and the colorist then takes that great foundation even further to achieve the ideal image.
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Q: Final question—what feature would you add to the MAVO?
Parris: If possible, I'd love to see an improved playback function. People mostly use the MAVO for narrative films or commercial TVCs, so the importance of the playback function often gets overlooked. These days, most music videos are shot at 60fps or higher, but MAVO playback runs at the set project frame rate—typically 24fps. If it could play back at 2x or 3x speed, that would be much better. Of course, there's no perfect camera in the world—but if they could address this, that would be fantastic.
Q: Great—thank you so much, Parris, for sharing the story behind this music video.