Plate to plate: a chef’s story, told with the EOS C200

But the experience propelled Peter in a different, more harmonious direction. Returning to the Netherlands, he set up his own restaurant, t’Schulten Hues in Zutphen which, at the centre of its menu, features herbs and flowers cultivated and harvested by Gast. In under two years he was awarded his first Michelin star, aged only 25.

The BallenBar

In contrast to his own experiences, Gast has built his career in a conflict-free kitchen, forming relationships that have ultimately dictated his success. He has gone on to expand his business to such proportions that he’s added a city eaterie, Amsterdam’s BallenBar – in partnership with his sous chef – to his countryside restaurant. Its success was fast and unexpected, and demand soon saw them exporting Holland’s bitterballens (deep-fried balls), the stall’s stock in trade, to far-flung corners of the world.

Hearing about Gast’s journey, director Alun Pughe knew this was a documentary waiting to be made. With cinematographer Dan Lightening, they spent two days shooting with the new EOS C200, which produces Cinema RAW Light, and cine-servo lenses to help them realise their plans.

The director’s vision

“I saw the story as being about the contrast of the urban and rural influences on Peter and his restaurant’s menu,” Pughe explains. “His food is very complex yet uses simple, fresh ingredients. I wanted to juxtapose that countryside serenity with the excitement and action of the city.”

“To tell this story visually, lighting was key,” says Pughe. “I wanted to catch the ‘golden hour’ for climaxes and really push the low-light capabilities of the camera,” he explains. “So we’re out there, we’re catching that early light, the last moments before it becomes blue. The Canon EOS C200 seemed to be the perfect choice for us.”

Dan Lightening, director of photography on the documentary, agrees: “The 15 stops of dynamic range this camera gives you is very important on a shoot like this. We were mainly filming in natural light and the C200 allowed us to keep the detail in both highlights and lowlights.”

“The feel and size of the camera are really good,” he adds. “You don’t need to have the [removable audio module] on to put sound into it, like you do with some cameras, so you can keep that compact form and still have your XLRs going in.”

Lightening also made great use of the new touchscreen with autofocus and ND filters, and was especially keen on the Focus Assist function: “It’s fantastic how it goes from foreground to background at a touch of the screen.”

When it came to the lenses, the film-makers primarily used cine primes. “You’ve got a really good range from 14mm right to 135mm,” he explains. “I shot on the CN-E24mm T1.5 L F, which is a wide-angle zoom. It gives you that lovely shallow depth of field, but on a wide-angle lens – you don’t see that very often at this price point.”

The team used a second camera for b-roll footage, with a CN-E18-80mm T4.4 L IS KAS S lens. “We shot a lot of close-ups,” says Lightening. “The 18-80mm was perfect for that, because we’ve got the autofocus function, and also it’s got a close focus at 0.5 metres – it’s everything you need in one lens.”

Using two cameras meant the DP-V1710 monitor was useful in keeping track of all the footage. “It’s great because you can keep a solid track on exactly what’s happening and check all the exposures on your cameras. Having the dual screen element is brilliant for multi-camera shooting – you don’t miss a thing, it’s fantastic.”