SEKAI NO OWARI’s Smash Hit Song Habit Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio

Fremont, CA – September 26, 2022 – Blackmagic Design today announced that the music video for the smash hit song “Habit” by SEKAI NO OWARI was graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio editing, color grading, visual effects (VFX) and audio post production software using a DaVinci Resolve Mini Panel control panel. The song has been played on TikTok more than 1.5 billion times, and its music video, which has been played more than 88 million times on YouTube in four months, also used a Blackmagic Video Assist 7” 12G HDR monitor/recorder during shooting.

“Habit” speaks to young people to tell them to not categorize themselves and only live in that category. The band wanted to encourage young people to abandon such bad habits and live their lives in their own way.

In the music video, band members are dressed as teachers and professional dancers are dressed as students, with everyone performing a unique dance, which has become its own sensation called the “Habit dance.”

The video was shot by cinematographer Koretaka Kamiike and was graded by Hajime Kato from Tokyo’s is’ eye inc. using DaVinci Resolve Studio and a DaVinci Resolve Mini Panel. “I have worked as a director/editor, and I met Koretaka for a project I directed. Then, I helped Koretaka with the grading for a music video he shot, which led to dozens of grading jobs, and now I am working more as a colorist,” said Kato.

Kamiike said: “Kato’s studio is a place where we take time and work together to develop and create our best looks. Since we started working together, we did many experimental approaches to color, and now he immediately understands what I want to do, so I feel comfortable working with him. Plus, we can try challenging things together.”

Kamiike used the Video Assist 7” 12G HDR on set for the music video. “I bring the Video Assist with me every time I shoot as it is compact and lightweight. The playback response of the Video Assist is very fast, and it can be used intuitively, so I can ask my assistant or production staff to operate it. It also gives me many codec options for recording, and I like that it supports SD cards,” said Kamiike.

Kato spoke about the look of the “Habit” music video. “Koretaka and I created a more film look first by adding grains, but then when the director joined, we decided to give a more modern feel by creating a digital look without grains,” he said.

Kato continued: “To express introverted and extroverted feelings in the lyrics, I changed the grading by scenes. For the introvert scenes, I graded the scene darker yet tried to retain the detail in shadow. I also added blue tint in midtone to highlight an area in several scenes but changed the amount of the blue tint in each scene. DaVinci Resolve Studio allowed me to easily adjust the intensity of my grade by node. I also use Resolve’s magic mask often when grading and used the tool to adjust the color of the wall and the band members.”

“The classroom scene was challenging,” said Kamiike. “We could not handle the lighting, as it would be seen in the frame. It would be great if I could have shot in the best shooting conditions, but that is not always the case. In such situations, I borrow the power of DaVinci Resolve and shoot while thinking that I can improve this scene with grading using Power Windows.”

The music video went viral on social media due to the combination of its music and dance, which led one of the top YouTubers, HIKAKIN, to create a collaboration video. The video was made to look exactly like the original version and was also graded by Kato.

“As it was shot on a different camera and at a different location, it was actually hard to match to the original look, but with DaVinci Resolve, I managed to get a close look to the original,” Kato said.

Kamiike commented on DaVinci Resolve Studio: “DaVinci Resolve is a life saver tool when you need help, but it is more than that. It constantly adds new features that push us to create better works.”

“DaVinci Resolve definitely makes your work more refined,” added Kato. “It allows me to control colors the way I envision them.”

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com