The ALEXA 35 is booming! As IndieWire released its camera survey, it seems that the new Super 35 flagship from ARRI is among the most popular cameras chosen by Sundance 2024’s filmmakers. The ARRI 35 causes the notable Super 35 format to go back to the game. Furthermore, the ARRI ALEXA Mini is the most popular camera five years in a row. Watch the segmentation.

As you can see in the chart, Super 35 is the dominant format. As we thought that large sensors would pull down the notable Super 35, it’s not as simple as that, since the ARRI 35 kicks the Super 35 to the popularity line again. Additionally, this is the first time that we have seen a solid presence of the ARRI 35 in our charts. Head to head with the old (and mighty) ALEXA Mini, the ARRI 35 is climbing strong and may become the most preferred camera among storytellers.

Sundance 2024: The narratives

After covering the cameras that shot Sundance Film Festival 2024’s documentaries, it’s time to explore the narrative features. Thanks to Sarah Shachat at IndieWire, the filmmakers who responded to the survey shared their weapons of choice when shooting for Sundance, and why they chose them to tell their story (check out the IndieWire article here). We took the data and built charts to explore segmentation if any, and to compare it to last year’s results. Examine the list below (name of project, DP, cameras, and lenses). The charts are below. 

1. “The American Society of Magical Negros”: DP: Doug Emmett. Camera: Sony VENICE. Lenses: Tribe 7 Blackwing
2. “Between the Temples”: DP: Sean Price Williams. Camera: Aaton XTR. Lenses: Zeiss Super Speeds. Canon 11-165mm, Fujinon19-90mm
3. “Brief History of a Family”: DP: Jiahao Zhang. Camera: ARRI ALEXA Mini. Lenses: ARRI Master Primes, ARRI Signature Zooms, Angenieux Optimo 24-290mm
4. “Didi”: DP: Sam Davis Category. Camera: ARRI ALEXA 35. Lenses: Master Anamorphic
5. “Exhibiting Forgiveness”: DP: Lachlan Milne. Camera: ARRI ALEXA 35. Lenses: Leica Summilux
6. “Freaky Tales”: DP: Jac Fitzgerald. Camera: ARRI ALEXA Mini. Lenses: Panavision Anamorphics, Cooke Pancros, Panavision Primos, Zeiss superspeeds
7. “Ghostlight”: DP: Luke Dyra Category. Camera: ARRI ALEXA 35. Lenses: Panavision Ultra Speed and Primo Zooms
8. “Girls Will Be Girls”: DP: Jih E Peng. Camera: ARRI ALEXA Mini. Lenses: Zeiss Super Speeds
9. “Good One”: DP: Wilson Cameron. Camera: ARRI ALEXA Mini. Lenses: Zeiss Super Speeds, Angenieux Optimo 17-80
10. “Hit Man”: DP: Shane F. Kelly. Camera: Sony VENICE. Lenses: Panavision primo 70
11. “How To Have Sex”: DP: Nicolas Canniccioni. Camera: ARRI ALEXA Mini LF. Lenses: Canon K35
12. “I Saw The TV Glow”. DP: Eric K. Yue. Camera: ARRICAM LT. Lenses: Zeiss Master Primes
13. “In a Violent Nature”: DP: Pierce Derks. Camera: Canon C70. Lenses: Modified Canon FD Primes
14. “In the Land of Brothers”. DP: Farshad Mohammadi. Camera: ARRI ALEXA Mini. Lenses: ARRI Master Primes
15. “It’s What’s Inside”: DP: Kevin Fletcher. Camera: ARRI ALEXA 35. Lenses: Leica Summilux C Primes, Angenieux Optimo Zooms
16. “Kidnapping Inc.”: DP: Martin Levent. Camera: RED Epic MX. Lenses: Panavision Primo
17. “Kneecap”: DP: Ryan Kernaghan. Camera: Sony VENICE. Lenses: Cooke S6 Anamorphics
18. “Krazy House”: DP: Joris Kerbosch. Camera: ARRI ALEXA Mini. Lenses: Zeiss Super Speeds, Elite Anamorphic S7
19. “Layla”: DP: Craig Dean Devine. Camera: ARRI ALEXA Mini. Lenses: Cooke Anamorphic
20. “Little Death”: DP: Christopher Ripley. Camera: ARRI ALEXA Mini LF, ARRICAM LT, ARRIFLEX 235. Lenses: ARRI Signature Primes, Camtec Custom Optics 12:1, Cooke Zooms
21. “Love Me”: DP: Germain McMicking. Camera: ARRI ALEXA Mini LF, Panavision Millenium XL2. Lenses: Cooke 1.8x Anamorphic SF, Zeiss Supreme Radiance, Panavision C & T series anamorphic
22. “Malu”: DP: Mauro Pinheiro Jr. Camera: ARRI ALEXA Mini. Lenses: Cooke S4
23. “The Moogai”: DP: Sean Ryan. Camera: ARRI ALEXA Mini. Lenses: Panavision PVintage
24. “My Old Ass”: DP: Kristen Correll. Camera: Sony VENICE. Lenses: Panavision Panaspeeds
25. “The Outrun”: DP: Yunus Roy Imer. Camera: ARRI ALEXA Mini, ARRI AMIRA. Lenses: Panavision C-Series, Panavision Primo Primes, Cooke Zooms
26. “Ponyboi”: DP: Ed Wu. Camera: Sony VENICE. Lenses: Atlas Orion
27. “A Real Pain”: DP: Michał Dymek. Camera: ARRI ALEXA Mini LF. Lenses: LEITZ M 0.8
28. “Reinas”: DP: Diego Romero Suarez Llanos. Camera: ARRI ALEXA Mini LF. Lenses: Zeiss Supreme Prime
29. “Rob Peace”: DP: Ksenia Sereda. Camera: ARRI ALEXA 35. Lenses: Cooke Uncoated
30. “Sebastian”: DP: Iikka Salminen. Camera: ARRI ALEXA Mini. Lenses: Canon K35s, Angenioux Zoom 25-250HR
31. “Stress Positions”: DP: Arlene Muller. Camera: ARRI ALEXA 35. Lenses: Canon 7-63mm, Canon 11-165mm
32. “Sujo”: DP: Ximena Amann. Camera: RED V Raptor, RED Komodo. Lenses: Zeiss Jenas, Minolta Rocket, Canon FD, Leica R
33. “Suncoast”: DP: Bruce Francis Cole. Camera: Sony VENICE. Lenses: Vantage Hawke V-Lites
34. “Tendaberry”: DP: Matthew Ballard. Camera: Aaton XTR, ARRI ALEXA Mini, ARRI AMIRA. Lenses: ARRI Ultra 16
35. “Thelma”: DP: David Bolen. Camera: ARRI ALEXA 35. Lenses: Hawk V-Lite Anamorphic
36. “Veni Vidi Vici”: DP: Gerald Kerkletz. Camera: ARRI ALEXA LF. Lenses: Angenieux Optimo 24‐290
37. “Winner”: DP: Steve Yedlin. Camera: ARRI ALEXA Mini. Lenses: Zeiss Supreme Primes, Fujinon Premista Zooms
38. “Your Monster”: DP: Will Stone. Camera: ARRI ALEXA 35. Lenses: Neo AO Anamorphic from Lensworks

Sundance 2024’s Narratives – Camera Chart

Explore the Camera Chart below (based on the list above):

Discussion: ARRI 35 pushes Super 35 to overcome large format

As you can see in the chart, Super 35 is the dominant format. As we thought that large sensors would pull down the notable Super 35, it’s not as simple as that, since the ARRI 35 kicks the Super 35 to the popularity line again. Additionally, this is the first time that we have seen a solid presence of the ARRI 35 in our charts. Head to head with the old (and mighty) ALEXA Mini, the ARRI 35 is climbing strong and may become the most preferred camera among storytellers. Why did filmmakers pick the ARRI 35 over the Mini? First and foremost, it’s because of the new color science, high dynamic range, and outstanding imagery. However, the ARRI ALEXA Mini is much more affordable now, hence many filmmakers can use their own, instead of renting. It’s interesting to reveal that the ALEXA Mini dominates those charts (Sudanese narratives) for the fifth year in a row, as far as other cameras (compare the charts below from Sundance 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024): 

But the ARRI 35 is on its six, and therefore we assume it be no.1 on next year’s chart. Another nice surprise is to explore Aaaton’s old film cameras in this chart. The great Aaaton XTR cameras were also in Sundance 2023’s chart. As for Sony VENICE—as always, it’s in a good spot in the middle. But where are the Panavision cameras? Although a lot of Panavision glass was utilized, the Millennium XL2 was used only once in “Love Me” as a B-cam paired with the ARRI ALEXA Mini LF, iPhones, and GoPro (not shown in the graph), Moreover, it’s intriguing to notice the RED Epic MX in the chart. The camera was used in “Kidnapping Inc.” shot by DP Martin Levent who picked the camera because of its contrast and saturation, and of course, R3Ds. Many filmmakers love the DSMC1 sensor and still prefer it over the DSMC3 (BTW, it’s funny we’re talking about the MX sensor compared to the recently released VV global shutter sensor of the Raptor [X]). But imagery is not the whole picture, as filmmakers can now buy old DSMC1 and use them affordably, while still getting a professionally graded image that is more than enough for Sundance.