During a trip to London, an idea emerged during a meeting with Marco Cappati of Fowa: to develop a series of DZO lenses (based on the Arles T1.4 VV/FF lenses) in collaboration with Collettivo Chiaroscuro. This led to an invitation to China for the Collettivo and a sponsored trip by Godox for a delegation of five members, all part of the board: Timoty Aliprandi, Alessandro Chiodo, Luca Ciuti, Stefano Paradiso, and Sara Purgatorio. The lens development project came to fruition as part of a broader exchange with the companies Dzofilm, Godox, SmallRig and Vaxis. Beyond the technical and professional enrichment, the experience proved to be an important human journey. We are publishing the reflections on this trip from each of the five CCS “envoys”.
Read also:
Timoty Aliprandi, Small, Valuable Lessonsi
Alessandro Chiodo, Designing the Character of a Lens
Stefano Paradiso, Dzofilm, Godox, SmallRig e Vaxis
Sara Purgatorio, A Country That Listens
China is an immense country, made up of many cultures, countless different places, skyscrapers and massage parlours, electric scooters zipping along crowded pavements with three passengers on board, children under ten playing tag in the middle of the street at eleven at night, people getting their hair done at midnight and impromptu second dinners at two in the morning.
In the city you get around by taxi; to travel further afield, you take high-speed trains where you’re identified by passport and biometrics – no need to show a ticket. The underground is new and spacious, people seem relaxed at first glance, and generally kind. Everything is up for negotiation, English is virtually unheard of, and you go from drinking tea to drinking white wine – that is, a 65% proof liquor that tastes oddly like pecorino.
For the wealthier, there’s Mao Thai at six hundred dollars a bottle – their version of grappa (incredibly smooth, but that’s another story). Everything flows seamlessly. There are more karaoke bars than nightclubs, and if, like me, you love spicy food, you’re definitely in the right place.
Photo Stefano Paradiso
I had never been to China, and I didn’t know what to expect. I certainly didn’t expect a city of 25 million people where dozens of skyscrapers are clad in coloured LEDs, shifting in kaleidoscopic patterns or forming indecipherable words. I didn’t expect a swarm of electric vehicles and, as a result, silent streets even during rush hour – except for the buzz of people, of course, or the occasional screech of tyres in the rare moments it happens.
I didn’t expect the food to be so good – nor, to be honest, did I expect to eat so much, and at every hour of the day. Nor the caffeine withdrawal. I didn’t expect riot shields and poles with neck hooks, or military drills taking place in the middle of the underground station, or drones making deliveries.
I could never have imagined that, in China, approaching a complete stranger and asking to get to know them is perfectly acceptable: at worst, if they turn away and say nothing, it simply means they’re not interested and you move on.
The street markets with meat hanging on hooks in the open air, the hot pot restaurants with long counters of mysterious raw ingredients, the fish tanks (every kind imaginable, including molluscs and crustaceans I’d never seen) ready for selection and cooking – all of it with a distinctly pre-digital vibe, tucked behind vast boulevards and hundreds of ultra-modern high-rises.
A life projected into the future, yet encrusted with the past… You know Blade Runner? Exactly.
Photo Stefano Paradiso
Above all – and I say this honestly – I had some preconceptions about China in general, and I had to change my mind. Just as I had certain biases about their film equipment, even though over the years I’ve started using some of their products and have never had a bad experience. But as we know, prejudices are hard to shake, and this trip truly dismantled them – completely and definitively.
Having visited Vaxis and the Movmax workshop, SmallRig and its production line, DZO and its factory, and last but not least, Godox with its immense facility (we actually only visited the main site – they have two others, as do DZO and SmallRig), and having spoken with technicians and engineers, I can say the standard is very high – at least for these brands that are making a strong mark on the global professional market.
I saw with my own eyes how their research and development, the quality of the materials used, the precision in design, production and assembly, and their quality control have now reached a level comparable to the West.
One of the best parts of this trip was experiencing all of this alongside my colleagues – spending time discussing, comparing impressions, each with their own point of view, background, taste and style. The other unique aspect was the chance to give direct feedback to the designers and engineers, to exchange views, to suggest improvements. That happened at the Movmax workshop and at SmallRig’s headquarters.
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Photo Alessandro Chiodo
One particularly meaningful development – the seed of which was planted with Marco Cappati of Fowa in London – was the opportunity to initiate a new series of DZO lenses, based on the Arles T1.4 VV/FF, in collaboration with Collettivo Chiaroscuro. When we tested the lenses at DZO’s headquarters, we were all equally impressed by their look, despite having quite different tastes. We found them remarkably beautiful – both in terms of skin tone rendering and the quality of the flare and contrast.
Equally unprecedented and deeply satisfying was the chance to spend an entire day with the lead engineer behind Godox’s Knowled project – their line of professional continuous lights for cinema – and for each of us to contribute valuable suggestions for improvement.
Chiaroscuro will be able to say it has made a small but meaningful contribution – one we would be more than happy to offer again to anyone who might ask.
Photo Alessandro Chiodo
All things considered, the trip was a unique experience – a moment of genuine exchange between professionals and suppliers, between artists and those who provide the tools that help us bring our vision to light, between human beings open to new experiences. Fowa and Godox made this journey possible, and Chiaroscuro has grown once again thanks to this opportunity – one I now want to share with all members through these words, and which I’ll continue to share in greater detail with anyone interested, especially regarding the equipment we tested.
I sincerely hope this won’t be a one-off experience, and that it might encourage other partners to involve us – to open their doors and invite us in – with the awareness that the Collettivo is a friend to all, open to everything, and will never hold back when the chance arises to broaden our horizons, to test and give feedback, to collaborate on something meaningful or to share knowledge and experience.
