Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Register Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Offhollywood Red Camera Test Shoot

In the immortal words of Teri Hatcher on Seinfeld speaking of another pair.....

"Their real and their spectacular"

thanks for sharing, and many thanks to the incredible folks at RED for doing what they do...
 
UPDATE and a TIP or TWO

UPDATE and a TIP or TWO

Hey Redusers -

Here we go -

So, yeah ... I know you all want to see footage, and you will, but we are doing a thousand things at the same time over here in terms of testing, not to mention that we have "active" on-going jobs including the DI finish of a great little indie called PRETTY UGLY PEOPLE (shot on Super35).

We most likely will not show footage until we edit and color grade in SCRATCH - and we are waiting for the new build that supports REDCODE RAW which we will have any day - I think the current plan is to debut the piece at a special RED event here in New York on the 19th - that TEKSERVE is putting toghter. TEKSERVE is Offhollywood's reseller and provided the edit systems and system integration for Soderbergh's RED films.

Do not dispair - I have told Mike Curtis (www.hdforindies.com) to post some "untouched" 4K frame grabs as soon as possible - so you can bang on them in Photoshop and post your own color graded versions if you like - have at it - I will say that MOST of what we shot on this initial test - is "too LEFT heavy" on the histogram. Won't happen again, we are learning the RAW thing - which I knew would take a shoot or two to "re-program" our brains - when the histogram feature is enabled in the EVF and LCD - I strongly suspect - it's gonna be EASY.

I am going to be posted daily blog entries on www.zoom-in.com over the next two weeks with the frist post coming on-line sometime today - I decided to do that because I was approached by a fair number of sites and magazines, and Zoom-In is geting about 1.3 million page views a month with a 40% growth rate - and I would DO ANYTHING for Red & Jim to show my thanks for building this camera - and I felt like it would better serve Red (& Offhollywood) to share our first impressions and experiences with a broad audience outside of the REDUSER community. I'll still post here, of course, and I'll get zoom-in to "cross promote" REDUSER - anyway, I'll put the link up when they go live with my blog later today - it's going to be more "general" - written for folks who don't know as much as YOU -

Regarding a post by Jendra (on the Youtube thread I think) on the shoot about why you can see our AC Alex truning screws on the PL mount -

Here are the facts:

After we landed at JFK on Saturday and drove to Paul (our DP's) apartment in Brooklyn Heights - we jumped out of the van and threw a camera up on a steadicam - Alec Jarnagin - our favorite steadicam op - wanted to see it and touch it - his rig was locked up in a truck on the show RESCUE ME (and YES we are going to launch a campaign to get that show shot on RED!!!!) - so, Afton Grant (a REDUSER poster) brought his rig over - we did pop off a few shots - haven't even had time to watch those yet - but we might post one soon - regardless - we are going to do some hardcore RED steadicamin' with Alec VERY soon - and you will see THAT for sure -

Alec noticed that the cylinder around the PL mount was "loose" - I forgot to email or call Jarred that night (I was exhasuted) and the next morning we put a piece of tape around the cylinder - if you look at the Youtube video you can see the tape - I emailed Jarred and he instantly responded - we were having to much fun to stop shooting and at lunch I put my AC Alex on the pone with Jarred - Jarred told him how to get to the screws to tighten the PL mount - so, the reality is that the someone screwed up and didn't tighten down the screws - I am pretty damn sure someone got an earful and I would bet it won't happen again - we did shoot half the day with "loose" focus on one camera - but that's because we didn't stop to deal with it - it took 5 minutes to resolve - the funny thing is we build #0006 at RED - we left #0007 in the box - I think that Aldey would have caught it -

here's some fast tips and first impressions -

If you turn on the camera, set a good focus - pick an F-stop in the BALLPARK - you can shoot images that TOAST the F900 and Varicam - with VERY little effort - and I mean TOAST -

Our crazy shoot in the 2nd with the stubnt drivers was our way of doing the "indie" "micro" version of what Peter Jackson did with Crossing The Line - just get out there and shoot. Our footage is NOT perfect. The HISTOGRAM feature is not yet enabled, and we did not take the time to understand how to use FALSE COLOR/ZEBRAS - we will do that TODAY. We just rated at 320, used a light meter and started shooting -

We did NOT have strong enough ND filters on the shoot. This sensor is SENSITIVE.

What I CAN tell you is that this camera takes STUNNING images. Right out of the box. It's going to change so much so fast. So ... BELIEVE the hype. And it's not rally "hype" anymore ... it's "excitement."

So, Tip #1:

get a three stage matte box + every ND filter made. Thickest we had was 1.2 - and only a clip-on MB on one of the cameras - we needed another three stage and more ND's -

Right now, I have a rented Arri MB - I need to check in with Curt (viewfactor) to see what his reality is on shipping his matte box - but I fear he is behind - we MIGHT just buy two red-rocks - at $500 it's practically disposable - to hold us off until Curt can deliver his - buy yeah, you NEED a three stage. So, Red Rock or Curt - if you have protos to test and want a little press PM me - PLEASE -

Tip #2:

Buy the 18-50mm Red Zoom. WOW!! It's TIGHT. Our Zeiss primes could not keep up. We can't WAIT for the other zoom - JIM, any new shipping estimate on the other zoom? Red glass kicks ass!!! What did you expect, right?

Tip #3:

I need KELLY or JARRED to email the list of names of the pieces - and then I can give you an exact breakdown - but for now -

Buy the Basic Production Pack -

Buy a set of the longer 24" rods - because if you want to have the battery/drive on the back and a studio matte box on the front - the 18" won't cut it - we went with steel - they are making titanium and kevlar/carbon fibre ones as well - I like cold steel -

Buy the TOP RAILS, Handle, and Handle extension and the 4 side arms that make the CAGE - the CAGE is a MUST, MUST have.

Buy 3 - or better yet 4 "universal mounting plates" (you get one with basic production pack)

again, as soon as someone from RED emails me a list of what they are calling each part - I'll break it down for you -

MORE to come - need to run -
 
Thanks a lot for your first impressions. Your words say more than 100 crapy quicktime movies.
That kinda stuff realy makes me happe:

If you turn on the camera, set a good focus - pick an F-stop in the BALLPARK - you can shoot images that TOAST the F900 and Varicam - with VERY little effort - and I mean TOAST -


I know the Varicam and the F900. So I finaly know, what this beast is capable of and in what kinda ballpark we are playing.

Things get better every day.
Keep posting.

Cheers
Tim
 
Mark,

Thanks for sharing with us. Your experience will definitely help the rest of us get on a faster learning curve when our cameras arrive. Keep it coming.
 
Hey Mr. Orange

Of course you are right, but we didn't get to see to many easy to judge movies so far. That has a lot to do with the conversion problems etc.
But when a experienced pro like mark, talks with so much exitement about the cam, that says a lot. Because he saw the real footage and it looks like its great.
I think the offhollywood crew can make decent judgements, cause they work with film and HD on a daily basis.

So yes, I wanna see footage even at 1K. But Marks statements are the best infos for me so far.

Cheers:tongue:
Tim
 
Mark,

Thanks for the GREAT post with all those specifics. Very useful for all the users out there and reservation holders trying to figure out what else to order to trick out their cameras.

From helping with the tests last weekend, I just wanted to say publicly how impressed I was with yours & Aldey's thorough knowledge of the ins & outs of this camera and all the accessory options. Being that you are not ACs or camera operators but producers and filmmakers, I've felt and heard some general concern (not about OffHollywood) about production companies buying these camera and renting them out and not having the support or knowledge that the production needs from a camera rental company.

From having already known you guys, I knew you'd be all over the workflow, and I certainly didn't expect you to drop the ball on the camera side of things, but for day one, you were SO ABOVE and BEYOND what I would expect about bracketry, screws, rods, and all that Camera Assistant minutiae that you knocked all of our socks off.

So to the rest of you I want to say, these guys really know how to use these cameras. OffHollywood has jumped in head first to know everything there is to know about supporting shooting with RED: from putting a package together, shooting, field data capture, workflow & post... they do it all! Sure they are my friends and I want to give them business, but I also have to do what is best and right for my projects, and seeing what I saw last weekend, I would rather go with them than a rental house because they can offer FULL support not only camera support.

With so much of cinematography moving to post and workflow being integrated into shooting, I see OffHollywood as a pioneering business model, and would rather work with a company like them instead of a rental house that hands you a camera and expects you to figure out the rest.

Thank you for having the passion and interest to do this RIGHT!

Much respect,
Jendra

FULL DISCLOSURE: I do not work for OffHollywood. I am a friend of theirs and participated in the camera tests this weekend. I am a freelance DP, but I was not THE DP for the test shoot. That was Paul McCarthy.
 
Great post man. Awesome storytelling. Just noticed that you wrote that you got the camera on Sept. 31 instead of Aug.31.
I'm sure everyone will know what your talking about but maybe somewhere down the line people will get confused.
Really enjoyed the post though, keep'em coming.
 
Thanks, Mark! Great to read your first impressions and I anxiously await any stills and clips you guys intend to release.
 
Thanks a bunch for sharing. Great stuff to read.
 
Hey all - I just posted up a long post about optimal shooting with Red, driving your exposures by the histogram, the benefit of a milky image to start with, and to help illustrate the point -

16 BIT 4K 48 MEGABYTE TIFF FRAMES.

FIVE OF THEM.

Thanks to Mark for letting me post these, and enjoy!

http://www.hdforindies.com/2007/09/red-one-shoot-offhollywood-stunt-cars.html

These are fully gradable images - talked it over with Pliny and decided it was best to put up files in OCN (original camera negative, my stolen terminology). These are EXACTLY as shot off the Red - no sharpening, no tweaking, no nuthin'. While more optimal results can be gained by flavoring to taste in Red's software, this is a good place to start messing with it Photoshop or other image manipulation apps, and for people like Stu to not grouse at me for clipping out info. These frames are a good place to start getting an idea of the lattitude of the Red and what works and doesn't work - white cars in broad daylight.

I have additional notes on how things were shot, but they're back at the office, I'll update the article tomorrow with more techie/shooter info.

-mike

PS - Stunt cars. Smokin' tires. Whee.
 
B016_C006_070902_001_OCN-737556.jpg


Now THIS look like a movie shoot. Nice DOF, lighting color. Its right... and like you pointed out Mark, its a white car in a sunny day. Somehow it reminds me about old Steven Spielberg movies. Love it!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top