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Shooting On RED Starring Michael Douglas

radiant

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We are currently shooting a feature film in Shreveport Louisiana with
Peter Hyams the Director/DP of such films as:
2010, End Of Days, The Musketeer and The Presidio just to name a few.
(Click link for IMBD) and starring Michael Douglas, Amber Tamblyn & Jesse Metcalfe.

We're shooting in 4K with final output of 4K film scan. The workflow, along with the immediate response of what you see is what you get (to a certain degree),
makes the process of filmmaking more responsive and for most cases faster.
It's like having your negatives developed on set and then having them instantly available to you. There is no more guess work involved.
We were very fortunate to have had full support of Apple and Red in order to help us create a very efficient workflow.

The Red responds really well under low light. We're shooting most of our scenes with available light/ practical light.
The amount of details in the highlights and shadows is unlike what any high definition camera could ever capture.

We are doing a lot of in-camera color adjustment due to the fact that Quicktime proxy files create a flat pass and create more of a washed out low contrast image.
Since this can affect the look of your dailies, it was unacceptable for Peter. Therefore, in-camera color adjustments were necessary.
The other solution would have been to use Red Alert or Red Cine to set your contrast and your gamma curves, but this process is time-consuming when producing dailies on set.

As far as image quality and the organic feel, it's not even close to film. It's still digital, but offers another available tool for the appropriate project or vision.

We are putting the Red through a full test with all available accessories.
The camera has responded so well, even prompting Michael Douglas to inquire on the Red's capabilities while on set.
We are currently shooting with the following:

6 x Reds,
2 x EVF's
6 x Arri 19mm Base Plate Sliding Dove Tail & Full Cinema Support
6 x Hot-Swap Battery Supply for RED Cameras (non-stop shooting)
1 x Set of Arri Master Primes: 14, 18, 21, 35, 50, 75 & 100mm T1.3 (best lenses I have ever seen)
1 x Arri Ultra Prime 180mm T2.0
1 x Arri Prime 100mm T2.0
1 x Arri Prime 135mm T2.0
1 x Cooke 18-100 Mark II T3.0
1 x Cooke 25-250 Mark II T4.0
2 x Steadicams
1 x Super Techno Crane
2 x ArriHead 2 Geared Head
9 x Panasonic 8.4" HD LCD Monitors with Waveform
7 x Panasonic 17" HD LCD Monitors with Waveform
1 x Panasonic 26" HD LCD Monitor with waveform
5 x Preston Full Fiz Wireless Follow Focus Systems
1 x Viewfactor Prototype Remote VTR Start and Stop
6 x MB20 4 x5 Mattebox
2 x MB14 6x6 Mattebox
2 x LMB5 4x5 Clamp-on Mattebox
6 x FF5 Follow Focus
4 x Cine Tapes
6 x Ambient Clockit Boxes
1 x HyperDrive (This is the world's Fastest Memory Card Backup system)

Along with everything else needed to support a feature film of this magnitude.
This new digital technology is simply phenomenal and will change cinema.

Thank You

Michael Mansouri
Radiant Images, Inc.
hd camera rentals.com
 
WOW six camera shoot. I see your operator is using a gear head. How is he hooking up a leveler to the eyepiece?
 
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Geared Head & Eyepiece

Geared Head & Eyepiece

Hello Chuck,
we have tested all available accessories for this camera, some currently available and some prototypes. currently we are using the Element Technica EVF mount which does not have eyepiece lever.
Steve has informed us that they are making the eyepiece lever in the next month or so.

So I will keep you informed once ours comes in.

Thanks

Michael
 
What is the recording medium? CF or HD? What are you using to produce the dailys? Any just any thing you gleaned regarding media management on such a full scale project. Thanks
 
We are doing a lot of in-camera color adjustment due to the fact that

in-camera color adjustments were necessary. HOW you do that???
 
In the 'Video' menu - then 'Color'... You can adjust contrast, saturation, brightness and exposure. then you can go into the 'Gain' menu and adjust individual RGB channel gain.
 
As far as image quality and the organic feel, it's not even close to film.
It's not film but how is image quality not even close to film? Because there is no grain? What is missing in the final image after grading beyond 'texture' aka noise/grain which can be added digitally if needed?
 
We are currently shooting a feature film in Shreveport Louisiana with
Peter Hyams the Director/DP of such films as:
2010, End Of Days, The Musketeer and The Presidio just to name a few.
(Click link for IMBD) and starring Michael Douglas, Amber Tamblyn & Jesse Metcalfe.

We're shooting in 4K with final output of 4K film scan. The workflow, along with the immediate response of what you see is what you get (to a certain degree),
makes the process of filmmaking more responsive and for most cases faster.
It's like having your negatives developed on set and then having them instantly available to you. There is no more guess work involved.
We were very fortunate to have had full support of Apple and Red in order to help us create a very efficient workflow.

The Red responds really well under low light. We're shooting most of our scenes with available light/ practical light.
The amount of details in the highlights and shadows is unlike what any high definition camera could ever capture.

We are doing a lot of in-camera color adjustment due to the fact that Quicktime proxy files create a flat pass and create more of a washed out low contrast image.
Since this can affect the look of your dailies, it was unacceptable for Peter. Therefore, in-camera color adjustments were necessary.
The other solution would have been to use Red Alert or Red Cine to set your contrast and your gamma curves, but this process is time-consuming when producing dailies on set.

As far as image quality and the organic feel, it's not even close to film. It's still digital, but offers another available tool for the appropriate project or vision.

We are putting the Red through a full test with all available accessories.
The camera has responded so well, even prompting Michael Douglas to inquire on the Red's capabilities while on set.
We are currently shooting with the following:

6 x Reds,
2 x EVF's
6 x Arri 19mm Base Plate Sliding Dove Tail & Full Cinema Support
6 x Hot-Swap Battery Supply for RED Cameras (non-stop shooting)
1 x Set of Arri Master Primes: 14, 18, 21, 35, 50, 75 & 100mm T1.3 (best lenses I have ever seen)
1 x Arri Ultra Prime 180mm T2.0
1 x Arri Prime 100mm T2.0
1 x Arri Prime 135mm T2.0
1 x Cooke 18-100 Mark II T3.0
1 x Cooke 25-250 Mark II T4.0
2 x Steadicams
1 x Super Techno Crane
2 x ArriHead 2 Geared Head
9 x Panasonic 8.4" HD LCD Monitors with Waveform
7 x Panasonic 17" HD LCD Monitors with Waveform
1 x Panasonic 26" HD LCD Monitor with waveform
5 x Preston Full Fiz Wireless Follow Focus Systems
1 x Viewfactor Prototype Remote VTR Start and Stop
6 x MB20 4 x5 Mattebox
2 x MB14 6x6 Mattebox
2 x LMB5 4x5 Clamp-on Mattebox
6 x FF5 Follow Focus
4 x Cine Tapes
6 x Ambient Clockit Boxes

Along with everything else needed to support a feature film of this magnitude.
This new digital technology is simply phenomenal and will change cinema.

Thank You

Michael Mansouri
Radiant Images, Inc.
hd camera rentals.com

All amazing!
 
Great stuff Radiant, Thanks for posting!

Dave
 
In the 'Video' menu - then 'Color'... You can adjust contrast, saturation, brightness and exposure. then you can go into the 'Gain' menu and adjust individual RGB channel gain.

If you adjust in camera - isn't that baking in the look of the scene?
Maybe be great for viewing dalies but I would think it would give
a post person less to work with. Kinda like shooting .jpeg in a DSLR??

Wouldn't it be better to view the "flat" pic with a LUT applied monitor?
 
Nope, adjusting settings in camera is metadata only. It doesn't alter the image recorded to the R3D file in any way.

Graeme
 
Thats great to know, thanks for sharing and good luck with the rest of your shoot...!

I know this has been discussed before but I dont often hear about a lot of users exercise this in camera color adjustment and it sound very useful even just for the sake of getting better looking dailies.
 
Congrats Michael! This is really cool. Btw, I noticed you arent using any Red LCDs, did they not hold up or were they deemed too small or...?
 
Nope, adjusting settings in camera is metadata only. It doesn't alter the image recorded to the R3D file in any way.

Graeme

Hhh??
That is interesting.....
I guess I am use to seeing footage that the VariCam/HVX200/F900 crowd
has thrown me that they "adjusted" on set. They usually wonder why
it does not look they way it did in the studio.
Is there a tutorial or info on how to do this? I am getting some local shooters who want to shoot and edit RED and that would be valuable info to have.
Cheers
 
That's the beauty of shooting RAW.

If on the set, we're shooting something in Black & White, I'll turn the saturation down to zero in the camera menus. When I pull up the QuickTime proxies, I'll have black and white footage, just like on set.

If I pull up the R3D files in RedCine or RedAlert, I'll get black and white footage, but I can put the color back in by just turning the saturation parameter back up. Like Graeme said, it's all meta-data that is completely changeable as long as you stay RAW.
 
Great report, and I have a strong feeling that this is just the tip of the iceberg - when it comes to what we can expect from RED being used in major productions. (Not that this is the first).

My belief in RED, its capabilities and the images it produces is rock solid!
 
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