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  • 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 :)

Steven Soderbergh...

Jannard

Jannard

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Let me tell you what is incredible about Steven Soderbergh in my eyes.

1. Academy Award winning Director.

2. Loves to shoot his own stuff. And edit it.

3. He doesn't ask anyone's permission to do what he thinks will work.

4. Made a decision to shoot two Ché features (Benecio Del Toro) based on seeing Peter Jackson footage and one quick test shoot at his house (with Jarred, Deanan and myself) on two prototype, pre-production RED ONE cameras.

5. Assembles his troops in Spain waiting for two RED ONEs to show up. Has told his team he does not need backup cameras. RED will come through. We got the CF cards working minutes before shooting begins by emailing firmware to Deanan, Rob and Ivan in Spain. They then drive to location and fire up the cameras and start rolling...

6. 1st day shooting in a walk down only valley, 100+ degree temperature. Cameras overheat. SS says "put ice packs on them until RED can figure this out" and continues shooting. Continues this process for a few days until we can email a firmware upgrade. Pre-production firmware, no exposure assist or frame guides of any kind, 24fps only... barely more advanced than "Boris" and "Natasha" used by Peter Jackson. Never complains. Not once. Only... "happy to be here".

7. Sends me an email how thrilled he is to shoot RED and probably will never shoot anything else, no matter what the budget. Loves the cameras.

8. After finishing the 1st (2nd) Ché movie, decides to shoot the next one anamorphic. We tell him he is nuts. He believes that we will find a way to make it work. We do. He is thrilled with the results.

9. After shooting and editing the two Ché movies, SS informs us he is shooting "The Informant" (Matt Damon) on RED. "What do you have in the way of improvements?" We give him Build 15. Off he goes.

10. Next up is "The Girlfriend Experience". Shot on RED Build 18 (with anamorphic support). His 1st AC surprises him onset that he can actually view the anamorphic footage correctly on his monitor. He wrote me a note to tell me, "you won't believe how good this stuff looks... well, maybe you will."

11. Next up... 3D on RED.

I have to say several things about Steven. He is wickedly smart. He never gets flustered (that I have seen). He is an incredible story-teller... one of the best.

He never once complained about "what RED couldn't do". He always made work what he could do with any given version of RED. If I tell him that we just enabled something, he'll respond with something like "well that will be nice. I could use that." Steven has never once asked us for any special treatment... only pushing us along by believing in us. Amazing what a powerful technique that is.

Sometimes on this board we get so carried away with every spec, feature or wish that we paralyze ourselves with actually doing something. I have learned a lot from Steven. Not just about cameras and shooting, but about living. "We have what we have and that is plenty enough (for today) to do something meaningful. If you give me more, I'll do more. But I have enough now." I just love his philosophy.

I have met many people during my business career. Michael Jordan is a close friend. As is Lance Armstrong. Steven Soderbergh soars to the elite list of people that inspire me. Peter Jackson is on that list as well. None of these people are on my list because they are big names. It is because they are big people doing big things without complaining about "what they don't have". Lance never said "I can't do this anymore because I have cancer". Peter never said, "OK... I'll look at these prototypes when they are really ready."

God love those that are brave and inspire us. Today, it is Steven Soderbergh for me. Not only did he believe in RED, he didn't wait for someone else to "do it" before he got brave and shot a large budget film(s) on completely unproven prototypes. He forced us to perform by believing in us. How could we ever let him down?

Jim
 
He sounds like a great guy! I just hope there is a way that I can watch "Che" on the big screen someday. He does some astounding work.
 
That's a really good personal philosophy to have. Thank you for sharing.
 
Not sure if anyone caught my brief review of Che over in off topic, but the conclusion I came to was that I went in hoping to see a movie and I left feeling like I saw a movie. A testament to Red and to Steven. Any nitpicking stuff really doesn't matter. It looked great, it looked different than film and different than HD. What it convinced me of was that if you can't make a movie with a Red camera, probably not the camera's fault. My major complaint about Che. It almost looked too clean for the subject matter. But that is subjective. I might have gone for a different grade, perhaps added some texture. Maybe the film prints have a different feel, but the digital projection was just so clean that I was craving a bit of grit. But those are creative decisions.

Jim makes a great point. Often we do miss the point about what Red means to filmmaking by getting too wrapped up in the missing features and not enough on the positives

Everyone should get to the theater to see Che when its released.
 
Albert Einstein:
Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.
 
I'm thrilled that you Mr. Jannard have leveled the equipment playing field. No longer can anyone give equipment as an excuse. You've brought the ability for anyone to be able to shoot with amazing equipment. Our RED's have been on Student shoots all the way to multi-million dollar commercials, to once in a lifetime doc opportunities. Thanks for all the opportunities you've provided to all of us.
 
True creatives work with the tools given and don't give much thought to how a different tool can make their work "better". They accept what they have available and go to work. Every creative endeavor has constraints, many often have self-imposed boundaries (haiku, or say, 12 bar blues). Wishing for more/faster/better is just a way of distracting you from your creative task.

As a director/D.P., not once after I have finished a project am I ever lamenting about some technical shortcoming of the camera, or even post. Often I am bummed about not having enough time to do things the way they needed to be done, or wishing for better circumstances, or what have you. Managerial issues, not technical shortcomings.
 
Yes, agreed Jim,

Steven is a great Storyteller and there is way too much complaining and overly taking discussions the wrong path this days, and this is why I don't have a presence as much ( not that any one cares any way, I'm sure), but love and believe what you guys are doing, and time comes I'll show it with my own images wrather then the many words that some time get lost in translation.

Love RED and hated with my all Heart having to be put in a position to sale them, but as a Director, I can and did and will always Hire RED ONEs for any given project which will be accompany by one or more of the very talented RED Owner/DPs.


ciao
 
Thank you for sharing Jim!

stevesherrick said:
Jim makes a great point. Often we do miss the point about what Red means to filmmaking by getting too wrapped up in the missing features and not enough on the positives
Click to expand...


Very well said Steve!
 
I have to be honest here, not only did I get how impressed Jim is with Steve, Peter, Lance, et al, but I also could not shake the feeling he was sending a message to those he feels think the camera is "never good enough" or always want something more.

I think the words "shut up why don't ya!" come to mind.

Keeping customers happy can be a hard thing.

Jay
 
Jay A. Kelley said:
I have to be honest here, not only did I get how impressed Jim is with Steve, Peter, Lance, et al, but I also could not shake the feeling he was sending a message to those he feels think the camera is "never good enough" or always want something more.

I think the words "shut up why don't ya!" come to mind.

Keeping customers happy can be a hard thing.

Jay
Click to expand...

Jay... that was kind of a mood-killer post. :)

Jim
 
That is really something great to hear. Even with their great success, these men manage to stay humble and composed, unlike many people in their position. Much respect.
 
Red has found the one to do the next Epic/Scarlet test movie. SS
 
Speaking of features, can we get a button in Build 19 that automatically makes our movies as good as Soderbergh's?
 
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