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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 :)

RED's biggest problem

T

Tony Brown

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Ironically is its brilliance.

Many many people now consider RED to be a one stop shop. While this for the low end of the market is fantastic, there can be no doubt that there is a significant sector of relatively high end companies that will see the opportunity to save huge portions of their budgets by containing the project workflow in house.

However this will result in not only the loss of specialist grading and (and thanks to the equally billiant FCP) editing expertise and hardware, but also the budgets allocated to said projects.

RED is going to be responsible for an overall dumbing down of quality across the board and I think this is a great shame.

Its difficult to refute this, as its already happening.
 
and the people that used to make vinyl records have been delt a harsh blow?
 
Tony Brown said:
RED is going to be responsible for an overall dumbing down of quality across the board and I think this is a great shame.
Click to expand...

They said the same thing about the HP LaserJet, PageMaker, Word, Excel, Photoshop, the Indigo ePrint digital press, 3D Studio Max and DVD-R.

If there is to be any "dumbing down", it will be short lived and followed quickly by a huge pendulum swing the other way finally settling at an equilibrium point of quality higher than we have ever seen. Specialists will always be required but history has taught us that their tools don't have to cost 10 times their salaries. Companies don't always outsource specialization because they can't afford the people, they often outsource because they can't afford the tools.

-michael zaletel
(shooter)
 
There's always some initial dumbing down as the market adapts. It happened with the graphic arts and pro audio industries, and many others at some point. Once the market adjusts to the new paradigm, the playing field will have become much larger. The cream always rises to the top and those with the real talent have nothing to fear, but should revel in the new era of digital cinema. Change happens in every industry, it's only a matter of time. Lots and lots of new opportunities being created right now. Complaining about it and trying to desperately cling to the old way of doing things (as in last year's way of doing things) will kill you.
 
Tony,

I'm afraid we've been down that road for a long time. I don't think RED is at fault any more than Panasonic's DVX100 or HVX200. The irony is that the "old farts" are actually the ones who seem to know how to get the most out of RED images.

- Oliver
 
As much as I think the greater access to higher end imagery will cause a massive influx of material to the market that should never have been made, I also see the opportunities that this technology represents.

With cash-flow issues, this technology will also allow filmmakers who are brilliant at what they do - making films - but who are poor at shilling themselves to the mainstream or to investors, to make their films.

As with all advances in technology, those who are talented and able to adapt will always shine. And, isn't the film industry always about who can adapt? 'Cause making great images is a given.
 
Chris M. said:
As much as I think the greater access to higher end imagery will cause a massive influx of material to the market that should never have been made, I also see the opportunities that this technology represents.

With cash-flow issues, this technology will also allow filmmakers who are brilliant at what they do - making films - but who are poor at shilling themselves to the mainstream or to investors, to make their films.

As with all advances in technology, those who are talented and able to adapt will always shine. And, isn't the film industry always about who can adapt? 'Cause making great images is a given.
Click to expand...

You just said what I was about to write, for the most part. I would like to add though, that I think that any thing that helps get the ability to make incredible images, into the hands of as many people as possible. Is in the long run, a wonderful thing.
Sure, that means that plenty of crap will get made (nothing new there), but if because of that we get just a few more masterpieces for us all to enjoy and study. Then, that I think will be Red's true legacy and impact on the art form. Having provided a tool that helps to make that possible.
 
Everyone becomes an old fart eventually... and become sick and tired of being referred to as "an old fart".

I see just as many cases of closed-mindedness among youth as I do the elderly; it seems to be a basic personality type more than age-related.

Personally, the older I get, the more I realize there is to learn. The only difference is that experience over time allows some perspective on immediate and pressing trends and fads.
 
The desktop revolution is a good analogy - I was in the middle of it when it happened right after college, after being trained to do some typesetting. The quality from the desktop folks was plain awful at first, partly due to technology and partly due to the fact that just because you can write, it doesn't follow that you can layout text and pictures in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Today what we see in desktop publishing is just a wider range of quality, but there is still good work out there to be found.

It's a bit of a rollercoaster, how technology impacts quality. However, over time, it's not so much that there is a loss or gain of quality so much as there becomes new definitions of what quality itself means. We adapt to the tools just as much as they adapt to us.

I see a lot of the intial poor quality of D.I.'s going away finally, but I also see many D.I. artifacts becoming accepted and familiar in filmmaking now, the basic look of movies is becoming altered by digital technology.

Sometimes I worry that movies are going to look more and more like computer games, and then I worry that a lot of people aren't worried about that...
 
Thanks, Tony, for bringing the wisdom gathered from what is so clearly an enviable level of professional experience, at the highest achievment, to the benifit of we, your quiet admirers.

It is people like you who make coming to reduser so deeply useful...
 
Tony Brown said:
However this will result in not only the loss of specialist grading and (and thanks to the equally billiant FCP) editing expertise and hardware, but also the budgets allocated to said projects.
Click to expand...

How is that a bad thing? Colorists should be able to find more work since more people will be able to afford their services, and since their equipment isn't going to require investors to obtain.

If you're able to do professional colorwork on a cheaper rig, and have it be quicker and easier, shouldn't that mean that colorists and image specialists are just going to have to adapt?

People will skill and who can do it well will always be able to find jobs, more people will be producing stuff since the budgets will be less.

Sure you might be making less per job, but you'll also be doing a lot more jobs.

Also, I see people bringing in specialists into their house, rather than going to post-house, since it'll be cheaper to bring in a specialist, and pay their salary directly rather than having to pay for all of the extra equipment.
 
Hi,

I have to ask if you have ever been in a grading session at a top post house?
Everything happens in real time, I don't really see it being quicker or easier at home.

Stephen

Wesley Scoggins said:
How is that a bad thing? Colorists should be able to find more work since more people will be able to afford their services, and since their equipment isn't going to require investors to obtain.

If you're able to do professional colorwork on a cheaper rig, and have it be quicker and easier, shouldn't that mean that colorists and image specialists are just going to have to adapt?

People will skill and who can do it well will always be able to find jobs, more people will be producing stuff since the budgets will be less.

Sure you might be making less per job, but you'll also be doing a lot more jobs.

Also, I see people bringing in specialists into their house, rather than going to post-house, since it'll be cheaper to bring in a specialist, and pay their salary directly rather than having to pay for all of the extra equipment.
Click to expand...
 
Ten years ago, there were scanning experts in professional still photography, in pre-press houses. They had a lock on things until digital photography surfaced. Actually there was an entire chain of pro's that handle all sorts of processes, that no longer exist. The technology made them obsolete, but the technology allowed the still photographer something they never had before, total control, from beginning to end. The photographers skillset jumped many notches, now they have abilities they did not dream of in 1999. Is this a bad thing? Right now I can generate a color managed image from capture to print, and it will be awesome. As good or better(mostly better) that the pros 15 or 20 years ago, yes better. Through technology and education I have learned to do these processes.

In less than one years time, I will know how to accurately grade and edit, and that will stop me from going outside for such service. I'm smart, so are many others, and they will get it, this is not rocket science. Is it wrong, no, it's progress. RED has made a lot of things once difficult, now easier, and accessible. The genie is out, baby. You are not in Kansas anymore Dorothy.
 
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