Is shooting RED being a good American?

[Mark Crabtree]

Say what?

Say what?

This is the dumbest thread. Of course shooting/buying Red makes you a good American. Red is an American company and America where the profits go and America earns the prestige for this innovation. Red is competing globally. How can you be a good American if you bankrupt yourself on a camera made in the U.S. at a price ($150,000.00 for a Red One made in entirely in America?) that would be profitable to an American company?
Are you not a good american when you buy a DSLR? Silly.

 

[Radoslav Karapetkov]

I think the worlds pretty flat these days....

... and boring. :skep:

 

[Stephen Williams]

nothing is made in the US anymore

Kodak film? Panavision Cameras!

 

[Tim Whitcomb]

nothing is made in the US anymore

Except most US entertainment product (Foreign co-productions excluded of course)

FACT: America's number one export is ENTERTAINMENT and most is created right here in the good old US of A and many US companies (like RED) are helping enable higher quality exports.

 

[David M]

Last night President Obama's State of the Union address got me thinking, "Is shooting with RED being a good American?"* Of all my camera options, i.e., Sony, Panasonic, Arri, etc..., are any other cameras developed and/or manufactured in the United States? Is the RED camera even manufactured in the United States?

*I am using "Good American" to mean: buying or using American made goods and services when equal in quality or value to foreign ones.

Most of the technology behind all these whizz-bang products is developed in the US and Europe and licensed to mostly Asian manufacturers. Nearly two centuries after the term "technology" was coined, the average joe still has difficulty regarding intellectual property as a valid resource, worthy of the same status as labor and raw materials.

It's a bit like computer software. Despite its potential to do the work of thousands of human clerks, or allow them to use their time far more efficiently, people still have trouble regarding computer programming as "real" work.

Everybody keeps speculating how the supposed loss of the film market is going to somehow kill Kodak, yet they make far more money from the patents they hold on silicon imaging sevices.

 

[Tai Wah Lim]

I was once told that the RED Ones were made in Singapore (where I live at the moment ) but I have no idea whether that is true or not.

Felix, look at the bottom and it states Made in Singapore. Do not know if they still do. EPIC will not be made here though. Lim Singapore

 

[christopher witzke]

This is the best (and most American) answer yet.

P.S. Just checked out your motion reel, Chris. You really do nice work. I especially like the spot for the Kentucky Human Society. Is it all shot on RED?

that spot was shot on a sony ex1.... I've only have the red since last March.... My reel is lame compared to most folks here... but I hope I'm getting better.

thanks!

 

[Daniel Meador]

This is the smartest thread.

 

[Andrew M.]

Where you buy or what country of origin the purchased goods are, has nothing to do with being good American.
We have duties to regulate export/import surplus. This good American thing is just making the fine tuning of economy more difficult. Politicians are not economists and just to get few votes more and be more popular they go out and do all this good American thing without realising that they are making things unpredictable this way. Buying the goods where it is most efficient business wise, makes it good economy and predictable economy. Adding the mix of patriotism to the business is like changing the white balance way off and than trying to color correct it in post.

 

[dean merrill]

I would be careful using the term "good American". The question is how to I appear, and am I a conscious, good intending person. How do i affect my neighbor?

I try to support local business because it helps support the community. If you are relatively local to LA, i would say Yes, buying a RED camera is supporting your community. to go farther beyond that, i would say, yes, buying a RED is good for the US economy, and there for is good for the neighbor. Be weary of blind patriotism, because it could be easily said "eating at McDonalds is being a good American." This would not be true, since what they offer can barely be called food, and the health problems caused by it is more inline with poison.

 

[Gavin Greenwalt]

Wherever it's made a Robot probably made it.

Nationality is largely irrelevant and hands on manufacturing is rapidly disappearing period.

Choosing which nation of Robot made it seems kind of silly.

I get annoyed by this all the time on VFX forums people start getting all patriotic and nationalistic because rotoscope work is going to India. Then the next topic is linking to this super cool new tracker which automatically rotoscopes all the work and everyone is thrilled that a $3k application can now make their life easier.

There's already a magic $1k application that automatically rotoscopes your work, it's called China!

Cheap labor is just a preview of no-labor. At first it's hard and requires a person with extensive expertise. Then it becomes trivial and someone can be taught to do it in a couple of days. Then it's done automatically by a machine. Such is the way of labor. If your job starts feeling easy, it's probably about to get outsourced or given to a robot.