RED ONE History...

[Rick Burnett]

Thanks for sharing the history! Is it wrong I've named my Scarlet before even receiving one? And I NEVER name my equipment. But in this case, it only seems right!

 

[Austin Neill]

'cept with the RED, both of those merge into one system. Have you seen the RED handles?

very true! did not even recognize this..

 

[Eisen Feuer]

Frankie looks more like it's a starship-mounted laser cannon than a camera!

 

[alex lemon]

Bread Box is the bomb!

 

[Rick Burnett]

It's the "Steampunk Red" Camera before Steampunk was a trend

http://www.slipperybrick.com/2009/12/diy-steampunk-camera/

 

[Steve Gibby]

Its been my pleasure to have been involved with Red history since early 2005, and helping to create some of that history along the way.

Let me explain:

I've known Jim Jannard since the early 80's. He was obviously deeply involved with alternative sports at Oakley, and Oakley was the sponsor of many of the professional athletes I was involved with televising on ESPN, Fox, NBC, and many other networks.

Fast forward to 2004/2005. I was directing and shooting Hot Rod TV episodes for SPEED when we covered several NHRA drag racing events. At those it was cool to see Jim again and talk about cameras. In the Spring of 2005 Jim described to me a concept for a new digital cinema camera he'd been thinking about. I remember him asking me what I thought about the concept. My response? "Are you kidding me? Do it man!!".

In early December 2005, on Jim's invitation I was one of the attendees for a conference at Oakley Headquarters in which a group of professionals from the motion media and tech industries would meet an entire day to brainstorm and think tank concepts about this new camera. It was intense, exhilarating, and fascinating. I'm not free to tell you the specifics of what was discussed there or who else attended. There are some attendees who received permission to verify they attended - among them are Jim Jannard (he didn't need to ask!), Graeme Nattress, Frederic Lumiere, and myself. The camera brainstormed that day became Red One.

In mid-January 2006 I told Jim I wanted to interview him for a magazine article I'd write about the newly-proposed Red camera. If you know Jim, you know that he has almost never given magazine interviews during his career. He knew me well and trusted my writing style and grasp of technology, so he agreed to the interview. I asked him everything I could think of and recorded the interview audio for later transcription. That interview became the first magazine published interview with Jim about Red One. It was in the March 2006 issue of Studio Monthly.

At NAB 2006 Jim gave me the opportunity to purchase Red 0008, which I quickly jumped at! That has obviously turned out to be one of the very best decisions I've ever made in my motion media career - bar none.

In the months following April 2006 I also had the privilege of being the first person to break many more news stories about Red products via more Studio Monthly magazine articles, and blog entries on the Studio Monthly web site. I remember how stoked I was to get a chance to help unveil the new products and features of Red One and its accessories. That was an incredibly cool opportunity. Having known Jim for so long, I really believed in his instincts and dream of building Red - and obviously I still do.

As all of you reading this know, his instincts to build the camera were spot on. Beyond that Jim has great team building skills. He'd be the first to tell you that though the initial concept for making Red was his, the success of actually pulling that off with the success which has been realized, is a direct result of him surrounding himself with a phenomenally talented group of workers which became known as Red Team. All these Red Team people are good friends of mine - and I have the deepest respect for their talents and tenacity.

On August 31, 2007 I joined a hyper-stoked gaggle of people at Red headquarters to receive the very first shipping Red One cameras - serial numbers 6 through 25. The excitement in the air was unbelievably thick. Each of us had stepped up in the face of peer-criticism and rampant industry derision to support Red in their quest for a new breed of digital cinema camera - Mark, Blair, Torrie, myself, Billy, Shawn, and several others. I remember us looking at each other with big smiles and "I can't wait to shoot with this thing!" sighs. It was pure magic then - and still is exactly the same when I think of it today.

In the days, weeks, and months following I remember how cool it was to be essentially a pioneer beta tester of this new camera system. It was a pure rush - not without anxious moments - but then again that was probably what we all craved and enjoyed. The overall group of super-early adopters of Red one was like a close-knit family - and still is to this day.

Shortly after receiving Red 0008 I was way stoked to take delivery of two more super-early Red One cameras.

With my Red cameras I was fortunate enough to achieve many "firsts" for Red camera work - first Red 4k 3D, first water housing, first underwater footage, first multi-Red sports production, and on and on. I've detailed some of those gigs on the Collectors thread on this Recon forum, on page 8 (eight must be my magic number!) and beyond.

Now here we are on the verge of getting the chance to test out the next incarnation and iteration of Red cameras - Epic and Scarlet. None of this would have been possible without Jim's initial dream, him surrounding himself with a great Red Team, and the faithful support of the early Red camera adopters who gave Red tons of beta feedback and set the stage for the 7,000+ Red One cameras that would follow. Now we have a big giant, ever-growing Red family of adopters and users - but its still just that, a family. That's way cool, I'd say...

It has been my great pleasure to be a friend of Jim Jannard for 25+ years now, to have the opportunity to be an early contributor to what would become Red One, to be an early adopter and camera receiver, and to still be just as excited about Red cameras today as I was that first day in early 2005 when Jim described his dream of a new camera to me. So what are my feelings now as Jim is near to rolling out Epic and Scarlet? The same as my 2005 reaction to him about his initial dream - "Are you kidding me? Do it man!!"

 

[michael zaletel]

Well said Steve.

-michael zaletel

 

[christopher witzke]

wow... thanks Steve!

 

[Elsie N]

Steve,

Always knew you were in the mix somewhere... thanks for filling in just how. Don't know if you can answer this, but I'm curious to know how many RED One sales were projected early on? Seems like I read a couple years ago on Reduser that expectations were something like 500?

 

[Yannick Verry]

I'm wondering, but maybe that's Red secret... How did you guys find investors to put those millions in R&D for camera, lenses, etc...?

 

[Joseph Hutson]

I'm wondering, but maybe that's Red secret... How did you guys find investors to put those millions in R&D for camera, lenses, etc...?

Jim Jannard founded "Oakley" and according to Forbes, he is the 113th richest man in America. He has the funds to support RED not just in millions, but also in the billions. :closedeyes:

 

[PatrickW]

I'm wondering, but maybe that's Red secret... How did you guys find investors to put those millions in R&D for camera, lenses, etc...?

I think it was primarily funded by Mr. Jannard himself. He did after all found, and own a majority share of Oakley, and later sold it.

 

[Steve Gibby]

Steve,

Always knew you were in the mix somewhere... thanks for filling in just how. Don't know if you can answer this, but I'm curious to know how many RED One sales were projected early on? Seems like I read a couple years ago on Reduser that expectations were something like 500?

I really don't know how many Red One cameras were initially projected to sell. I would hazard a guess that Red has been way pleased with how many have sold - 7,500+

Jim Jannard saw a need and an essentially unfilled niche in the digital cinema industry, and being a great "dot connector" he stepped up to service that niche. The proof is in the testing. Just as Jim was right about the need for Oakley products, he was equally right about the need for Red products. Jim is what you could accurately call a very gifted visionary...

I expect Epic to sell in the tens of thousands in the long run, and Scarlet to sell in the hundreds of thousands in the long run...and both of these in spite of a somewhat slow world economy.

 

[Julio Quintana]

You think there are hundreds of thousands of people willing to spend $4000 on a camera, then get the computer power necessary to work with 3K RAW footage? I think it will be a very popular camera, but every film student in America would have to buy one to hit those numbers (Jeez, now that I say that, it doesn't seem so crazy).

 

[Elsie N]

I expect Epic to sell in the tens of thousands in the long run, and Scarlet to sell in the hundreds of thousands...and both of these in spite of a somewhat slow world economy.

When I first read these numbers, I thought you may be suffering from altitude sickness... but then I realized that the cameras will be upgradeable and therefore the base upgradeable platform actually probably will reach these numbers over time. 'Cause for most people, this will be the last camera they ever buy. They will just upgrade it periodically.

 

[Steve Gibby]

When I first read these numbers, I thought you may be suffering from altitude sickness... but then I realized that the cameras will be upgradeable and therefore the base upgradeable platform actually probably will reach these numbers over time. 'Cause for most people, this will be the last camera they ever buy. They will just upgrade it periodically.

Exactly, the modularity and upgradability are major factors...plus Red is now global in reach

Those numbers may be optimistic, but then again I'm an optimist, and that's what moved me to jump on the Red bandwagon so early

I've always believed that if we can visualize something we can achieve it. I'd say Jim believes that too...

 

[Shawn Nelson]

Steve,
thanks for sharing more of your story with you, Jim and Red!

Even though Jim forgot to mention that I was there at that first Red day... , it was a memory I'll never forget, especially where we stood in a circle and said who we were, never have I felt so completely humbled, one day soon I'll have retroactively earned my right to have been there.

 

[Gavin Greenwalt]

When I first read these numbers, I thought you may be suffering from altitude sickness... but then I realized that the cameras will be upgradeable and therefore the base upgradeable platform actually probably will reach these numbers over time. 'Cause for most people, this will be the last camera they ever buy. They will just upgrade it periodically.

There are a LOT of people waiting to drop a lot of money on RED when the new line is released. The REDOne was an amazing proof of concept but for ever One there are at least a dozen who have the funds probably even for a REDOne but are holding out for one reason or another. I look forward to my particular matrix of requirements to be fulfilled so that I can unload some savings myself.

Like you said. I personally have never owned or purchased a digital camera. Tech moves so fast you almost can upgrade from project to project. But even M-X is arguably "good enough" for just about anything.

 

[Steve Gibby]

Steve,
thanks for sharing more of your story with you, Jim and Red!

Even though Jim forgot to mention that I was there at that first Red day... , it was a memory I'll never forget, especially where we stood in a circle and said who we were, never have I felt so completely humbled, one day soon I'll have retroactively earned my right to have been there.

Funny...all of that seems like just yesterday, and yet also like a long time ago!

I just went back and added your name to those names I have in the paragraph about the first Red Day (in my post #46 of this thread). It was humbling for each of us to be there on that first Red Day, whether we were veterans or new to the business. Yes, when we stood in a circle in the lobby of Red and told a little bit about ourselves it was magic. It was great to have Rodney Charters ASC there to introduce himself and say a few words. It was also very cool to listen to Jim, Ted, Stuart, and Big Jon brief us on the camera.

 

[Fiwek Paweł]

the best post ever