Any help would be appreciated... thanks

[Josh Thornton]

Okay bare with me...

THE BACKGROUND:
Hi my name is Josh and i live in Australia.

I was reading the 'Scarlet for idiots' thread about how easy it would be to use and now it has got me worried...

i am 17 years old and am running a business with a friend. our selling point is 'why pay $5000+ for something your sixteen year old son can do?'. We do absolutely everything from custom pcs, to websites, to graphic design and we have made video promotions for a local clubs and even an amateur film.

We have done well enough to start buying all of our own equipment, and we are considering the Scarlet because of one simple reason - it is the same if not cheaper than the HDV alternatives available to us.

Trust me when i say that there are very few alternatives in the sub $6000 range here in Australia - i'm not sure if this is similar in your country, but is kinda ridiculous.

QUESTIONS:
Is the 'complete package' really enough for very basic use or are other accessories required? (sorry if this is a stupid question but not sure)
Is it really too difficult for people with no formal training?


KEEP THIS IN MIND:
Yeah we are kids, yeah we have had no formal training - but tell that to our competitors in our small area that are losing lots of business to us.

1. We build our own computers (hackintoshes - i know it is wrong - we buy the software and operating system even - just can't afford the hardware right now)(plus we own MacBooks if that helps)
2. We have managed to teach ourselves creative suite and final cut studio so we are not stupid
3. We have used a ton of HDV cameras that we have either borrowed or hired and we manage them fine

Put it this way: i think we could easily handle the computer side of it (unless it is completely alien to other HDV or AVCHD workflows - yes i understand the reference movies) so unless the camera is out of our depth i think we will be right, on the other hand if you do think it out of our depth please tell us quickly as we will buy a HDV.

not sure if this is the right place to post this but i thought I'd give it a try anyway... sorry for such a long post.

Thanks if you can help... Josh

 

[Brad Webb]

I think the fixed lens Scarlet complete package is being made with customers like you in mind. It will work nearly the same as the cameras you use now. Then as you grow as filmmakers you will be able to upgrade to the higher end accessories as needed.

The biggest issue will be with the workflow and having the hardware to handle it. I have no doubt that you'll be able to figure it out. but it will take some time, testing, and trial and error to figure it out.

Now if only I could figure out how to hack my powermac into an Intel mac.

 

[Dan Hudgins]

Workflow costs...

Workflow costs...

I think people make too big a deal out of the workflow issues for the RED cameras.

Coming from a filmmaking angle I think the RED camera's workflow is no harder than dealing with 35mm film scans and easer to backup since the R3D files are compresed so much.

The price of TB harddrives are falling fast, here a local store is selling 1TB harddrives for less than $89 so by the time Scarlet comes out you may get 1TB of storage for less than $50. I can be useful to have a computer case you can put harddrive drawers in so you can swap several harddrives at a time to save time copying files for backups and such.

 

[Stephen Gentle]

Is the 'complete package' really enough for very basic use or are other accessories required? (sorry if this is a stupid question but not sure)

I don't think that we have been told the specifics of the 'complete package', but it should come with a battery and a compact flash module at least, so all you'll need to shoot is the package, a couple of CF cards.

Is it really too difficult for people with no formal training?

Certainly not - but you need a little bit of experience in exposing and so on, and then plenty of time just experimenting with the camera once you can get it. The former can be just a bit of experimenting with a camcorder and/or cheap DSLR in manual mode.

KEEP THIS IN MIND:
Yeah we are kids, yeah we have had no formal training - but tell that to our competitors in our small area that are losing lots of business to us.

A lack of formal experience doesn't mean you can't be good at something - I was employed as a professional software developer before I'd even started University for example... But you do have to be realistic and remember that 1) You need to learn how to use it, and 2) making good videos is 20% image quality, 50% sound and 90% creativity (real art doesn't have to add up to 100%!). So make sure you get plenty of practice, even if it's just making dodgy short films with a cheap camcorder.

Put it this way: i think we could easily handle the computer side of it (unless it is completely alien to other HDV or AVCHD workflows - yes i understand the reference movies) so unless the camera is out of our depth i think we will be right, on the other hand if you do think it out of our depth please tell us quickly as we will buy a HDV.

There have been problems with workflows for the RED ONE, even for professionals, but I think that these will be dramatically improved by the time Scarlet is released. I'm not sure about Final Cut, but I know Premiere CS4 at least can edit RED footage pretty much as easily as HDV now - if you have hardware beefy enough.

 

[Josh Thornton]

Thanks for all your help

Thanks for all your help

Thanks for all your help,

I never expected it to be easy and just pick it up and off you go but as long it will be manageable i am willing to be patient and learn how to use it properly because i know the results will be worth it.

Consider me a new red customer! (hopefully)

thanks again

 

[Josh Thornton]

Sorry to double post... but after reading around it has got me worried again....

Not sure if this can be answered right now but what would be the minimum set up required to edit red footage...

I would love to be able to edit 3k but realistically we will probably down scale to 1080p.

My current set up is:

Hackintosh 1 (i know it is wrong)

Q9450 - 2.66GHz quad core -sometimes overclocked depending on how i am feeling
4Gig of 1066 DDR3 ram - yeah i know weird DDR3 on core series
and an 8800GT 512mb graphics card - working with full support

Hackintosh server:
has four 750gb discs in a raid 10 (1+0?)
and is connected via gigabit ethernet

this has been more than fast enough when working with ProRes - will it be enough for Scarlet - or should i also buy a new mac pro (or core i7 hackintosh)

 

[Stephen Gentle]

Sorry to double post... but after reading around it has got me worried again....

Not sure if this can be answered right now but what would be the minimum set up required to edit red footage...

I would love to be able to edit 3k but realistically we will probably down scale to 1080p.

My current set up is:

Hackintosh 1 (i know it is wrong)

It's not illegal as long as you own the copy of Mac OS X the computer is running...

this has been more than fast enough when working with ProRes - will it be enough for Scarlet - or should i also buy a new mac pro (or core i7 hackintosh)

Don't buy anything yet - if you choose to get a Scarlet, try it out for a while and see if your computer is up to it. If not, you'll be able to buy a much better computer for less money than you would get now.