Frank Barrera
New member
We just wrapped AS GOOD AS DEAD starring Cary Elwes, and Andi MacDowell; directed by Jonathan Mossek. We used two REDs out of OffHollywood New York. Despite the talent named we were on an almost impossible budget. Mark at OffHollywood really helped us out. There's no way we could have done this with out him. Thanks Mark. Camera support and lenses came from CSC NY. The budget was reflected in our choice of lenses: Cooke S2/3 17MM, 25MM, 32MM, 50MM, 75MM, and 100MM. We day played the Cooke 20MM-100MM and the Angenieux HR 25MM-250MM. And for a few exterior days we had the Cooke S4 150MM (beautiful glass that is). Some steadicam by Phil Martinez. And a Fisher 11. All in all it was just a regular shoot despite this camera body that few of us understood at first.
First some negatives:
Although the view finder image is bright with decent contrast and over scan view, the buttons are too easy to accidentally press. They need to move these buttons around front where no one's fingers would ever be just like with every other professional HD camera view finder.
I do like the B&W peaking function. We were at a 2.8 often so depth of field was usually very shallow.
We had the 8 GB cards which just aren't big enough for long narrative takes with actors improvising. We rolled out too many times. The 16 GB card will easily correct this. We would sometimes go to drives when we knew it would be a longer take but never more than 20 minutes so that we could keep up with media verification and management.
Hey it's still a video camera so clipping into over exposure is still an issue. Shooting at a shallow depth of field helps a lot as out of focus clipping looked ok.
The rest is positive:
I found that while shooting RED RAW I could somewhat accurately use my light meter which was a great help for me and our Gaffer. We concentrated on and were very specific about our ratios. Having to run back and forth between the monitors and the set was not necessary. That's something I do not enjoy when using a Varicam or F900 etc. Using a light meter while making a movie is fun.
Over all our experience with Build 16 was excellent. We had a few dropped frames on one day out of 18 and our awesome Red Tech (from OffHollywood), Keith Putnam caught it within minutes so we were able to re-shoot that one shot. Other than than it was very smooth. The hot swappable battery cable was great. We never had to power down.
Basically we ran this like a 35MM shoot. And that's a good way to run.
We did shoot a small test and pushed it around on Scratch so I know what's possible with this camera. We monitored 720p on LCDs (couldn't afford CRT) and that looked very good to me on set so I am optimistic about the intended 35MM blow up. I've seen some tests at Duart NY and that looked very good as well.
I am very curious to see how the color correct goes and how long it will take. My last two features were shot with a Varicam and F900. We were able to get through the CC in 6 days each time. Somehow I think this may take longer... I don't know.
I am very familiar with the intense debate around Red's use of the Bayer chip technology but in the end, on a tight budget. if we must shoot HD and the D21, the F35 and the Genesis are off the table, I would easily choose the RED over the Varicam, P2 or F900 if not simply because I can use 35MM lenses hovering around a 300ASA exposure index. Of course I wouldn't really want to do it witout Offhollywood right there.
Every job has different needs and requirements. For us Red was perfect.
And none of it would have been possible without our excellent camera department.
Operators Joe Foley, Learan Kahanov, Eric Giovon, Jae Song and Jay Hillman; 1st AC's Jay Cleary and Chris Hamilton, 2nd AC Maria Juranic, Camera Interns Loui LeRoy and Katharina Bosch.
My deepest appreciation to you all.
f
First some negatives:
Although the view finder image is bright with decent contrast and over scan view, the buttons are too easy to accidentally press. They need to move these buttons around front where no one's fingers would ever be just like with every other professional HD camera view finder.
I do like the B&W peaking function. We were at a 2.8 often so depth of field was usually very shallow.
We had the 8 GB cards which just aren't big enough for long narrative takes with actors improvising. We rolled out too many times. The 16 GB card will easily correct this. We would sometimes go to drives when we knew it would be a longer take but never more than 20 minutes so that we could keep up with media verification and management.
Hey it's still a video camera so clipping into over exposure is still an issue. Shooting at a shallow depth of field helps a lot as out of focus clipping looked ok.
The rest is positive:
I found that while shooting RED RAW I could somewhat accurately use my light meter which was a great help for me and our Gaffer. We concentrated on and were very specific about our ratios. Having to run back and forth between the monitors and the set was not necessary. That's something I do not enjoy when using a Varicam or F900 etc. Using a light meter while making a movie is fun.
Over all our experience with Build 16 was excellent. We had a few dropped frames on one day out of 18 and our awesome Red Tech (from OffHollywood), Keith Putnam caught it within minutes so we were able to re-shoot that one shot. Other than than it was very smooth. The hot swappable battery cable was great. We never had to power down.
Basically we ran this like a 35MM shoot. And that's a good way to run.
We did shoot a small test and pushed it around on Scratch so I know what's possible with this camera. We monitored 720p on LCDs (couldn't afford CRT) and that looked very good to me on set so I am optimistic about the intended 35MM blow up. I've seen some tests at Duart NY and that looked very good as well.
I am very curious to see how the color correct goes and how long it will take. My last two features were shot with a Varicam and F900. We were able to get through the CC in 6 days each time. Somehow I think this may take longer... I don't know.
I am very familiar with the intense debate around Red's use of the Bayer chip technology but in the end, on a tight budget. if we must shoot HD and the D21, the F35 and the Genesis are off the table, I would easily choose the RED over the Varicam, P2 or F900 if not simply because I can use 35MM lenses hovering around a 300ASA exposure index. Of course I wouldn't really want to do it witout Offhollywood right there.
Every job has different needs and requirements. For us Red was perfect.
And none of it would have been possible without our excellent camera department.
Operators Joe Foley, Learan Kahanov, Eric Giovon, Jae Song and Jay Hillman; 1st AC's Jay Cleary and Chris Hamilton, 2nd AC Maria Juranic, Camera Interns Loui LeRoy and Katharina Bosch.
My deepest appreciation to you all.
f