Cameras easiest to intercut with RED

[Alex Donkle]

Hello,

Recently I directed a dark short film shot on RED and it's looking very likely that some audio cables got bumped and I don't have any audio for one character's lines in a scene. ADR is impossible for reasons I can't get into, but I'm looking at cutting around it but need to shoot 2 additional shots.

Budget-wise, I can't shoot on the RED ONE again, so I'm curious if anyone has any suggestions about cheaper cameras that may have an image close enough that it could be tweaked into looking close enough?

Scene is a hotel hallway, lit by fluorescents.

 

[Roberto Lequeux]

What is your deliverable?

 

[Alex Donkle]

1080p, 24fps BluRay

 

[Roberto Lequeux]

Nevermind. I was going to suggest a 7D for 540p or smaller. I am not the best guy to get super technical but I'll try to list most of what I think they would tell you:

It would be very hard if not impossible to make it work perfectly. It will require a lot of compromise and hard work, and what you would get is a noticeable patch-up that will likely throw many out of the story.

The 7D does have some stuff going for it:
1. Rental rates are lower than most pro-sumer cameras.
2. The dynamic range is at least very similar as I understand it and can tell.
3. Also the colorimetry is very decent and I might venture to say similar, at least more so than many if not all pro-sumer cameras.
4. You also would have the right sensor size in case that matters based on what you've shot so far.

But, you'd have to basically hurt your Red One footage quite a bit to make them match.

Here is what my guess on what you'd have to do would be:
1. Lower the resolution of your R1 footage to about 720p then up convert to 1080p
2. Use a softening filter on the 7D to limit:

a. stair stepping on clearly defined edges
b. green and purple weirdness in high frequency detail​

3. Practically nail the in camera-settings to avoid much color correction of your 7D footage to avoid posterization from manipulation
4. Avoid big areas with gradual color or exposure shift or you might get posterization
5. Avoid fast panning, shaky hand held and fast moving subjects or you will get skew.
6. Avoid shooting hand held without stabilization or you'll get at least some jello effect. Maybe 21mm and wider.

You could do this to all of the shots in the scenes that you need to do re-shoots for, and hopefully it will feel justified. You could also gradually work your way to this look making the transitions less jarring.

Shoot some tests.

A trick might be to save a .jpg out of your red clips and see if you can get the canon to read it. If it does that might help you match in-camera settings.

Don't forget you will need to match your audio! You should try to record with the same gear and crew you had. If you use the 7D for recording you are in a lot of trouble, but if you have to you could also rent a "mixer" that sends an inaudible tone detectable by the camera to keep the auto gain at a constant level, still it can be a royal pain for decent results so you would have to resort to recording off-camera to a little recorder, matching that to pro audio won't be easy either... can you get the same guy as before for audio?

That said I fail to imagine the reasons why you feel shooting video will be easier than ADR, even if paying someone with experience is what is necessary. That would be less costly than renting gear, in most cases. I am very curious to hear the reasons if you feel like sharing.

 

[Craig W. Bickerstaff]

You could rent an EX1, if your delivering on 1080 like you say and its only a few shots no one will notice if you play around with it right.

 

[Samuel Martin]

Panasonic HPX3700.

My advice, try to get a deal for a RED.... What's your budget anyway? It'd help to know..

 

[Stephen Williams]

In the real world EX1's & 5DMKII's get used all the time to cut with RED.

 

[David W. Jones]

Hello,

Recently I directed a dark short film shot on RED and it's looking very likely that some audio cables got bumped and I don't have any audio for one character's lines in a scene. ADR is impossible for reasons I can't get into, but I'm looking at cutting around it but need to shoot 2 additional shots.

Budget-wise, I can't shoot on the RED ONE again, so I'm curious if anyone has any suggestions about cheaper cameras that may have an image close enough that it could be tweaked into looking close enough?

Scene is a hotel hallway, lit by fluorescents.

I'm guessing someone didn't monitor return?
ADR is never impossible unless you want it to be impossible.
And as others have pointed out, knowing what you CAN afford will help point you in the right direction.

Al the Best!

 

[Meryem Ersoz]

Alex, if you disclose your location, you may find someone here who is willing to jump in and help you out, if it is just a couple of shots...

 

[Sam Taylor]

Another thing to consider is aspect ratio of the original red footage versus the aspect ratio options of the camera used in reshooting. It is easier to match it with 7D, or other cameras, if it is 16:9, other wise there might be some compromise necessary in altering the frame dimensions of the red footage in post. Look at the edges of frame in your original red footage, to see whether this is a good route to go, if you did not shoot 16:9. You can make the 7D match another aspect ratio, by cropping in post, but for obvious reasons, this is a less than desirable option!

If at all possible using red again, saves so much hassle. I have had 7D footage and red footage in one time line, and I would have preferred not too have had!