Just sent my Epic for the Dragon Upgrade, how do I feel?

[Elsie N]

Mark, it's hard to describe my story, and how I ended up with a Red One and how I ended up started Orensis Films, it's not entirely straightforward.. I totally agree with the sentiment, that just because you are in a position to buy a decent camera doesn't mean you deserve everything else that you expect to come with it. To this day it's unfortunate that as a film-maker I grew up in the middle of nowhere (North Wales, UK), learning to be both a Director and DP.. it's a complete detriment to me that I own equipment, yet my strongest ability seems to be as a director, I even got into a pretty competitive school as one, but i also utterly love being a DP, but most people seem to only see me for the camera i own, I grew up in a place where rentals were impossible.. i had no other film-makers around me, nothing.. I first brought a Sony Z1E.. and through very random circumstances got my first job directing and shooting a Jimmy Cliff video in the Caribbean, and then without absolutely no peers around me, worked hard and slowly until i was finally able to own the camera i wanted so badly to use to help deliver my visions and ideas.

After my sister passed away 4 years ago (Orensis, 'Forever my' Sis), my parents had one less wedding to pay for, and asked me how they could help me.. my sister knew how much I loved RED, the company spoke to me, and they agreed to co-invest in a RED one. The fact is, I absolutely loved what the camera was capable of, the images were so close to what I imagined films to look like.. as student film-makers we would go on about how great 35mm was, and I got it.. but something about the RED look.. even after shooting on S16mm for a short film called Loved, and loving it, I just had to shoot my graduation film (Jaypen Code 20) with RED.. a film set in an imaginary future, on a camera that to me looked liked the future of film.

That's why I love the fact Prometheus was shot on Epic.. yeah sure, maybe because it's an easier camera to shoot 3D with, but i like to think, they chose it because the image looks like something from the future.

Trust me, I love what the Dragon is, and it's going to be only a few days till i hold it, and go the UK to finish off the Steel Pulse film i've been shooting and producing for the last 5 years, I know i will fall in love again..

my post was coming from one of those guys that isn't fortunate enough to get constant well paid work, but is in a position to just about afford and deserve a RED camera..

A camera does not make a film.. that's why i have turned down countless jobs where people want me simply because i owned an Epic, that's not me. I don't want to have to explain my life and how i've been forced to live in areas where there is no work, i'm sure if you see my work, like many others who have suggested to me, I am living in the wrong place.. but family takes precedence over work in my opinion.

to sum things up.. yes bring out the violins, the first word problem comparisons (how about you actually go live in the third world for a few years?).. the only reason i posted, was because i literally don't have anyone else who can relate to what i am going through right now, and thought i could find someone else on these forums.

honestly though.. I really can't wait to experience this upgrade. Like i said, if i am ever lucky enough to be exposed to a project where I have full choice of the camera to use, I will choose RED totally out of loyalty, because I feel the ideal and vision this company has is so important. Yes a guy like me doesn't deserve to have a camera like this.. but without RED, it would literally have been a complete impossibility, and while i may be seen to be complaining, hopefully others in my position can see, that it is more a call out to those that can relate, and not in any way a diss on the camera.

not all of us are lucky to be able to grow up and work in place where our dreams and ambitions can take fruition, but thanks to RED, we can be one step closer. I wish i could explain my whole film-making history without boring you guys, but i know there are others on this forum like me who have gone through a similar thing.

Stories like these are what sets RED apart, along with the camera that inspires them. Jim's story was the first one and probably was the key that caused so many to put down a deposit on an idea and a promise. An idea that has flourished and a promise that was kept.

I just can't imagine any other of the competing camera companies having such a wide range of people baring their souls in testament to how the camera has changed their lives.

This place isn't just a forum... it is a Biography... the book of RED.

 

[Matthew Scott]

You have to crawl before you can walk... If you run to quick to early, you run the risk of smashing your face into the ground.

That's often the best thing you can do...being sensible never got me anywhere!

 

[Elsie N]

That's often the best thing you can do...being sensible never got me anywhere!

Heh, heh... reminds me of a cartoon I saw in Playboy, I think (I only read Playboy for the pictures '-). The cartoon showed two vultures in an old dead tree waiting on something below to die. One vulture turns to the other and says "Screw this... let's go kill something."

There's the slow, steady, no-fail way... and then there's the 'let's go kill something" way. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

There was a time when the price for failure was exacted over a prolonged period. My theory is the times we live in allow recovery from failure based on honest, intelligent intent, at a much quicker pace.

If it's in a person's DNA, now's the time to be bold.