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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

"Knowing"...

Does anyone Know if the footage in knowing in the past where they were putting the time capsule in the ground, was that shot in 2k, seemed softer, or just a post thing?
 
Joe Media said:
Hi Phil. Did you see it in digital? I just pulled out "The Crow" on DVD just to compare and that had a similar look/feel. The daytime shots, especially the scene where Cage is driving over the bridge into New York, looked very unsaturated. Personally, I love the look. Just curious if it was timed like that or a limitation of build 15.
Click to expand...

No I saw it on film. I thought the look emphasized the dark mood of the story, but I wonder what difference (if any) the digital version would have made.

Phil
http://www.artbeats.com
 
I really liked the movie...
I loved the grade!
I loved the look!


I must say the most special moment I saw in the movie was the seeing that RED emblem in the credits. I know the establishment isn't crumbling into rubble, but I do see a teeny tiny teeny tiny little crack in the foundation.

RED DIGITAL CINEMA is coming...
 
Somebody want to CAM the movie with their red to have a decent bootleg of it online? haha

I'm just joking. I have yet to still see the movie. It's surely something I will buy on blu-ray.
 
The movie looked fantastic. I am very impressed, and excited. Plus, it's nice to tell my new tv commercial client that "Oh yeah, we're shooting on the same system as the #1 movie in the USA".
 
patrickortman said:
we're shooting on the same system as the #1 movie in the USA".
Click to expand...

Good point and a great achievement. If a movie shot on RED can be number one at the box-office, that should do a great deal to help convince the naysayers that the platform is legit.

Todd Makurath
 
I just returned from my local multiplex where I saw, back-to-back, KNOWING, DUPLICITY and a trailer for PUBLIC ENEMIES in real world conditions. Leaving aside cinematic worth, all were presented in 35mm anamorphic, all looked "as good as they make 'em" to the casual eye. The devil is in the details, of course.

KNOWING - shot on red, mucho lighting and grip, plus (2K or 4k?) mucho cgi VFX. Speaking strictly of principal photography: Looked great, some skin tones in the house set seemed a bit green for my taste. Nice blacks, no noise. The light falls off suitably in every shot - some shots seemed to lack full dynamic range compared to what film would be doing, and I am speaking of creepy shadow "whisper people" in the kids' bedroom scene. Day exteriors in 1950s were given a treatment to seem softer, nostalgic-y than same set seem in present day, for contrast. Leaves probably changed color in DI to give Autumn look, that all seemed good. Highlights seemed DIFFERENT, not better or worse in day exteriors. (I wonder what the budget for silk leaves was?) Dynamic range in day exteriors seemed a bit less than film, imho. Didn't spot any Rolling Shutter issues with picket fences, etc. Int/ext (looking out) car shots on index bridge coming in to NYC seemed fine, but were probably green screen? Big aerials looked good too. The DPs goal was about two things: Nic Cage's face in medium close up and creating creepy apocalyptic mood. Lots and lots of "hero stands transfixed on edge of battlefield/canyon, etc" composite shots. One plot point is about sunlight, and the key dramatic scene is shot in an open garage door, with full sun hitting the two leads flat and low. It looked good, but maybe a little too blown-out for good skin tones/ depth to register best. I bet the first answer print looked better. CGI reverse shots make the whole movie seem plastic-y, but that's not the fault of the Red.

DUPLICITY - shot on panavision anamorphic, 2k Digital intermediate, if one is to trust IMDB tech specs ( always a gamble). Comparing clarity of close ups, the anamorphic and Digital Intermediate made Julia's eyelashes and skin tones degraded to the point of looking like some white silk stockings had been applied to the rear element of the portrait primes, which may have also been the case. In pure Hollywood terms, she is an "aging beauty." Her make-up was showing excessively at times. DPs focus - make things look slick and worldly, and make her look as good as possible. Travelogue and beauty shots glalore. Tons of BCUs and two shots w Clive Owen. If this is some sort of a baseline to judge the Red against, the Red did well. Better dynamic range from film but the 2K DI didn't do the film many favors in that department.

PUBLIC ENEMIES TRAILER
Hard to judge anything, no shot stays on screen very long. Seemed to have less dynamic range than either, but also has an intentional period desaturated gloomy depression look, so it's difficult to make any judgements. No artifacts seen. Muzzle flashes seem like film. Of the three, it seemed to have the least amount of detail/ resolution.

For comparison's sake I'd hazard a guess that between these apples and oranges the Red One can compete with Panavision, and is a worthy tool. Both methods were good for the job at hand. PUBLIC ENEMIES may not look as good as one would hope. Certainly MIAMI VICE does not bode well for PE. MV looked awful, imho.
 
Just saw this last night in all it's 4K glory at a theater outside Chicago. I have to say the image was phenomenal.

I can't imagine why other companies are building digital cameras that aren't capable of shooting high resolutions, this is clearly the future. Arrogance is blinding.

I walked out of the theater thinking the game is over, it is only a matter of time now. The characteristics of image are cinematic, but not exactly "film" like, no grain and the highlights have different characteristics. Though the motion of the image is obviously film like, unlike Michael Mann's films. It is it's own beast and a beautiful one at that.

I was absolutely floored. And all of this in a relatively small camera package. Designed to be used freely and not just to sit like an over sized oaf on a tripod. The more i think about the more I think it is to good to be true.

But I saw it with my own eyes.

Absolutely brilliant.

Congratulations red.
 
I thought "Knowing" was crap. (The trailer was far better.) Couldn't even hang 'til the end. I was drowning in the melodrama and horrible dialogue.... I couldn't be more disappointed with a Hollywood flick.

It looked fine. Not great, by any means... Images felt flat, the blacks were nice, the whites were shocking and there seemed a lack of mids... just eh...

Now that everyone has the tools to make great cinema... Can someone start passing out the talent to write/produce great stories...
 
Didn't like the story very much, was thrilled, but not impacted. And the end left a bad taste in m mouth.

But the visuals were incredible. The RED had a creamy, filmic look. The highlights were rendered beautifully, the shots had loads of tonal range, VERY clean, almost noise free. My faith is RED as a professional production tool is ever more strengthened.

As Jim said, this film will cause all RED owners to realize that the camera is capable of this sort of work. Maybe it's them, not the camera ;) And in the end, cameras are just tools used to facilitate the telling of a story. I fear we're going to see alot of beautifully shot, filmic, TERRIBLE films in the future, as we see the RED in the hands of more and more filmmakers, some being storytellers.

By question is, with the lack of noise artifacts and pixels firing to white, ect, I assume they didn't use Tungsten balance....I'd love to know if they shot the whole film at 5000k and 320 ASA to optimize the performance attainable by RED.
 
Shawn Booth said:
I thought "Knowing" was crap. (The trailer was far better.) Couldn't even hang 'til the end. I was drowning in the melodrama and horrible dialogue.... I couldn't be more disappointed with a Hollywood flick.

It looked fine. Not great, by any means... Images felt flat, the blacks were nice, the whites were shocking and there seemed a lack of mids... just eh...

Now that everyone has the tools to make great cinema... Can someone start passing out the talent to write/produce great stories...
Click to expand...

There are some good stories and talent about, just not a whole lot of funding. the studios are very happy making mediocre films with rare exceptions "Dark Knight" at least they've left the indie market. maybe a chance to rebuild the indie market with real indie productions.

I was hoping that the jump to digital projectors and screens at cinemas would make that easier but with the DCM certification process costing 20k it seems they've created a new barrier to entry. no its not the 50k Film Master but still this shouldn't be harder than running you're 2k file through a file wrapper and then checking it why the high price tag. course the studios are members of the DCM standard. we need that cash for advertising our wares

Bing
 
Curious, for a movie like Knowing being shot on Red---what format are digital projectors in the theaters actually playing?

And are there any additional steps in creating the output needed to show on the big screen? If not, what a HUGE savings for filmmakers having to transfer footage to film.
 
Basically there is software now available <1000 US$ to create DCI-compliant movie files at 2k resolution - directly from FinalCut Pro. That is, you create the necessary encrypted MXF container on a DCI-Projektor compatible harddisk directly from the FCP timeline. Take the harddisk to a digital cinema, connect through USB/eSATA, ingest, play.

Of course, that way you are also completely on your own with regards to finishing, colorgrading, 5.1ch audio, etc. ;-)


- Carsten
 
When was the last time Nicholas Cage made a good movie? Lord of war was great story wise, and before that matchstick men, other than those he's been in mostly bad movies for the last 5 or so years.

But still - it's great to see R1 being used at more and more shootings and the visual quality is awesome.
 
Juhan Malmstein said:
When was the last time Nicholas Cage made a good movie? Lord of war was great story wise, and before that matchstick men, other than those he's been in mostly bad movies for the last 5 or so years.

But still - it's great to see R1 being used at more and more shootings and the visual quality is awesome.
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Last really great movie I saw with Nick was Face/Off... but that's maybe just me being a Woo-fanboy... But other than that, Lord of War was good... and I actually enjoyed Next.

Still no sign of scheduled screening of Knowing here, but I'll have to watch it partly since I want to see a full feature done on red and partly because I'm a big fan of nutjob-flicks like these. (I'm still spotting 23's to my friends annoyance)

By the way Juhan... Like your name;)
 
knowing_specs.jpg

ASC Magazine, April 2009 Digital edition, "Knowing" specs., page 53.

"Duggan digitally graded
Knowing at Park Road with colorist
David Hollingsworth. Using the
Quantel Pablo, they worked at 2K
resolution. “The footage was very
flexible when digging into shadows
or pulling down highlights without
introducing noise,” says the cinematographer.
“The on-set grades
and one-frame reference pulls
increased the efficiency and speed of
the timing process — definitely a big
advantage."

LINK>>>
 
Fantastic

Fantastic

We saw Knowing the other night in our small, local cineplex with digital projection, surround sound, the works. It looked and sounded fantastic. I loved the film. The story was a little over the top but held together nicely. Technically, the film looked sharp, very clean. The low light scenes were especially good; the visual effects and sound were razor sharp and, if anything, almost too realistic. The only criticism I have is that flesh tones looked a little off, even plastic at times—more like video than film. But that’s a minor criticism. Overall, the film was outstanding. I agree that Nicolas Cage does seem to appear in a lot of entertaining but so-so films. This was not one of them.
 
Just saw it; was lucky to have a great print and good projection.
Image looked great, I forgot to look for the Red signature after a while, very cinematic.
Some problems in hand held, but not major.
Story could be better, yet entertaining (perhaps me being a young father)
I think they were some shots in 3K and if yes, they were holding extremly well compered to 4K.
Great job Red!
 
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