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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"...

Knowing in April issue of American Cinematographer magazine

Knowing in April issue of American Cinematographer magazine

Not seen it mentioned yet.

The April 2009 issue of American Cinematographer magazine will have an article about the use of the Red camera in Knowing. To quote:

"Simon Duggan, ACS uses the Red One camera to shoot this mindbending action thriller directoed by Alex Proyas (The Crow, Dark City, I, Robot) about a teacher (Nicolas Cage) who opens a time capsule that reveals terrifying predictions about the future. Duggan will offer his thoughts on the Red camera's performance on the big-budget production, which shot at various locations in Australia."
 
Chris Swinbanks said:
There's a couple of groups involved in post, all with significant feature b/g.
Edit had to define a process at the start, but got their setups worked out pretty quickly. From what I observed having a DIT familiar with RED on a project already was a big help in prep for edit.
FX, we had to make some adjustments for the fx pipeline to deal with r3d files and cross-facility processes, but the basics (equipment, tools, renderfarm, viewing environments etc) were already in place, and likewise the DI facilities' grading is being done on existing kit also.
Not so sure about the "new gear, software and consultants"... well, we all had to download redcine/redalert etc and work out how to understand and fit this new format into existing "film" workflows fairly quickly.... but that was happening anyway, much as I presume it was for most existing post houses.
It's been an interesting project that reflects the amount, and value, of communication that needs to take place between facilities, when several are working together on a large production.

Hopefully the end product speaks for itself.



cheers
Chris
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It does indeed. I guess I made a few assumptions about the directors comments.
 
I finally saw the trailer for Knowing in the theater, at the screening of Slumdog Millionaire.

It was very quickly cut, and it looked like film to me. A few moments, though, the lighting on Cage's face looked a little plastic -- which I chalked up to pushing it around in post intentionally.

Then I saw Slumdog. The first half of the film was amazingly good. Then I started to keep noticing the plastic like effect on the face, especially of the lead character Jamal. In almost every scene, his face looked like it was overblown or something, and didn't have enough dynamic range on at least half his face. That started to bother me.

It seems like they didn't have to light it that way, and maybe it was bad lighting (or good, depending if you like it). Some more intimate closeups looked like better color in the face. But many were this odd creamy, all similar colors type look. It bugged me, more and more.

I heard this was a SI-2K camera. Is this right? The camera looks like it has a lot of potential, but I wouldn't light faces the way they did for most of Jamal's scenes. I did not like the final product. I would hope that digital sensors can get away from that look and be more filmic. Probably with more subtle lighting they can. Being in a television studio setting, however, it may be harder to have subtlety on the subject.

Anyone else notice these things and think about them?
 
Did the person next to you had the same technical reaction to the film as you?
 
Here's Alex Proyas, director of Knowing, talking about RED on an interview:

And shooting with the Red One camera. How was that?

Proyas: "It was great. There was a huge learning curve. We were one of the first films to use it on such a scale, and we had quite a few of them on the production. But it is really the future. There's no going back for me now. It was my first digital film, and this particular camera is quite extraordinary; they're improving them all the time. My next film I'm going to be shooting on this camera called the Epic, which is the next generation. It's a 5K camera, so it's a step up again in resolution. I love clarity in an image. I'm a big fan of films shot in 70mm and being projected in 70mm - and all the large formats. So this film, digitally projected, looks extraordinary. There is no grain. It's got a clarity. You feel like you could reach out and touch the actors or step into the scene; it's almost a three-dimensional quality. I'm completely hooked on the format."
 
mail4joeg said:
I finally saw the trailer for Knowing in the theater, at the screening of Slumdog Millionaire.

Anyone else notice these things and think about them?
Click to expand...

sorry, I was so caught up in what I thought was a fantastic story and
incredible acting... and an amazing cultural experience, that I did
not have time to "nit pick" what I thought was an incredibly shot and
masterfully made film.

not to mention, 10 Oscar Nods seem to support my claim
 
mail4joeg said:
I heard this was a SI-2K camera. Is this right? The camera looks like it has a lot of potential, but I wouldn't light faces the way they did for most of Jamal's scenes. I did not like the final product. I would hope that digital sensors can get away from that look and be more filmic. Probably with more subtle lighting they can. Being in a television studio setting, however, it may be harder to have subtlety on the subject.

Anyone else notice these things and think about them?
Click to expand...

It was a mixture of 35mm and the SI-2K, so maybe the shots you describe were shot on 35mm... nobody knows, only the filmmakers do.

I read in an interview somewhere that they shot most of the close-ups on 35mm and the "kinetic street stuff" on the SI-2K, but not all the time...
 
Christopher Grant Harvey said:
It was a mixture of 35mm and the SI-2K, so maybe the shots you describe were shot on 35mm... nobody knows, only the filmmakers do.

I read in an interview somewhere that they shot most of the close-ups on 35mm and the "kinetic street stuff" on the SI-2K, but not all the time...
Click to expand...

I think sometimes its a psychological thing. You hear its shot digitally and you notice all of the flaws in the picture quality. Then you find out most of it was shot on film and you feel retarded.
 
Rudi Herbert said:
I saw the trailer for "Knowing" last night at the theater. A big, 60 ft/18m wide screen on a regular cineplex. I had seen it before on the Apple trailers where it looked good, as countless other RED footage has looked good on small screen versions, but it wasn't until last night I had a chance to see RED out there, in the real world, projected in the same medium, format and place it was ultimately meant for: a cinema. It was a pivotal point for me.

Coincidentally, they also showed a trailer for "State of Fear", which is, I assume, a big production, featuring an ensemble with Russel Crowe, Ben Affleck, Helen Mirren, etc, which was shot on the Genesis. Now, the Genesis has produced some work that I particularly like, such as Apocalypto, but this trailer looked like it had been shot on Betacam. Skin tones were fluorescent pink and unreal, and the color patina and feel of the whole film felt way off to me. Which comes to show, once again, that it's all in how you manipulate the images after you acquire them where the make or break point really resides. RED looked better than anything else projected there that night.
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I'm in total agreement! Both trailers ran before "Taken" (Liam's a badass, folks. Seriously.), and "Knowing" looked breathtaking on the big screen. The Affleck one, eh, not so much. The "Knowing" action sequences and effects are pretty amazing; the low light scenes look beautiful and deep. The filmmakers did a fantastic job with the RED. I'm so excited to see it!
 
Bing Bailey said:
how long before RED One shot film wins an oscar, I'll wager 100 dollars it'll be within the next 2 years
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It'll be two years and it will be a suspense thriller...sorry someone had to do it! If I win I'll buy you a Fixed Lens Scarlet...thats how optimistic I am!
 
Chris Swinbanks said:
... saw the end product last night... on film.... :tongue:
not too bad.
Click to expand...

Simon Duggan (cinematographer of "Knowing") told me yesterday that it was too bad it had to be shown on film... looked so much better/cleaner 4K digital... I hope he is OK with me sharing that. :-)

Jim
 
...after seeing the fx develop in digital screenings over the past months, it was interesting to see the translation to film, coupled with the final grade.
It held up pretty well..... apart from all the crap over the first reel, which was either pos print grime from the soup, or synch marks from the neg getting stressed somewhere... I like to think it is only in the pos print I saw.
Dark scenes held together nicely, and there's plenty of them.
 
Chris Swinbanks said:
...after seeing the fx develop in digital screenings over the past months, it was interesting to see the translation to film, coupled with the final grade.
It held up pretty well..... apart from all the crap over the first reel, which was either pos print grime from the soup, or synch marks from the neg getting stressed somewhere... I like to think it is only in the pos print I saw.
Dark scenes held together nicely, and there's plenty of them.
Click to expand...

One thing I had forgotten was that almost the entire movie was shot on Build 15. (Reminder- Build 16 was the "monumental build"...)

Jim
 
on Build 15 - that's interesting
 
I agree Chris

I agree Chris

It looked great last night Chris on the big screen.

Congrats to you and the whole team at Animal.
The footage was stunning and I really enjoyed the film.

Mike
 
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