- Moderator
- #241
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2007
- Messages
- 13,392
- Reaction score
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- Location
- Los Angeles
- Website
- www.phfx.com
A box of chocolates.
A box of chocolates.
I don't know many of you, but thought I'd share this. During dinner last night a friend from a local and large lens/camera rental house here in LA we had a reflective conversation on cinema cameras and our careers during the last few years. I've been lucky and fortunate enough to work on several productions where we used "bleeding edge" cameras at the time. In fact a lot of my job was to stress test the cameras and the images off of them.
I remember the day when I heard that Red offered a Raw format. Salivating from the mouth at the potential, I couldn't wait to work with one. Luckily I didn't have to wait too long.
A day came where we were prepping on a film and I recommended that we shoot some tests with the Red One (before EPIC's time). I was told by my producer - "Well that hasn't really been proven has it?"
Shuttering at that comment I went on a light rant about what tests were all about at the head of a project and it would be ridiculous not to consider every option, especially on this film. This ended with me saying something along the lines of "well let's try to prove it". Eventually he bent and approved a test shoot up at Griffith Park. So we moved forward and geared up.
It was for everybody at the time a learning game, but everybody had one thing in common during this test shoot. They were excited. Excited that they were using a new tool, a new system, a new format. A bunch of grown men playing around, learning new things, and getting work done. When we finally wrapped and got the material back studio side I had a great deal of fun just pushing the color around. Real exciting stuff. The potential was mind boggling. Especially if you've ever shot out a color wedge when grading a film back in the day.
We eventually screened the material for the producers, director, and others on a 2K Christie in our theater. Everybody enjoyed what they were seeing. Not a single negative word. In fact, some down right said they were blown away and had "no idea that Red could look this good". While I wish I could take credit and say it was all my color work, it honestly wasn't. It was the Raw material out of the Red and what we were able to do with it that brought smiles to everybody's faces.
Years later, as I imagine many others going through damn near the same thing as many have been reluctant to change, here we find Red being used on the biggest and most anticipated features being shot all over the world. Sitting near the horizon of the their third camera launch. Creating a brand new top to bottom motion picture camera system. If you told me years ago in my lifetime a company was going to come along and do this in the time frame that Red has and change they was modern features were being shot I would have thought you to have been mad. However, nobody at Red thought that way. They had a long term vision of what was to come. Despite all criticism, delays, and those stuck in the past; just look where Red is now.
Red has empowered filmmakers with tools that they not only desire, but also nobody else makes. That is a sign of a company and a set of ethics that likes to build roads, not just drive on them.
Whatever Red, Scarlet, and November 3rd have in store for the cinematographer, I look on in anticipation. As this time around I may be able to make the switch from a Red user to a Red Owner.
I'll leave you with what 3 beers and some conversation with a friend last night led to while getting all "perspectivey":
"Red is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get. But you do know it's gonna taste good."
A box of chocolates.
I don't know many of you, but thought I'd share this. During dinner last night a friend from a local and large lens/camera rental house here in LA we had a reflective conversation on cinema cameras and our careers during the last few years. I've been lucky and fortunate enough to work on several productions where we used "bleeding edge" cameras at the time. In fact a lot of my job was to stress test the cameras and the images off of them.
I remember the day when I heard that Red offered a Raw format. Salivating from the mouth at the potential, I couldn't wait to work with one. Luckily I didn't have to wait too long.
A day came where we were prepping on a film and I recommended that we shoot some tests with the Red One (before EPIC's time). I was told by my producer - "Well that hasn't really been proven has it?"
Shuttering at that comment I went on a light rant about what tests were all about at the head of a project and it would be ridiculous not to consider every option, especially on this film. This ended with me saying something along the lines of "well let's try to prove it". Eventually he bent and approved a test shoot up at Griffith Park. So we moved forward and geared up.
It was for everybody at the time a learning game, but everybody had one thing in common during this test shoot. They were excited. Excited that they were using a new tool, a new system, a new format. A bunch of grown men playing around, learning new things, and getting work done. When we finally wrapped and got the material back studio side I had a great deal of fun just pushing the color around. Real exciting stuff. The potential was mind boggling. Especially if you've ever shot out a color wedge when grading a film back in the day.
We eventually screened the material for the producers, director, and others on a 2K Christie in our theater. Everybody enjoyed what they were seeing. Not a single negative word. In fact, some down right said they were blown away and had "no idea that Red could look this good". While I wish I could take credit and say it was all my color work, it honestly wasn't. It was the Raw material out of the Red and what we were able to do with it that brought smiles to everybody's faces.
Years later, as I imagine many others going through damn near the same thing as many have been reluctant to change, here we find Red being used on the biggest and most anticipated features being shot all over the world. Sitting near the horizon of the their third camera launch. Creating a brand new top to bottom motion picture camera system. If you told me years ago in my lifetime a company was going to come along and do this in the time frame that Red has and change they was modern features were being shot I would have thought you to have been mad. However, nobody at Red thought that way. They had a long term vision of what was to come. Despite all criticism, delays, and those stuck in the past; just look where Red is now.
Red has empowered filmmakers with tools that they not only desire, but also nobody else makes. That is a sign of a company and a set of ethics that likes to build roads, not just drive on them.
Whatever Red, Scarlet, and November 3rd have in store for the cinematographer, I look on in anticipation. As this time around I may be able to make the switch from a Red user to a Red Owner.
I'll leave you with what 3 beers and some conversation with a friend last night led to while getting all "perspectivey":
"Red is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get. But you do know it's gonna taste good."
