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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 :)

Reconizing the "Genesis"

hunterrichards

hunterrichards

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This is no bash at Panavision at all or their cameras- I love their gear and the services they provide. With that out of the way...

I have seen a few films shot with the Genesis, the images are great- and replicate the look of real film extremely well.

The funny thing is that I instantly know when a film was shot on the Genesis. I was watching "21" last night and I immediately thought- "This was shot on the Genesis". There is something about the motion blur that gives it away. (Think: "Reign over me")

So my question is: Are the films I have seen shot with the Genesis using a 360degree shutter the whole time (or close to it), or is there something else going on?

I just thought it was odd to be able to recognize the Genesis based on motion blur.

Again- This has nothing to do with comparing Red to the Genesis. I just wanted to know if anyone else notices what I do.
 
The Genisis shoots in 4k, with a true 35mm CCD chip. It and records to 1080p through pixel binning. Pixel Binning is some sort of way of picking one of the four pixels out of that 4k image and creating a 1080p image for every square pixel. Some sort of recompression or smoothing of the immage, I don't know if I'm right, that is just what I have heard. Correct me if I'm wrong.
 
Wrong. It doesn't shoot 4k. It shoots 1080p with a RGB stripe pattern, binning 6 pixels, 2 R, 2 G and 2 B to make a 1920x1080 pixel RGB image. Binning is basically averaging. It's not designed to image, process or record an image greater than 1920x1080.

Graeme
 
Funny, i think totally the opposite. I´ve been fooled many times with the Genesis. yes, you can tell sometimes it´s video because the 1/24th shutter speed, but at first you think why this film´s motion looks like video, instead of "ok, it´s video".

It happened to me last night with Deja Vu.

Color rendition and dynamic range are stunning for a video camera.
 
I recently did some effects enhancement work for a movie trailer. There were already lighting flashes, lots of practical things going on, etc - I just had to add a little more oomph. More blood, to be precise (I know, usually it's the opposite - we have to REMOVE blood for the trailers ;)

We were finishing HD - I was expecting linear 16 bit sgi files. I usually only get log files if it's 2K. Instead I got 1080p dpx files with a rather strange LUT applied.

"They must be using some new DI process on this film - but the film scans are pretty good at least" I thought.

Then later after I delivered the shots I found out it was not film but Genesis.

Thats what you want.

BTW, my friends worked on a film festival preview trailer for The Game and the same thing happened - he didn't know it was RED until I told him. But he was working at SD res offline.

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com
 
hunterrichards said:
Let me ask the question again in a different way-

Does anyone else notice anything that stands out with the shutter/ motion blur of the Genesis? (I'm not talking about a 360degree shutter)
Click to expand...

I do. I noticed it more in 21 than say in Get Smart, but it's there. I don't notice it with some other digital cine cameras like the D20... it's Genesis-specific from what I can tell.
I'm not experienced enough to tell you just what it is, but if you show me a Genesis film that has this in it, I can tell you it's shot on the Genesis without being told it's even shot on digital.
 
I watched Superbad and did not know it was Genesis until I read about it in AC. Then again, I wasn't really paying attention to the format.
 
The similar aspect I noticed about both Superman Returns and Superbad, besides both being super, was that they both seemed to render skin tones in a creamy, smooth way. This might have accounted for the grainless image and the possible motion blur mentioned, but I definitely noticed a smoother, almost creamier look compared to film. I will refrain from "plastic" or "flat", because I'm sure it probably has more to do with the grading.
 
I watched the Lookout and only noticed it was made with the genesis until a scene at the very end when the lights go out and suddenly the motion goes all smeary.

I don't think it's the camera's fault but the DP's fault.

edit: I see they also used 35mm and even HDV, so I may be wrong... about... something:unsure:
 
Is it just me or has a lot of the fun of watching movies fizzled away as I understand more and more about how they're made...
 
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