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RED Certification Quiz

Laffrey Witbrod

Laffrey Witbrod

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Hi,

I work at the Colorado Film School, we would like to have a Quiz our students have to pass before they take out our RED one. I'm looking for help coming up with questions for our quiz. We want to cover all the things they should know, before they shoot, both about production and post.

Thanks for any suggestions!

Laffrey
www.coloradofilmschool.net
 
anything less than a hands-on demo seems like a complete waste of time to me...why not just make them build a camera and run through the menu structure?
 
here are some gotchas...

keystrokes to get to 3k 16:9 50 fps
turning on audio line level +10 channel 1 & 2
setting camera to jam on a cross from 23.98 to 29.97
set button 1 to raw
set button on top of monitor to video false color (in b 30) or false color in b21
quick key for asa/iso
setting button "C" for something other than shutter
change the shutter mode

i got more if you need more

l
 
Thanks for your ideas Dino, more are welcome!
I completely agree Meryem, this Quiz is what they take before do the practical. We just want to make sure they know some of the basics and also things like, what kind of lenses they would need to rent, if they want more then what we provide. Things that even if they can set up the camera they might not know.
 
They're finally letting their Red out into the wild, eh? I thought I'd never see the day!
 
hey laffrey,

the cf-cards REALLY don't like to be pulled out without a proper demount - so:

q: what's the short-cut for "unmounting" media.
a: push undo/exit.

the sooner one learns the two most important "false colors" by heart, the better (i think) - so:

q: what's the false color for minimum and maximum exposure?
a: purple and red.

people tend to forget about the image crop when shooting highspeed. simply put, when shooting 120fps the mounted 50mm becomes a 100mm. so, if your students want to shoot that highspeed-wide-angle set-up they better make sure to take a very-wide-angle-lens, or a "16mmCam" lens. so the question could be something like:

q: what do you have to consider when shooting 100-120fps?
a: camera records only a 2k window of the sensor.

q: you are shooting 4k @ 25fps. you mounted a 50mm lens. after - you're shooting the same set-up highspeed @ 100 fps. what lens do you mount to match the 4k-shot's frame-size?
a: a 25mm.

hope that helped.
 
Laffrey, I think your approaching the issue incorrectly. Taking the camera out is a completey different issue than post. You have students who presumably don't have as much, if any, experience as most Redusers. Your "quiz" seems to cover everything from pre-viz, to physical set-up (including lighting and sound?) to shooting, taking into consideration all the variables from lens choice to filters, speed, etc. And this does not include capture and then production. Laffrey, have you used the Red? It is a very complex instrument that has a steep learning curve.

My suggestion is that you back into the assignment. Get some Redusers to donalte some outtakes of their films for your students to play with in post. Once they get the idea of how 50-60 minutes of film can be cut down to 5-10 minutes of a story and each student's story being differenct, then they will have an idea of where they are going and what they have to do to get there.

I would not let any students take out the camera outside the school building until they knew how set it up, carry it, handle it, how many assistants they will need, etc. This is not a camera that one student who has no experience with moving picturs takes out $25,000 in gear into the snow.

Bottom line. Drop the quiz idea. Insist that the instructor knows what he or she is doing and work in groups of 5-7 people taking turns in setting up, taking down, storage, use of cables, etc. then take shots with various T-stops, speeds, lighting etc and see how small tweaks can make a big difference in final image.

This needs to be a lecture then lab activity. And assign reading on the subject. There is a book on Red that is on point. Assign it to our students. Let the instructor do some work.
 
John our Red has been going out on projects for the last two or three semesters.

Dylan and Christian Thanks, you both had some good questions that I'm going to include in our Quiz.

Tim, the things you are suggesting are being covered in our classes, we try to make our program as hands on as possible. As the head of the Equipment Cage I want to insure that they are getting the knowledge they need from the teachers and that they are retaining it. We are just checking that they know what they need to, so they don't brake our camera, get footage in the "can", and know how to handle the files.
 
another approach - there's certainly enough info to cover to make them take a RED class and pass it with a B or better to take the camera out. that way you can cover building the camera, setting back focus, proper handling and cleaning of lenses, menu structure, focus and exposure, data management issues, and post-production.

the whole quiz thing sounds like something that they will treat as a hoop, without any real learning or value-added training happening.
 
Dylan Macleod said:
Q. Can you power the RED drive through the Firewire 800 port.
A. Not! (well you might try - but you can blow the port)
Click to expand...

Really? I've been doing it this way for over 2 years now and never had a problem. Only own one drive.
 
Yeah that's a strange way to be teaching isn't it. Wouldn't a more proper way to do it be a workshop where you actually give the kids hands on time with the camera and make sure that they actually know what they're doing instead of just answering some stock questions?

Noah
 
seriously - we sponsor Colorado students (haven't had the Film School kids but we have had some of their friends, from CU and CU-Denver), and most of them don't even know how to build a camera, because they primarily make short films on handycams. And in my experience -- training Colorado interns hands-on in my studio -- they need to do it from naked camera to fully rigged 2-3 times until they begin to get comfortable. I'm not just being abstract about criticizing this quiz idea - I actually know what I'm talking about, from experience. If you don't do a workshop or a class, don't be surprised when your PL mount gets jammed because some doofus has never mounted a lens -- and it won't be the doofus's fault...
 
Richard Darge said:
Really? I've been doing it this way for over 2 years now and never had a problem. Only own one drive.
Click to expand...


Same here... I have had two drives for two years now, and always have used the FW 800 or 400 to power and move data. Never an issue, as of today. Ask me in a month or two.
 
forget the quiz, make a workshop and hand on a FAQ including Pics, which they can take with them on set.

how to change a lens
how to shoot slow mo
how to switch from cf to drive
how to use false color...
how to back up (file structure etc.)

and a list of pitfalls:
something like pitfall 1: slo mo, dont change the project framerate etc...

btw. the red how to videos can be a good start.
http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-red-one-camera-basics-244723/


and a quiz is a psychological barrier..."they dont want to give us the cam" and can bring up fear against mistakes...but the point of teaching is different inmho.
instead a workshop shows a different attitude, then you can be a mentor and can bring the students to the point where they are comfortable to ask...and they should bomb you with Q`s.
thats most important when teaching...taking away the fear to ask from the student.
 
I've never been great at tests. Much more of a hands-on, muscle memory type of guy. I would probably fail the quiz you're giving them and I know the camera pretty well. :-)
 
dino g said:
here are some gotchas...

keystrokes to get to 3k 16:9 50 fps
turning on audio line level +10 channel 1 & 2
setting camera to jam on a cross from 23.98 to 29.97
set button 1 to raw
set button on top of monitor to video false color (in b 30) or false color in b21
quick key for asa/iso
setting button "C" for something other than shutter
change the shutter mode

i got more if you need more

l
Click to expand...

ooh these are good ones Dino! I'd also recommend the instructor get the school to invest in your trip to REDUCATION... and it will become crystal clear what you will want your students to know when using RED.

It's a 5 day crash course... not something that can be taught in a thread :)
 
Richard Darge said:
Really? I've been doing it this way for over 2 years now and never had a problem. Only own one drive.
Click to expand...

Same here. Never had a problem using FW 800 or 400 to power the drive and download data. I think it has something to do with the sequence you hook the FW cable up. Drive then computer always works. The other way around I've heard can fry the port.
 
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