RED in Bombay, India

[Gian Joon]

I am heading to Bombay with RED 1848 in coming weeks and will be based there long term. Just wanted to check with other guys working in Bollywood how it is perceived.
Are producers giving it preference over other high-end HD cameras or still sceptic about its new technology?
Any advice is welcome!

 

[SandeepDey]

Interested in Mumbai!
Very few REDs in Mumbai for an opinion. The reluctance of change is obvious though. Though it seems to have a buzz going for it.

 

[Mark Toia]

Just came back from India, CLIENT LOVES IT!!! , Were scared at first but now they don't want to shoot on anything else.
On set editing blew them away!
On set grading blew them away,
2k final master blew them away,
Job finished 2 days earlier blew them away.

The FILM PROCESSING & TELECINE savings went straight into on screen production, job looks great!
Client and agency could not be any happier.
They can't wait to use it again.

 

[Ramesh Jai]

I keep saying...Red will sell more cameras in India than anywhere else in the world!!! They will open a sales and service office there in a few years! Is there a stone nearby where you can etch this?

 

[Gian Joon]

I keep saying...Red will sell more cameras in India than anywhere else in the world!!! They will open a sales and service office there in a few years! Is there a stone nearby where you can etch this?

You are right about that Ramesh. It is just a matter of time. But at the moment there is quite a bit of misconception about it. One of the top level production houses has been talking to me for last few days about using RED for their forthcoming project. They are blown away by the image, but still getting their head around workflow.

 

[Bal Deo]

Just finishing our DI on a feature that had some scences shot with red. hence this will be inter-cutting with super 35. Both the RED and ARRI 435 used the cooke Si lenses . My colorist at EFX Magic ( leading vfx and di facility across india) was just amazed at the image quality. Sanjay Gupta ( a well known director from bollywood) is also looking into RED one for his next project. i will be going back there to finish the post production and probably take my RED one kit along for these guys to have some more insight.
As a result of of our testing during this shoot we had a extensive comparison of RED with Super35, including DI output. hence our next feature is all RED ONE.

 

[SandeepDey]

RED was made for Bollywood, wasn't it?

I thought the rest were just early adopters.

 

[Bal Deo]

bollywood has recently started to accept alternative cinema. for this kind of filming red works well. however the big glamorous bollywood still love the look of film and many cinemotographer are not too keen with this new digital film media. The guy's in south (chenni) seem to be more open. As i mentioned while i was there for the past 45days they were very excited about the red. Next week there is a an exbition taking place in mumabi and one of the event is RED and grading in Scracth. let's see how they react to that!!!

 

[SandeepDey]

Why I believe Red will be big in India....

- There is a huge regional (non-Hindi/Hindustani) cinema industry that the world collectively refers to as Bollywood.

- Less than 10% of India's 1000+ p.a. movies are glamourous, big budget productions.

- Digital distribution is catching on for the second rung productions and secondary centers. How cool is theatrical distribution without a filmout and print cost?

I have been talking to a few production houses. There is skepticism and no one wants to make their baby the guinea pig. But there are lot of eyes on the RED. All it needs a couple of fair size productiond and the flood gates will open.

 

[HyderBilgrami]

Red will surely be a major success in Bombay ... I am shooting film on RED .. but here in NJ.. in Indian language ...

 

[gbalaji]

Already a Tamil feature shot on red, DI in plaster city atpresent and 3 feature films starting shooting on red in chennai this month. Chennai have total of 6 red one and 15 in booking. Hope we release a first 4k shot Tamil feature late November starring prasana and sneha titled "achchamundu achchamundu". Digital revolution a humble begining in india from chennai from digital exhibition (QUBE) to digital acquistion at 4K in red. catch up Bollywood.