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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 :)

Red is a consumer camera!

In defense of Christian Bale, he is a pro and he did not whine on set. He lost his temper after the DP acted UNPROFESSIONALLY on set, adjusting lights while a very emotional scene was being shot. This was not the only time this particular DP had done this on the Terminator film. He had done it many times, and rightly, Bale called the DP out on it.
 
I had a boot hang on a clip once and inside of 30 seconds there were two producers standing over my shoulder asking what the %$!# was going on.

I asked that if it were a film shoot and we had a mag jam mid take - would they be hovering over my shoulder like this?

Shit happens with any camera.

Unfortunately RED is not judged on a level playing field. Some people just want it to fail - probably because it has become so successful!
 
I had a quite similar experience yesterday that really made me steam. I was at one of our three local film labs dropping of dpx files for a 30 second filmout test for our short film in competition in this years Berlinale when the head colorist came up to me and went well out of his way to start bad-mouthing the red. I mean he knows my own opinion, he knows I own a red and work on major red shoots here and we've even worked together on two seperate features. But then he has to really start digging and digging even after I tell him "you know I'm really not interested in arguing" "I know your opinion, lets just leave it at that" "well not everyone thinks the same way" etc. etc. All this crap about how he talked with so and so and he said whatnot and how great Alexa is and so on and so on, ad infinitum. Not to say hes not a good colorist but this guy and this lab I will not mention the name of just really don't get the red and how to get good results from it. Once on a feature we brought a few borderline shots we wanted to check on their baselight and it looked so bad that we actually had them come down to set to see my own pregrade I had made with my own RR equipped setup. I mean if its looking better after a 5 min 1st light through Redcine on an on-set 8-bit monitor equipped system than on a baselight 4 with a 2k projector etc. then something is seriously wrong. No?

Just to continue on the same rant I rcently saw a test that someone spent some serious, serious money on comparing red-mx, alexa and 35mm film. As expected film looked the best but while I've seen a few of these by now and the alexa has IMO some advantages and in at least the highlights a slightly more organic feel than the red with this test the results were seriously skewed. The red looked very, very bad. Unfortunately I wasn't in the position to make waves but it can really be painful because I know its guys like this colorist and this test that people will be making decisions based on. In this specific case I can tell you that due to the credibility of the dop doing the test and how many people will see it a lot and lot of work will be now going to the alexa in his market.

Its almost enough to make one believe in conspiracies.

Well... rant over. Back to work grading the stuff we shot today that looks super great!
 
To sum this up, hopefully before it heads down one of those roads....

RED is not a consumer cam unless the consumers live on Rodeo Drive

RED, Arri, Panasonic, Sony, etc all make good cameras that will appeal to various markets and to various DPs and their styles.

We are fortunate to be living in a time when we have a LOT of choices.

There will always be some negative energy out there and sometimes it shows up on set. Patience is a virtue. Breathe and realize at the end of the day it's never worth it to let someone get under your skin about a camera or any other piece of technology. If they threaten your family or cause you bodily harm, then that is something to get worried about. Otherwise, best to stay positive, and feel comfort in knowing you are the better person for staying calm and rational.

When I saw Epic footage projected the other night on a big screen I thought, wow this is it. Why would anyone shoot anything else, with the exception of perhaps film? The reality is there are a million reasons why people might choose to do things a certain way and I'm just happy knowing that the Epic is an option for me and that's all that really matters in my little world.
 
Steve Sherrick said:
If they threaten your family or cause you bodily harm, then that is something to get worried about.
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Not too sure if I would get worried or get busy. As I've told my daughter's dates on occasion, "I have a shotgun and a shovel. And no one will ever know."
 
Mark Phelan said:
Not too sure if I would get worried or get busy. As I've told my daughter's dates on occasion, "I have a shotgun and a shovel. And no one will ever know."
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I may need to borrow that quote someday. :-)
 
The whole RED vs Alexa thing is kinda bunk. Simply because ARRI has a great track record with film cameras does not mean the Alexa is better, on all counts, than a RED.

It's a big assumption to make, and it relies on personal history with ARRI more than any real data to back it up.

The Alexa is a great camera, by all means. So is the MX, and likely the Epic too. It's simply another tool in a cinematographer's arsenal. No need for hate, or conspiracy theories, or hyperbole.

RED gets an unfair amount of flak, but you know what? I love that. RED scares people. And it should. It takes balls to what they do, a Steve Jobs-ian approach if you will. You might make some people unhappy in the short-term because they're scared, or don't understand, or feel threatened, but RED's in this for the long haul. As Gretzky has said before, "It ain't where the puck is, it's where the puck will be." That's the beauty of what RED's doing. They know the people who are secure in their talents will be on board with what they're trying to do, and will give it a fair shake as they would any other format / camera.

But at the end of the day, if some dude is talkin' smack about the RED? So what. The people that matter are on board already. Don't take it personal, don't blame ARRI or the other guys. They're doing what they can to put out quality products.

Grab that RED and do as Fincher, Soderbergh, Wolski, Cronenweth, Klein and many, many other talented folks do: keep on shootin'.
 
Jeremy Torrie said:
Whoa Peter...what kind of DOP?

Even the most accomplished cinematographers are willing to work with another, unknown format for any number of reasons.

Do most prefer 35? As of now, probably. But it's a changing world, and Red is at the forefront.

This guy sounds like a douche, but DP's I admire and respect have worked with cameras that might be 'below' them because they like the story, the filmmaker, or the challenge, or for any number of reasons...including much-needed cash!
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I said. "This is a very good point. What kind of DP lets some one else decide what format he will use? ."

I have no idea what most DPs prefer to shoot on. I will shoot whatever is appropriate for the given situation. I don't feel any format is "below" me and never meant to insinuate anything is "below" me. I've shot with a gazillion formats and personally I prefer to shoot with my Red that I've had for almost three years now.

As a DP I don't let other people choose what format I will shoot on. Ever.
 
There are some that are getting incredibly great results from RED (see The Social Network), and some that are getting poor results. If you are getting poor results you have two options.

1. Blame the camera
2. Ask the guys getting good results what they are doing.

If you choose #2, the simplicity of the answer is the shocker.

Jim
 
Jannard said:
There are some that are getting incredibly great results from RED (see The Social Network), and some that are getting poor results. If you are getting poor results you have two options.

1. Blame the camera
2. Ask the guys getting good results what they are doing.

If you choose #2, the simplicity of the answer is the shocker.

Jim
Click to expand...

If you were saying this on stage, as soon as you were done it'd be one of those 'drop-the-mic-and walk away like a gangsta' moments.

Awesome.
 
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