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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 :)

Redcode 28 vs 36 for 35mm blow up.

D

Drew Bienemann

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Im about to go shoot a short film in Kabul. We may or may not blow up to 35mm, but the DP is insisting on shooting to CF cards for weight purposes, which means we will have to roll Redcode 28. Is there going to be a big diefferance between redcode 28 and 36 when we finally blow up to 35mm? Is there some examples?
 
framing

framing

I heard a story about how the tight framing of the French new wave started, they shot 4:3 but the projectionist had the 1.66:1 mask in the projector, afterwards the reviewers exclaimed the "new" look of such tight framing bringing the actors performance to "fill the frame" and such, so they felt it was a style to do again, rather than the result of a lazy projectionist...

Whenever there is any softness to the image because of a SLR lens being used, or needing to shoot wide open, and such, its best to go to a longer focal length to frame a bit tighter, that way the image will not look as free of fine detail like it would if you shoot the actors faces in medium or long shots for more than a few seconds.

The compression numbers are not a ratio of the image detail as that depends on what is in the frame as well, if the background is soft it should leave more bandwidth for the subject, another reason to use longer lenses.
 
Dans answer is somewhat cryptic. The more useful answer is that for most purposes the extra compression will not cause you problems, only in extremely high detailed scenes might you begin to notice it more, or if trying to pull difficult keys or reduce noise in the deepest of shadows or something non standard. Redcode 28 and shooting to CF cards has been done very successfully on a huge number of projects in all manner of conditions - if it was a problematic workflow this wouldnt be the case, so rest assured that barring trying to do something extremely out of the norm, you should be fine.
 
There's not a big difference, you should be fine.

"Blow-up" is sort of a misnomer when talking about recording digital files to film, there's no optical enlargement process going on -- even if you are transferring crappy DV footage to 35mm.
 
I've only once noticed a difference with 28, and it was a deep depth of field beach scene with hundreds of people moving in different directions, a complex town scape moving beach grass and moving water, all in focus. I did one take in 28 (by mistake) and shot 36 after-wards. Even in this extreme situation, I really had to look hard for any differences, and at 1080p it was basically identical.
 
Maybe they're shooting their short overcranked the whole time? Why else would they need to be on RC 28? RED's original 8 gig cards will do RC 36 with no problem.

It can't be the weight factor. Last I checked, the weight difference between a CF card shot on RC 28 and one shot at 36 was pretty trivial.

:-)

Stephen
 
Gunleik Groven said:
You still have to wait a bit for that solution to be "off the shelf"

Gunleik
(Waiting...)
Click to expand...

hush gunleik, one can dream. I'm still waiting till a spinning hd goes the way of the cassette :)

back on topic, rec 36 will record at 4k no problem on CF cards, more so no problem on 16 gb cards. You can even record up to rec 42 quad HD on 16 gb cards. higher bitrate = better for post, if you're doing vfx work or HEAVY color grading. that's where the higher bit rate comes in handy. visually you won't see any difference, unless you have wicked deity like eyes.

but I do find you see a difference when you are shooting in windowed modes like 3k and 2k. the higher bitrates (if you can depending on your framerate) help a lot in that department too.
 
Stephen Pruitt said:
Maybe they're shooting their short overcranked the whole time? Why else would they need to be on RC 28? RED's original 8 gig cards will do RC 36 with no problem.

It can't be the weight factor. Last I checked, the weight difference between a CF card shot on RC 28 and one shot at 36 was pretty trivial.

:-)

Stephen
Click to expand...
Could be they need to shoot un-interrupted for as long as possible. The locale suggests shooting inconspicuously.
 
You could be right, Elsie. . . but, if that were the case, surely they'd use a drive. Compromises. Alas. . .

Stephen
 
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