Reduser 4K Portrait Competition...

[Josef Gatti]

Similarly any titles or printed word based ideas or messages alowed?

secretly hoping that something shot on scarlet_X will win.

That would be interesting! My thoughts are that it might be a little difficult to go up against some of the Epics with some bad ass PL glass, with an L-series mounted Scarlet, that is if judging criteria is heavy on image detail. Lower compression Redcode + over-cranking 4k + pro cine glass = edge. Sadface! Wouldn't it be cool though, ha.

We'll see if concept can triumph image detail.

 

[Eric Lange]

That would be interesting! My thoughts are that it might be a little difficult to go up against some of the Epics with some bad ass PL glass, with an L-series mounted Scarlet, that is if judging criteria is heavy on image detail. Lower compression Redcode + over-cranking 4k + pro cine glass = edge. Sadface! Wouldn't it be cool though, ha.

We'll see if concept can triumph image detail.

As an “artistic” conceit to use just one super sharp M lens and maybe build a special focusing mechanism for extreme wide angle close ups. That way you can get imagery that is super sharp but is affordable and of a type of imagery that is not commonly seen.

In other words you really reach for the root(s) of photography and cinematography.

One lens…

E

 

[Jake Bastian]

I get a lot of stuff from here. 40 bucks a track is tough to beat.

So I assume "No dialogue" also prohibits a voiceover, then?

I assume that would fall under 'sync sound'. I'm guessing on the floor at NAB it will be hard to show anything that requires sound to tell the story.

 

[Michael Cioni]

Only the winners during main stage presentation will include sound. The rest of the gallery will be MOS, which is why it's important that telling any story can be totally conveyed without the use of sync sound. Music is a great way to supplement sync sound, and text can be used if motivated, but if the story lacks clarity when played MOS, it will likely not be the ideal project for this application.
m

 

[Paul Ellington]

Hmmm should I... :0)

 

[Eric Lange]

Only the winners during main stage presentation will include sound. The rest of the gallery will be MOS, which is why it's important that telling any story can be totally conveyed without the use of sync sound. Music is a great way to supplement sync sound, and text can be used if motivated, but if the story lacks clarity when played MOS, it will likely not be the ideal project for this application.
m

Thanks for clarity on that; I guess that underscores the “gallery” theme and stresses the need for compelling imagery.

A little bit on the “gallery” note/idea… should the visual narrative be understandable from a casual glance in a more general fashion or theme as opposed to a very tight visual set of ideas that tell a more explicit story or “plot”?

I.e. if the casual observer is not paying attention from the beginning then the rest of the narrative in essence falls apart?

Is there a balance between ‘ambient” gallery style imagery that is also compelling as a sort of narrative?

I guess what I’m getting at is it better to devise a visual narrative that works well as a loop so the viewer can pick it up at any point, rather than having to wait for an explicit “start point”?

So is there a need for it to “function’ more like a gallery exhibit than necessarily a teaser trailer for a would be movie?

E

 

[Michael Cioni]

All great questions, Eric.
But the truth is the ideas you've brought up are all valid and can be used when exercising creative control of the piece. There are no specific rules about what the portrait can be (so long as it's suitable for all ages). As this community is filled with creative people, your own creative license as to how you want your portrait to be enjoyed by viewers is what we're looking for. Follow the basic perimeters and then explore whatever direction that takes you.
m

 

[Tim Whitcomb]

We should film mama Cioni's next birthday wishes in 4K Michael!! That was so fun at Dec Reducation 3 I think....

What an amazing opportunity, to spread the 4K gospel.... if Red says lets put these friggin cameras to work people - then Im in!

 

[Eric Lange]

All great questions, Eric.
But the truth is the ideas you've brought up are all valid and can be used when exercising creative control of the piece. There are no specific rules about what the portrait can be (so long as it's suitable for all ages). As this community is filled with creative people, your own creative license as to how you want your portrait to be enjoyed by viewers is what we're looking for. Follow the basic perimeters and then explore whatever direction that takes you.
m

Thanks very much for advice/help…

Just trying to focus on how I might give my cerebral and visual cortex a really damn good kicking… to avoid a very obvious out come.

[ne nah ne nah ne nah ne nah ne nah ne nah ne nah (repeat ad infinitum): “Phillip Glass” arpegiated soundtrack… “Koyaaaaaniiiisqatsiiiii… rehash….., Koyaaniskatsi rehaaaaash…., Koyaanisqatsi… rehash… in 4kkkkkkkk… Koyaanisqatsi..”.

Still does seem like a very worthy competition to torture oneself to strive for something original and truly VISUAL to sell the message of 4k.

Great stuff…

Who’s idea was it to come up with such a brief/competition (in the first place)?


EDIT:

After re-reading the original post does seem very exciting indeed; I think this will have people especially REDUSERs (obviously) feel like they are really part of a larger creative and technical RED “identity” or 4k+ identity. To show that your “average” REDUSER (not that there really is such a thing) can totally cope with the 4K workflow does indeed send a very powerful message to basically say… ‘No more excuses!” “get with the 4K already!”

I think the other thing that would be nice is that there are also a lot of people on REDUSER that are normally on the technical side of things that might want a “good excuse” and chance to present something more of their own devising (creatively).

Nice One,

Eric

 

[Zack CC]

This might just be relevant to my interests... :idea:

 

[michael zaletel]

I would love to participate but with only 10 places, I could never hope to compete against the amazing talent in the REDUSER community. Is there any possibility that one of the 10 kiosks can be reserved for a montage of short clips from the "rest of us"? Perhaps those could be submitted online if under 10 seconds. That would encourage many more to participate.

Please advise Jim or Michael,

-Michael Zaletel

 

[Eric Lange]

I would love to participate but with only 10 places, I could never hope to compete against the amazing talent in the REDUSER community. Is there any possibility that one of the 10 kiosks can be reserved for a montage of short clips from the "rest of us"? Perhaps those could be submitted online if under 10 seconds. That would encourage many more to participate.

Please advise Jim or Michael,

-Michael Zaletel

I think that’s a great idea.

I was thinking just the same thing, a sort of monster re-edit of everything boiled down to the “best of the rest” imagery/sequences.

You need a very tough editor to slice and dice efficiently and with great zeal and vigor. But no doubt over the coming years a lot of the show case offerings may become “homogenized” anyway.

E

 

[Zeb B]

i don't know what the "rules" will be for this event, but it seems smartest to have all rights clear so that if you win, or at least make something decent, it can be shown more broadly then private links. There are a number of ways to get decent music for free.

I always clear rights on my end. The question is directed to what rights am I assigning to RED beyond showing at NAB. I am working on something that might fit but my releases do not allow for the material to be used by others to promote a product. So am curious as to the extent of the contest entry release and assignment. Win or lose

 

[Jeffrey T. Morgan]

I always clear rights on my end. The question is directed to what rights am I assigning to RED beyond showing at NAB. I am working on something that might fit but my releases do not allow for the material to be used by others to promote a product. So am curious as to the extent of the contest entry release and assignment. Win or lose

Ah, I understand.

 

[Zhibo Lai]

I'm definitely in. fingers crossed my Scarlet will arrive in time. Already have a few ideas written down.
Wasn't planning on going to NAB this year.. Is attendance at Red User Party required for submission?

 

[Patrick Lavaud]

I would so do this, but I probably won't get my Scarlet till after the submission date. :cryin:

Same here...

 

[Eric Lange]

I would love to participate but with only 10 places, I could never hope to compete against the amazing talent in the REDUSER community. Is there any possibility that one of the 10 kiosks can be reserved for a montage of short clips from the "rest of us"? Perhaps those could be submitted online if under 10 seconds. That would encourage many more to participate.

Please advise Jim or Michael,

-Michael Zaletel

Ok Michael you have given me an idea for a collective REDUSER piece.

March 23rd is a killer deadline; I’m up to my eyeballs in patents and have killer deadline on the 22nd… so there isn’t a cat’s chance in hell I will be able to get to this.



REDUSER “Pitch” for a collective REDUSER 4 minute visual documentary on the Occupy movement.


The basic idea with the ‘portrait theme” and the occupy movement is to visually communicate the hopes, needs and dreams of the individual and how that all knits together into a larger idea or movement, such as the occupy movement. As a photographer one is always looking for imagery that has never been seen before and to communicate or document an idea or sentiment that is unique to our current times.

I think with 4k and the capabilities of modern off line rendering techniques such as Adobe Premier this may be a once in life time opportunity to visually communicate something that will not be available or accessible in the future, perhaps the near future.

The occupy movement is all over the world at different locations, and I think it would be wonderful for each location to focus on an individual or set of individuals as a portrait almost as a character piece, from a close up on an eye for example, and then to in essence dolly zoom or crane out if you like to a more distant or higher vantage point to try and capture the whole scene. What would be wonderful for all such locations is that all of the occupy locations are mosaiced together in to one dynamic master image. That’s a lot of rendering and editing… BUT you in essence create a visual idea almost in totality of the scale of the entire movement… so this in essence is a “portrait” of how an individual’s hopes and dreams integrate into a larger portrait of an entire movement, something bigger… (a bit like REDSER…). I think the 4K display and delivery enables a range of detail that is unparalleled and hence is able to visually communicate an unprecedented range of scale and complexity. I think in this case we are also able to communicate a new level of emotional complexity at all scales which to my mind is what 4k is all about. The master mosaic image is perhaps the processed mega pixels that Michael Cioni may be alluding to? I don’t know if Adobe Premier will choke and fall over or not but I’m all for pushing things to the absolute limit. I think this would be an excellent show case of the technology.

So what is needed for this IS the REDUSER community essentially anyone with a RED camera that can shoot appropriate footage to in essence document this phenomenon. This could constitute a very valuable document of our times and for our times and posterity almost in an anthropological way to help understand the times we live in rather than a directly political message. I think the Adobe tools could be very valuable in communicating this range of scale of ideas and emotions but also to be able to visualize almost the physical scale of feeling in absolute overview through the use of current technology. In other words 4k and the editing and rendering tools are able to engender a higher level of complexity and depth of feeling in the mind of the viewer… (or at least that’s the grand idea perhaps). Is that not why we are "doing" 4k?

Someone is needed to coordinate, folks round the world who are REDUSERS to shoot footage, and a group of REDUSERS in arms reach of each other (or otherwise) that have guts to edit and render such a work… and perhaps take a bit more direct responsibility.

Maybe it’s an obvious idea but the occupy movement may be a transitory thing, and I think it might be good to see what REDUSER as it were could potentially create with excellent documentary tools. Might be a good one to get the jump on as next year the world will be different place…

I received two scarlets last week for s-3d engineering that we are doing, but I am totally blown away by the quality of these instruments. They really do command a LOT of respect, the photos on the web do not do them remotely any justice at all.

The other thing I like about the idea is that a Scarlet X with a single lens totally has the capability to win! So I like the idea that the camera can indeed function as the “run and gun” shooter of our times to record the word in unprecedented realism and detail. The fact that RAW can be used means that many years from now we can go back to the original documentary sources and in essence re-interpret the original recordings from a more considered vantage point in the context of greater time and history.

Just thought I would throw that one out there… maybe some is already doing this?

Thanks for your time!,

Eric


P.s.

In other words, EVERYBODY can take part and in a sense everybody wins as a collective effort. Apart from planning, cinemagraphically no super special skills are required other than a half decent eye for the acquisition of the imagery. The real test will be the rendering, workflow, editing, grading and so on. I like the idea of it being a “data space” that can be traversed in many different ways and scales.. and to be honest I would like to know what the Occupy Movement really looks like all around the world. The conventional media channels have blocked a very substantial fraction of the coverage and I only hear snippets about this or that on PBS radio. I would really like to SEE what is really going on around the world as a "global portrait" with this idea/movement. I find it fitting that the 4k revolution and REd and REDUSER should cover the Occupy “revolution”; why not? I really like the idea that REDUSERS are at all four corners of the planet.

 

[Eric Lange]

THis thread make me wonder when am i going to receive my camera

Because if want to participate ...... i don t think i ll rent a camera

Ooops..

Yup,

I wonder about whether the rules would be relaxed to any 4k device? Probably not very likely, but the “spirit of 4k” is valid perhaps and might help to mend a few bridges that have been “nuked” more recently… I don’t know… Mine are earmarked for very specific engineering projects so I can’t lend them out… (hint hint…)

Who do we know that has a lot of Scarlet X’s? Hmmmm (but they are for customers and are in production so that REDUSER may indeed have more S-Xs to hand than RED itself?)

Why not a RED + REDUSER “in house project or offering” SURELY that would make the top ten?

E.

This may turn into the Russian doll equivalent of a can of worms… Each can of worms therein presents a new can of worms… and so on. There is still a lot of positivity and good will perhaps.

 

[Blair S. Paulsen]

Can we use a 48fps base frame rate?

Cheers - #19

 

[Jason Beckwith]

Two questions:

Are multiple entries allowed?

If an entry is submitted in 'Portrait' as opposed to 'Landscape', will it be properly displayed in 4k 'portrait', or will it be pillar boxed into 'landscape'?

Thanks!