Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • 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 :)

Remember when it was about the story not the quality

Steve Sherrick said:
Ruben, a polite reminder. You don't get to close down a thread. I understand you are new here (August 2011) but there are some guidelines. Others may want to comment, and it gets shut down when a mod decides to shut it down. You can ask a mod to shut it down with a good explanation of why.

You asked a question that will certainly bring out the passion in everyone because a lot of folks here put a lot of effort into all facets of the process. That's why you see some of the responses. I encourage you to have thick skin, weather the storm if comments are opposing viewpoint, etc. If people get out of line, mods will take care of it. Otherwise, people are offering their take on things and we all see the world differently.

No one looking to run you over, I don't think. :-)
Click to expand...

It'd be great if the forums had a way to hide entire threads from your view. I'm ramping up on my knowledge base as I wait to receive my camera by absorbing the knowledge on these forums, and having a way to hide threads you are not interested in, would be a huge help.
 
Nikhil Kamkolkar said:
It'd be great if the forums had a way to hide entire threads from your view. I'm ramping up on my knowledge base as I wait to receive my camera by absorbing the knowledge on these forums, and having a way to hide threads you are not interested in, would be a huge help.
Click to expand...
You can choose to ignore member's posts by going into settings and editing your ignore list. Not exactly what you're asking for, I know. There are other tools such as rating threads, and perhaps there are additional filtering modes that I'm unaware of. Been a while since I put anyone on the ignore list. Generally takes a lot for me to get to that point. I'm fairly patient. :-)
 
Why you even in here man???????
go to bestbuy buy a $200 photo camera make you shit movie.

we are not welcome you here!
 
My first camcorder was a Hi8 camcorder, and I bought it because the images looked so much better than crappy VHS. My Hi8 cam is still a champ in lowlight. But it was not that easy to digitize the footage and so was quickly supplanted by DV. But I didn't move up to DV because it was crappy - I moved up because it was better - easier to manage and looked better. The trajectory - the quest for better imaging - continued from there. RED users and fans are typically serious amatuers, image junkies, or professionals. I don't think there is going to be a lot of nostalgia for the good ol' days of inferior imaging systems. Pixelvision, maybe. I would not mind owning a Pixelvision camera.
 
Not a bad idea for an OFF TOPIC thread.
"What was your first Camera"
"What was your first Film Project"

Could be fun. . . in the Off Topic area. Maybe not here.
 
Last edited:
Steve Sherrick said:
You can choose to ignore member's posts by going into settings and editing your ignore list. Not exactly what you're asking for, I know. There are other tools such as rating threads, and perhaps there are additional filtering modes that I'm unaware of. Been a while since I put anyone on the ignore list. Generally takes a lot for me to get to that point. I'm fairly patient. :-)
Click to expand...

I've already done that. I'm not very patient by nature although my kids are doing miracles for me on that front! ;)

It'd be so good to be able to put entire threads on a 'do not show' list as these uninteresting threads keep getting bumped back to the top with the, er, attentive love of those passionate about that topic and... oh well... I'll just try to improve my scanning methods. But its really a hassle when the least useful threads keep getting bumped to the top of the pile and important informative threads keep getting buried and even moved to the second page sometimes. :(
 
I'm not a moderator, so this doesn't mean much but it seems like some Off Topic material is getting into camera threads. Scarlet thread should be specifically about issues revolving around Scarlet. I know it doesn't solve the issue of how new posts are sorted because they would still get pushed to the top, but it might help clean up these threads so you could just pop into the one you are most interested in and get relevant information.

I don't know....
 
Daniel Dols said:
I think sometimes, just sometimes, not having the best look in the world can also be a big advantage. You won't see little make-up screw ups, on the technical side for example. But a little-less-quality picture also can add to the 'indie' feel, making it more genuine, more honest, it shows the crew and everyone tried to make the very best thing they could with the limited stuff they had.

But, also, when we'll see all the indies with pixel-perfect 4k imagery, when everyone has that 'pro look', maybe the story WILL become more important again?
Click to expand...


The 'indie' will be a synthesized effect. 'Low quality' within an impeccable wrapper. The Real will have moved on.
Best is not a synonym for highest quality.
 
My story is simple:
2006: Working on getting a film funded and included in the budget a Red camera.
2008: Funding and company fell through ironically Red camera is released and is everything I expected it to be. Damn!
2010: Purchased a DSLR from a nameless disapointing company which makes great lenses.
2011: Learned a lot from the camera but wished I had bought a Sony FS100 instead.
2011: Gave up on waiting for Company to Re-up, placing deposit on Scarlet-X next week.
2012: 3 films on slate, Don't care if they ever fund me, making them either way.
 
Dear Mr Sherrick,

It's ironic that wading through melt down moments in threads, is often rendered almost worthwhile just to observe your skills as a mediator, humanist and professional.

On the thread itself. It's an often used phrased line. Which we all know has merit. However some people around the traps do use it as veiled a form of artistic snobbery, so it can bring out a bit of ire I tend to find.

Personally, on camera quality, in simplest terms, I kind of find it a little like a Zig Ziggler quote...

"Money isn't everything... But it ranks right up there with oxygen"

A high quality camera is definitely not the most important thing. But it can sure as shit help lol.

I guess one thing I have learnt with film making is that inevitably a lot of elements or incidents will arise that you simply can't control. And in my past affording the level of camera quality I have desired/required for a project has at times been one of them. And this has meant some frustrating and disappointing exoeriences. Not liberating unfortunately. The creative process itself was highly enjoyable and liberating and I learnt a huge amount etc etc... but a lot of great work and considerable skill and expertise that had gone into elements such as costume, production design and SFX - were not able to be taken full advantage of. If we had known better, we could have put in one third the work and achieved the same aesthetic. Not that we would have, or would have wanted to.

Ever since I have entirely looked forward to the day of complete and utter democratisation. Which why I am such a huge fan of RED. I want 5k super slow motion and one fixed ultimate super lens - readily available and highly affordable. Then story and creativity will truly be king. Alongside of course the so often forgotten but HUGELY important aspects of film making such as teamwork, work ethic, vision, planning, leadership etc etc...

Don't get me wrong, a lack of resources or possibilities can definitely inspire and breed creativity. Go Dogme 95 :)
However a lack of resources can also impede creativity and limit possibility. Especially of some genre work I believe. I appreciate you may just be clever enough of a story teller or craftsmen to even compensate or utilise your limitations in such a way as to overcome them or even in the most brilliant of cases strengthen your work instead. And it's so impressive. And does indeed herald the best of the best. But there is still a reason why the best, usually seek to try and use the best tools they can find also.

Film making is hard in my opinion. Let alone good film making! And great films? Man like Steve said. A perfect storm, born of butterfly wings and impossibly unforeseeable synchronicities. So anything that helps increase your odds of creating a better piece of work, no matter how marginal, you will assuredly take it if you can.

And while I believe some stories and visions still defy this next statement...
I do hope to be able to become just such a talented storyteller that I could pick up any old camcorder and make a great work with it... But that for me is the simplicity on the far side of complexity so to speak.

And as the saying goes...

"I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity."
– Oliver Wendell Holmes

So for now... so HAPPY to be working with a Scarlet soon, with all it's complexity and the added potentiality it brings to my work.

Best Wishes

Lliam
 
Last edited:
Steve Sherrick said:
I'm not a moderator, so this doesn't mean much but it seems like some Off Topic material is getting into camera threads. Scarlet thread should be specifically about issues revolving around Scarlet. I know it doesn't solve the issue of how new posts are sorted because they would still get pushed to the top, but it might help clean up these threads so you could just pop into the one you are most interested in and get relevant information.

I don't know....
Click to expand...

(I've read a growing movement to have you upgraded to a moderator, Steve - and I'm fully behind it!)

To answer the original gambit of the OP...
I've been thinking about what the Scarlet X opens up to me in terms of the stories I want to tell. Of course, resolution is king here - and rightly so. But the dynamic range removes some of the limitations of storytelling that have frustrated me in some of the shorts that I've made. I feel like I've lost something in a scene when I make that compromise (although I feel that filmmaking is about the balance of comfortable compromises) - but with the Scarlet X it seems that some of these compromises have been removed, leaving myself open to a few different opportunities.
Imagine a guy only used to shooting in black and white getting his first shot at storytelling in colour - Thats honestly how I feel I'm jumping up to. I might fail - but I'm excited to try :)
 
It is about the story.

However the visuals of a cheap camera can essily break my suspension of disbelief. (So does 3d, but that's a different story.) Once the mind gets distracted by the camera it brings the viewer back into reality, then the storytelling has been lost.
 
VFX - sometimes you need them to tell the story you want. If it takes more time to clean and prepare the image to make ANY vfx possible before you you even done anything creative then you know you have chosen the wrong gear - and trust me - its so deeply frustrating having spend 10 years of my life with this kind of footage and thrown out so much time that could have gone into the creative side (in addition to buggy software - but thats another story altogether).

Also the audience is a very used to a extremely high quality image - commercials hollywood etc. - anything less they just don´t take serious - thats with the exception of the few cases where a bad quality is part of the story you want a good quality master.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top