Sony's first RED ONE movie - world premiere at Comic-Con 2009

[Neil W. Smith]

If you're going to San Diego this week to attend Comic-Con, you might want to check out the world premiere of Sony Picture's 'Angel of Death. It stars Zoe Bell, Doug Jones and Ted Raimi. Zoe Bell is Uma Thurman's stunt double in many of Tarantino's movies and is a highly skilled martial artist and actor in her own right.

'Angel of Death' was written by famed comic-noire author Ed Brubaker and shot entirely on the RED ONE camera.

Comic-Con screening details:

Friday, July 24
9:00-11:30 Angel of Death Premiere Screening and Q&A Session— Comic book superstar Ed Brubaker (Captain America), actress and stuntwoman Zoë Bell (Death Proof), actors Doug Jones (Quarantine), and Ted Raimi (Spider-Man 3), director Paul Etheredge (Buried Alive), and producer John Norris appear for a panel and Q&A session, followed by an exclusive screening of the thrilling uncut feature-length version of the film marking the DVD release of the groundbreaking digital online series! Room*6A
Categories:**Movies | Nighttime Programming | Science Fiction & Fantasy​

'Angel of Death' is a great example of our RAWworks consulting and DI-flex approach .... the production team came to us at the beginning of the year and explained what they were trying to achieve with the movie ... the budget was under $2 million and Sony was going to release the movie first as a 10 part webisode series before distributing the DVD later this month.

The Director and DP were considering several different cameras for shooting 'Angel of Death' but wanted to make sure that the camera system selected captured the high-production value of the movie .... and they specifically wanted a "Grindhouse" look to the final finish. We showed them camera tests from several different manufacturers but when we showed them examples from the RED and how far we could push the images in the DI suite, they were blown away.

Even the Execs from Sony were impressed with the RED footage. As well as working with the DP to test the workflow, we helped set up an FCP editorial pipeline using ProRes and supplied the VFX house with pre-graded ProRes422HQ QuickTimes which they got back to us for insertion into the final conform for color correction.

The DP and our colorist spent a week grading the 90 minute feature in Apple Color before we cut it up into the 10 webisode segments and laid it back with audio to HDCAM-SR tape for delivery to Sony.

The combination of RED + Apple + Sony is a great example of what we call optimizing the 'acquisition-workflow-output' equation at a particular budget point. By going with RED, the production team was able to get very high quality images that were useable on the web, on DVD and in theatrical projection. By going with ProRes and an Apple based workflow we were able to deliver a high value finish to the movie at a great price. Laying back to HDCAM-SR tape is a very cost-effective digital master for final delivery to a distribution company.

For more details on the production and workflow used in 'Angel of Death' check out the article in the News section of our webpage:

http://www.hollywooddi.com/news.html

The combination of well shot RED with an Apple based workflow and color correction in a professional DI suite is really changing the price point for good looking movies with high production value.

Enjoy Comic-Con and let me know what you thought of the 'Angel of Death' screening.

Neil

 

[Jeremy Hughes]

They must have just given in and admitted what's best rather than being egotistical about it.

I'd love to hear some feedback too.

 

[Neil W. Smith]

It's all about the story ....

It's all about the story ....

They must have just given in and admitted what's best rather than being egotistical about it.

Not sure it was so much about "giving in" - more a case of what was best for the story and the production team .... they wanted a hi-res HD image but with a dirty 'Grind House' look to the finished product.

To tell the truth, the producers didn't really care about the technology ... only how to get the most 'bang for their buck' and achieve the look they wanted .... as one of them said: “This was one of the most fun productions we’ve done ... Brubaker’s amazing script combined with a great cast and a wonderful team ensured we got a really tight and intriguing story line ... working with Indie Rentals and Hollywood-DI meant that production and post-production flowed seamlessly into each other. Most importantly, the final look of ‘Angel of Death’ was exactly what the director was dreaming of – dirty, gritty, and yet, very filmic.”

Here's a link to a short QT movie that shows some cool RED footage with some before and after wipes including some scenes from 'Angel of Death' .... not all the clips are shot on RED but you should easily be able to tell which ones are ... its an iPhone size H.264 ... looks amazing on iPhone - great way to do dailies:

http://hollywooddi.com/downloads/HDI_Comicon_Reel_270P.mov

Here's a few stills from the finished movie ... you'll see that as well as giving it a gritty look we also added some film grain to give it some texture as well ... shoot on RED and then add film grain - go figure ... but this is what creative choice is all about:

 

[Dominic Jones]

They must have just given in and admitted what's best rather than being egotistical about it.

Sony Picture Entertainment and Sony Pro Broadcast are basically two completely different companies. Sony pictures are most frequently shot on 35mm, which Sony don't make a camera for either!...

Dom.

 

[Stephen Williams]

Hi,

Several Sony films have shot with RED or partly RED, probably the first was Dark Country lensed by Geoff Boyle using build 8.

Stephen

 

[Joe G.]

This is a web series that I saw months ago. I even wrote a review of it.

Piles of Dead Mobsters
Angel of Death

There’s something about an attractive woman beating and kicking the crap out of bad men that makes it hard to turn away. Over at crackle.com [Link] you can see, for free, all the girl on boy ultra-violence that any semi-sane viewer could crave. Angel of Death delivers the blows, and it’s a pretty well done miniseries intended directly for the web.

Zoe Bell [Link: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1057928/] is a New Zealander stunt double and actress. She plays Eve. Eve is a cold-blooded, vicious hit woman for the mob.

The story neglects to show how Eve arrived at this point in her life, opting instead for the non-stop action of a certain two-week period where things go awry. This lack of back story renders it a bit light, and Eve like the others a bit cardboard. Fans of “action” films usually excuse the cutout nature of the characterization, and so this is not necessarily a big minus out there in ‘the world.’

Spoilers

The story essentially takes an immoral character, Eve, and literally jams a knife in her head, forcing her to reexamine her life, her values and her mission. This is a classic dark hero scenario, a bad guy (or girl in this case) is forced by fate to change course and to do the right thing. On that level the story works. What appears to be another exercise in glorified violence does spin around quite a bit once that knife penetrates Eve’s skull.

For that ingenuity I gave it credit. I had to continue through the ten parts and to the finish. Eve’s story takes a few twists and turns, always ending on a cliffhanger. The short episodes seem to fly by, as there is enough plot there to sustain the momentum.

The characters include Eve’s immediate supervisor, her neophyte co-assassin, the son of the big mob boss and his sister, an FBI agent trying to deal for inside information, and a long roster of sleazy thugs whom Eve goes to work on. Sometimes Eve dispatches them with ease; other times she is the one about to be dispatched.

But Eve must continue, driven by the ghost of the little girl she murdered as the knife impaled her brain. Eve works for “Marie” now, reluctantly and without a choice. This haunting aspect is chilling at first, and then familiar and expected.

Angel of Death despite all these positive qualities still left me a bit cold. I felt that the violence is still glorified, made to be something desirable, something to aspire to. The overall feeling is not that one shouldn’t be a brutal murderer, but that you can be the best brutal murderer if you’re on the right side. That’s not a great message in my book.

Despite gorgeous cinematography, lighting, sets, stunt coordination and editing, something underlying the story doesn’t sit well with me. The “action” genre is often a cover for blood lust, torture porn, and other depraved ideas. Angel of Death flirts with this dark side, perhaps trying to walk the fine line, but slipping occasionally.

Somebody had to say it.

Zoe Bell, Image

LA Times article on Angel of Death

Behind the Scenes clips

 

[Neil W. Smith]

RED ONE and multi-use media ....

RED ONE and multi-use media ....

Despite gorgeous cinematography, lighting, sets, stunt coordination and editing, something underlying the story doesn’t sit well with me. The “action” genre is often a cover for blood lust, torture porn, and other depraved ideas. Angel of Death flirts with this dark side, perhaps trying to walk the fine line, but slipping occasionally.

Interesting review ..... it definitely is a "dark story" but if you know the work of Ed Brubaker you'll know he has a dark side to him as well ... shame you didn't mention how great the color correction and finishing was - it really made a real difference to the final look of the movie :-(

However, from a filmmaker's point of view there is a "light side" to this movie .... Sony Pictures make approximately 100 straight-to-DVD movies a year all on tight budgets under $2 million. This was their first attempt to leverage the web and the Brubaker's fan base ... Ed wrote the story as a 90 minute feature and then it was cut up into 10 webisodes and put on Sony's website 'Crackle.com'. The show got over 7 million hits and rave reviews. Sony have also screened it on TV (Spike I think) and are now showing at Comic-Con before releasing the DVD world-wide.

The point being that everyone is looking to find ways of making money off the web .... maybe the business model is not there yet (unless you're iTunes) but as a way of generating buzz and publicity for a movie and then selling more DVDs, webisodes could be an effective way to leverage your movie ... high-production value and a strong story are still necessary.

The whole notion of multi-use and re-purposing media is something that lends itself to shooting with the RED ONE camera .... you get a great looking image that you can use on the web, on iPhones, on HD TV, on DVD and BR, film festivals and if you're really lucky on a theatrical release ... shoot once, use many times.

RED ONE is lowering the barriers-to-entry for high-quality physical production but the tricky part is making money out of distribution .... wonder if REDRAY will move the goal posts?

Off to San Diego .... geek fest here I come!

Neil

 

[Andrew clemson]

Always nice to see more Red films. Looking forward to gamer.

 

[Alex Carr]

This was a really fun show to be a part of, I'm glad to see it doing so Well.

 

[Christian Edwards]

anyone have chance to see avatar?

 

[Neil W. Smith]

survived Comic-Con .....

survived Comic-Con .....

This was a really fun show to be a part of, I'm glad to see it doing so Well.

If you thought NAB was crazy, you should try Comic-Con .... this was my first time attending ... it was total madness.

'Angel of Death' premiere went very well .... audience loved the movie and plenty of questions about the look at the Panel session .... Director explained that it was shot on RED ONE and everyone was surprised - most assumed it was shot on film and not digital .... congrats to DP, Carl Herse and DIT, Alex ... nice work guys.

Couple of other observations:

1) The Film Studios and TV Networks are taking over Comic-Con ..... the crowds and buzz in Halls D and E where the movie/TV booths were situated was way more intense than in Halls A and B where all the real comic stuff was ... I'm not really a comic reader but the movies and TV shows coming out of comic franchises are growing in sophistication and production value .... not just talking about movies like 'Batman' and 'Superman'.

2) Marvel Studios (as opposed to Marvel Comics) is a very interesting mini studio - they have a great franchise and super smart business model .... if you're ever offered a job with these guys, take it! .... hope Ted is talking to them .... these guys know how to make movies and make money .... the Iron Man 2 session was wild.

3) Branding is the key to surviving the new digital media era and multi-purpose content .... build a strong brand and then leverage the awareness into as many avenues as possible .... there is going to be so much content produced over the next decade that you need every ounce of competitive advantage to break through the noise barrier.

JJ is building a great brand around the RED ONE .... its in all all our best interest to help him leverage that awareness into a set of brand attributes associated with high quality and reliability at a great price ... what ever some people on this forum may think of 'Panavision' and 'Kodak', these two companies have been at the core of professional movie making for the last fifty years and have built up an amazing reputation for excellent service and high quality, dependable delivery in every kind of movie making environment. Many successful Producers, Directors and DPs have staked their careers around these two companies and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

So, whenever you're involved in a RED production or dealing with .r3ds in post, take good care of your colleagues on set and your images in post-production ... let's have pride in our work and strive to make the RED movie making experience the best it can be.

We're not just making movies, we're making history ... let's do it well.

Neil