Why is Red not attending NAB 2017?

[Alex Delmonico]

I just read that Red isn't attending NAB this year on NoFilmSchool and then verified it on the floor map. Does anyone know why?

Hanging out at the Red booth is the main reason I go to NAB...

Its going to be a depressing year.

 

[Stacey Spears]

They announced this last year. They are focusing on Cinegear.

 

[PatrickFaith]

One of the trends I'm seeing, is that companies are showing thier gear within thier partners booths. I think it would be kind of nice to know which partners booths RED is being represented in.

 

[Alex Delmonico]

Right, the No Film School article mentioned that, but I am curious as to why the shift in direction. Red was born out of NAB. Do you know why there was a shift in direction?

 

[Glen David Miller]

Well, RED has a name brand,

-They have a direct web connection to the user base,

-The owners and officials speak directly to the user base through sites like this - which few others do -

-NAB costs a fortune, and that money could go to other endeavors (cine gear),

- And, as I understand it, they can't keep up with new customer orders as it is.

-They are also a smaller company and because of that, they can change their mind on the fly - so if they need the outreach and "show" of NAB next year, they could always return. This year, they don't need it.

-G

 

[Bob Gundu]

They are a major sponsor of Cinegear this year. The red studios is close to the event so expect RED to put on a better show than they could at NAB. Plus the booth at NAB is usually full of tire kickers. Cinegear has a a more focused group of attendees to be more of the cinema type.

 

[Terry VerHaar]

FWIW, I was told by a reputable source that there will be some RED presence at NAB. Not nearly anything like the past and probably not with a lot of visibility. As others have said, they said after NAB 2016 that they were going to focus on Cinegear in LA.

 

[Tu Do]

Red is definitely going to have a small presence there at least. They do have a spot on the floor, but I'm not quite sure how large or even if it's in the main hall or not. I just know I have some meetings with those guys so I at least know there will be some folks there! Cinegear definitely sounds like the focus still though.

 

[Saumene Mehrdady]

Right, the No Film School article mentioned that, but I am curious as to why the shift in direction. Red was born out of NAB. Do you know why there was a shift in direction?

Because NAB is prosumerized now. The demographics changed after everybody started buying DSLRs for video in 2010. Look at the majority of gear being shown and promoted recently- there is an overwhelming focus on stupid drones and video cameras aimed at event shooters and hobbyists/tech enthusiasts. Sure the big guys like Arri et al. are still showing there but the type of people that frequent the event is not what it used to be.

RED makes professional cinema equipment, so Cinegear is a perfect fit for them.

 

[M Most]

Because NAB is prosumerized now. The demographics changed after everybody started buying DSLRs for video in 2010. Look at the majority of gear being shown and promoted recently- there is an overwhelming focus on stupid drones and video cameras aimed at event shooters and hobbyists/tech enthusiasts. Sure the big guys like Arri et al. are still showing there but the type of people that frequent the event is not what it used to be.

RED makes professional cinema equipment, so Cinegear is a perfect fit for them.

NAB didn't suddenly start when Red showed up. I've been to about 30 NAB conventions, beginning in around 1979. The real change began when Apple showed up at NAB in the late 1990s. Prior to that, it was a very focused industry show, that industry being the Broadcast industry (it is, after all, the National Association of Broadcasters). You didn't go and couldn't get a pass unless you actually worked in the industry. The show was dominated by broadcast production equipment (live video cameras, switchers, video lighting packages, trucks, VTRs, and video post production equipment, as well as radio, microwave, and recording equipment) and attended primarily by broadcast professionals and post production personnel. When Apple showed up, it turned into a software show, and at some point, began to be attended by people who had never been to the show before and had no direct connection with the industry it was serving - namely, students, "independent movie makers," and many others who had nothing to do with broadcasting. It became an entertainment version of CES in many ways, and just about anybody could get a pass. That only accelerated when Red came in, because they really had nothing to do with broadcasting either - but they were building up a rabid following among "independent filmmaker" types, who never had an interest in these things before - in part because they couldn't afford them - but since Red chose to show their products there, it became something they wanted to now be a part of.

Personally, I only attend NAB these days because I have to. If I didn't have to go, I wouldn't. Frankly, I can collect more pertinent and detailed information by going on line and looking up what I need to know. I can see any new product demos that have any significance on line either as they are happening, or via streaming later. NAB was never designed or intended to be a "film industry" event. It was never intended to have anything to do with "cinema" other than as a location for technical sessions revolving around presentation standards. It was designed for broadcasters, and honestly, would be much better off if it got back to being that. Today, the event that is directly targeted to film style production at all levels is Cinegear, and that is the show that Red should be concentrating on, as they are wisely doing.

 

[Mike Finegan]

NAB is primarily Broadcast - RED does have some broadcast offerings but that is not the sweet spot, right?

 

[Zack Birlew]

I've been going to NAB since I was a film student at UNLV for my undergrad. It's really a great experience and offers a lot of opportunities to learn about and try out new equipment all under one convention center roof! Networking opportunities abound and there's even chances to win products on the show floor and, of course, chances to be invited to parties where you can again, see new things, network, and win more gear. As a film student, it was great to see everything going on and what was coming down the line as far as cameras and equipment goes. However, NAB had started to be in flux for a while with filmmakers growing in attendance with 24p DV cameras and eventually HD cameras coming out with features in mind for making movies and I would actually say it is because of RED that things veered right into filmmaking territory with their aim for bringing "digital cinema cameras" to the filmmaking masses. That spurred on HD camcorders to evolve to HDSLRs and then even broadcast videocameras started getting into bigger sensors and so on. That blend has held strong for over a decade of NAB travels and at this point, I can see where there's actually a growing divide between the camps of broadcasters and filmmakers as broadcast is moving more towards the flexibility of 4K 60p and filmmakers are looking to stay at 24p but with more overall technological complexity with even higher resolutions and less compression, if not just straight RAW. This divide has definitely affected NAB in the past few years and I can understand why perhaps RED is looking to spread its wings elsewhere and possibly expand its audience with another show as the folks who go to NAB don't necessarily go to the Cinegear Expo and other shows throughout the year. While it would be nice if RED were present at all of these conventions, they're in a unique position of being able to travel where they please as, unlike most of the competition, they have a generously open online presence and aren't tied down to release schedules and product announcement cycles. Another reason could be that RED simply doesn't have anything particularly new to show or anything that would warrant the expense, planning, and travel time to Las Vegas to set up a NAB "center" (definitely far more than a "booth" lol) like they usually do. Also, even if they do have something new, other manufacturers and distributors at the show will most certainly have RED equipment on hand to display and show what is available or will soon be available. At first, this wasn't possible as RED was so new at NAB and over time more and more RED Ones were showing up in various booths, more accessories and solutions were being made to be compatible or "RED Approved" and now just about everybody has at least one RED camera on display. RED is much bigger now and has partnerships and other outlets to show off new gear, so don't think of it as a bad thing that they won't be at NAB this year, think of it as a positive thing because RED is simply growing as a business and if they have something really cool to show, everybody on REDUser will be the first to know, and it'll definitely be at NAB next year.

 

[Stacey Spears]

Plus the booth at NAB is usually full of tire kickers. Cinegear has a a more focused group of attendees to be more of the cinema type.

This is exactly what I was going to post. Let me provide an example.

CES covers many industries, so you get lots of tire kickers. NAB reduces the number of tire kickers greatly, but you still have a lot. Cinegear is laser focused and mostly attended by those looking to buy the car. Same thing with HPA and SMPTE, for post production. Those shows are primarily the engineers in Hollywood.

A trade show is also a lot of money. I would imagine Blackmagic spends millions of dollars for that one show. I know for some companies, most of their business comes from NAB, so they must be there. At the moment, Red can't build cameras fast enough, at least Raven.

This is also not the first time Red has skipped NAB. They were at the Tropicana for at least a couple of years, where a working EPIC was shown to the public for the first time. I remember Jim and Jarred walking out the door and along the line we were all waiting in with EPIC in hand. Joseph Hutson was sporting his B&W checkerboard hat that year. This was when we saw the video by Peter Jackson asking for Jim to get him his EPIC. It was also the firs time they showed 5K EPIC footage. It was from their western set I think. I remember what looked like a poker table. The duration of the footage was short. I mean extremely short! I recall it starting off as a gathering for Red Users that Steve Sherrick arranged and then Red pitched in and we got to see that extremely short 5K EPIC clip. I think the next year was more of an outdoor gig around the pool. They also had the Red Film fest. I think there was a 100"+ display near the pool.

 

[Chris Niswonger]

I absolutely loved my last years NAB experience at the RED booth. As a SW preorder customer at the time, I got to meet all of the RED team including my personal Rep. We talked for hours not just about the gear but life in general. That experience made me so proud to join the RED family!

 

[Jamie A]

The primary reason to go to NAB is to catch up with people you know in the industry, whom you otherwise might not see.
The gear on display is secondary for me....

 

[Blair S. Paulsen]

NAB, like my waistline, has changed quite a bit over the years. That said, I would argue that broadcasters are still the core of the show, though the shiny objects in the foreground have captured much of the attention lately ;-) IMO, both technological and marketplace drivers played key roles in what NAB has become.

1) NLEs (non linear editors) started to become viable alternatives to pricey online bays with GV switchers and racks of decks, this gave computer hardware and software companies a seat at the table
2) Starting with cableTV in the 70's the number of outlets (channels) buying programming exploded, and the number of production companies buying gear followed suit
3) There was money to be made selling to lower echelon pros and prosumers.

In any case, RED clearly benefited by accessing the NAB cohort to reach beyond the online user group and camera geek crowd. While the move to CineGear (all of 7 blocks from RSH) is a logical move for RED - and the DSMC1 or 2 is not a traditional "broadcast" camera - the RedUser community wouldn't be nearly as vibrant without the folks who entered the tent (pun fortuitous) via NAB. Moreover, the opportunity to talk directly with members of the Red Team is part of what makes RED special.

Cheers - #19

 

[Alex Delmonico]

The primary reason to go to NAB is to catch up with people you know in the industry, whom you otherwise might not see.
The gear on display is secondary for me....

I;m with you, Jamie. That's why I asked this question in the first place. I'm bummed I won't get to see all my Red friends in one place since I don't make it to LA often.

 

[Häakon]

Mike has certainly been in the industry longer than I, and he brings up some good points, but I think there is still great value in attending the show. One thing that no one has mentioned yet is that the opportunity to talk to the heads of companies whose gear you use and give them product feedback face to face is something I consider invaluable. You can see new announcements online or shoot an email to a company and hope it somehow makes its way through the correct channels, but that's no substitute for physically putting hands on gear and having personal conversations with the ones in charge of deciding the direction the products will take. Jim was the first person I ever met at RED, and it was at NAB back in 2006. At that time the very concept of RED felt like little more than a dream, but they have listened to customers as much as (if not more than) most other companies and that direct line of in-person communication certainly made telegraphing ideas a whole lot easier.

The other thing I'd throw out there is that while the focus of NAB has changed over the years, so has the very definition of broadcasting. Many of the major networks might operate in a similar manner as they have for decades (including the insistence on capturing interlaced footage), :emote_headwall: but these days, lots of episodic content is being released solely via the internet (Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, etc.), and the tools being used to create that content cross several industries (which is what prompted a company like RED to attend NAB in the first place). A company like Blackmagic Design makes everything from live event switchers (something a filmmaker probably doesn't care anything about) to "cinema cameras" (something a traditional broadcaster probably doesn't care about) to industry-standard color correction software that applies to people in several industries. There is a tremendous amount of convergence and even if it might feel good to thumb ones nose at "prosumer gear and drones," the reality is that even some of those tools show up on professional sets in specific cases (GoPros are used all over the place, for example) and the technology certainly bleeds upward. If companies like RED never came along and held monsters like Sony and Canon to the fire, I am beyond certain we would not have seen the level of innovation in the industry we have over the last decade. Thank god for them.

If Cinegear feels like a better fit for RED, that's perfectly fine and I can see the case for it. But I still see enormous value in NAB on a personal level (for the reasons stated above and many more), and think it still covers a lot more ground than just being a showcase of prosumer toys for "tire kickers."

 

[Stacey Spears]

I;m with you, Jamie. That's why I asked this question in the first place. I'm bummed I won't get to see all my Red friends in one place since I don't make it to LA often.

As you, and others, have mentioned in this thread, for me, NAB is more about catching up with friends I only get to see once a year. Blair is one example. I might see him at Cinegear, but NAB is usually my only chance to see him in person, for the year, and say hello.

 

[Bill Sepaniak]

... . I think the next year was more of an outdoor gig around the pool. They also had the Red Film fest. I think there was a 100"+ display near the pool.

THat was a VERY COOL party at the Tropicana. Good food, plenty of drinks, Jim and Jarred out and about schmoozing ....