Will Work For a Red One

[Noah Kadner]

Oh and @Steve regarding making an indie feature: Yep I directed this really cute little 1950's comedy called "Formosa" back in 2005 that was shot on the SDX900- then the absolute state of the art digital 24p motion picture camera. I happened to get loaned two prototypes from Jan Crittenden, the Panasonic Queen.

And we had some semi recognizable actors in there (like Sugar from Survivor and a couple of other folks). Pam from The Office and Claire from Lost auditioned for it- of course they weren't as well-known back then. We did the festival circuit, got a few strong nibbles from Hollywood distributors and agents and then pretty much nothin'. Just a mile of red ink we wrote down in taxes over the years.

Before that I did a scifi short at USC called "Today's Life" with ARRI BL-4 35mm cameras that were loaned to us students by Clairmont Camera. That got me meetings with James Cameron's ex-wife (Wife #2 I believe- Gale Anne Hurd) but that came to not a whole lot eventually either. I much more enjoy being a writer for American Cinematographer and of books these days. It's much easier to describe other people making movies than it is to make them yourself. So amen to all you folks out there actually getting it done!

I'll do it again someday but it's not really going to matter to me so much what it's shot on. Great script, name actors and something you haven't seen before on the big screen are what I'll be gunning for. If you don't have all that, it's not even worth shooting. And if you do, just grab whatever camera you can and go for it. How's that for cliche? :sifone:

Noah

 

[Chip G]

It might be easier to find a producer / production company with a RED, lights, audio gear ect. work for them for 3-4 months as a trade to use all the gear you need for your indie feature, say 3-4 moths of work for 30-45 days of free equiptment rental.

 

[Emery Wells]

I like your attitude JBannister. There are some valid points here but I wouldn't give up. A much more reasonable approach would be to trade your time for access to a RED package VS bartering your time to *own* a package. You sound like an experienced, motivated, and intelligent guy so Im sure you'd find some takers if you went with the former. I think you'll find that if you get a job in the industry with a company that has cameras, you'll most likely be able to gain access to using them for almost nothing, you'll be learning a lot from the other folks you'd be working with, and probably meet a few motivated individuals that own cameras already and would be happy to team up. There are so many RED cameras out there that sit around and do a whole lot of nothing... just need to find a couple of those.

 

[Michael Romano]

If you're looking to blow the load on a production - Spend it on your crew, lighting, sets, locations, props and actors. The better it looks (Performs in the case of talent) in front of the camera the more forgiving it is behind ANY camera system. Thousands of dollars of equipment in the camera dept mean nothing if there isn't an AD to keep you on track, a skilled DP/Gaffer lighting your scenes, transpo to get you around, catering to feed you, someone filing for permits so you don't get kicked out of locations... I could go on forever but you get the idea.

I try to think of making film like a stage show: Its a whole production that has to look great to a human audience - not so much for a camera. When you're standing in the camera position, how does it look to you as a human? Does it look good? Cause if its not all together to the human eye, the camera will likely never bring out anything more.

I spent last night with 3 condors, a gaggle of 18K HMI's, rain towers, a horse, stuntman, 70Kw Lighting strike machines and a full 200+ crew. Our camera system was NOT where the money went for that sequence! I looked incredible to the eye and that makes the difference. A great production is completely forgiven when using camera systems that aren't "Top Dog".

Adding technology in your camera dept. is great, but only after you have the other stuff figured out and paid for. RED is great. Film is great. Everything else is more important.

BTW, Emery has a point, get an internship or something with a rental/production company. Thats how many people start out and employers are often generous enough to let you use their equipment free of charge as it helps to train you in a lower pressure (Non-Client) environment. I have done numerous personal projects with a DP who owns all the gear you could EVER want for F R E E and every time all I could think about was the other things I was missing that would really have made it a stellar production.

A camera system does not make a film or a filmmaker.

My 2cents.