Twenty398

This blog has been a little quiet for 2009, due to my hard work writing the first and only book on the RED camera. RED: The Ultimate Guide to Using the Revolutionary Camera is finally done and available now! From the official press release:

“With the release of the RED ONE™ digital cinema camera, the possibility of recording stunning, cinematic-quality images with an affordable camera became a reality. Now that the industry has embraced the nascent technology and added new tools and workflows, filmmakers—from independents on up—are leading the charge on establishing new rules.

Here to guide newcomers and RED veterans alike, popular trainer and filmmaker Noah Kadner picks up where the manual leaves off. You’ve got the basic operations down and now you’ll learn how to use the camera in a production environment and discover the various options in post. Using a clear, objective approach, he offers best-practice advice on utilizing RED’s proprietary tools, explains the workflows for Final Cut Studio, Avid, and Premiere Pro, and gives workaround solutions where needed. Well-known filmmakers and industry leaders share their own bleeding-edge production methodologies throughout, offering a rare view into this exciting new world of filmmaking.

Here are just a few things you’ll learn to do:
•Build a RED package that fits your budget
•Set up for sound recording and learn which audio tools to use
•Achieve the optimal exposure using RED’s onboard tools and external gear
•Edit your footage with step-by-step instructions for Avid, Final Cut Pro, and Premiere Pro
•Work color correction into your HD, film, or Web projects
•Prep your project for output and archive your footage
•Learn from pros such as Rodney Charters, ASC (DP, 24), Simon Duggan, ACS (DP,Knowing), Albert Hughes (Director, The Book of Eli), and many others using RED”

For more info, visit the book’s homepage here:
http://www.peachpit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0321617681

To order direct from Amazon, visit this link:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321617681?ie=UTF8&tag=callboxlive-20

Here’s a little piece from DVICE.com:

The SCI FI Channel’s Sanctuary is the first television series in North America to be shot entirely on the revolutionary RED One camera. The crew up in Vancouver, BC, were kind enough to show DVICE how the camera’s insane resolution and tapeless recording system let them keep all their work in the digital domain — and at four times the resolution of HD.

Video and more after the jump:

http://dvice.com/archives/2009/01/how_the_red_one.php

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RED has followed Avid and Apple in pulling out of the NAB show in Vegas this April, citing a lack of availability of working prototypes to demonstrate. According to CEO, Jim Jannard,

RED has decided to skip NAB 2009. We will hold our own RED DAY when we feel we are ready to present the new systems and when they are fully ready to showcase. Date and location will be announced in future.

A minor delay by a major part vendor will not mean much to the delivery schedules but would mean too many non-working prototypes at NAB… which we find unacceptable.

In other words, RED doesn’t want to come to NAB without substantially new product to show and prefers to focus resources and time on completing their already announced products. Personally, I’m a little sad to not see them there this year. As an early believer in RED it’s been a nice opportunity to check out their gear and chat with the folks who actually make it. Also, NAB arguably holds a greater significance for RED than some of the other companies who are leaving or have left the show, for a number of reasons:

Having a presence at the major electronics show of the year on the international stage is a good way to develop customer relationships and demonstrate a long-term commitment to the industry. Shows like NAB also present a key networking opportunity, not only business-to-business and business-to-customer, but also customer-to-customer.

There are likely to be a lot more customers to reach at NAB- when travel budgets can be justified by all the other vendors and contacts to be seen at once vs. their making a special trip only to check out RED. In this present economy, travel budgets are tighter than ever.

RED’s been going to NAB for only 3 years while the others have been fixtures for decades. Thus, the cachet companies like Avid and Apple are likely to earn at this point by going is relatively small in the scheme of things next to a newer player like RED.

RED’s not as diversified in other trade shows or in advertising and marketing as the others. Their primary publicity machine is in print articles, word of mouth and Reduser.net. There are no RED Stores in the world other than their main HQ, nor do they run TV or print ads like Avid, Apple or the other remaining camera companies.

RED’s also been closely associated with NAB. They made their initial debut at NAB in 2006 and showed the first working cameras and footage a year later at NAB 2007. 2008 became the opportunity to announce new hardware such as the Epic, Scarlet and RED-RAY drive. The show gives them a platform to present their case as the alternative to the other camera companies such as Sony, Panasonic, Thomson, Canon, JVC, etc.

Of course, RED’s never been a company to play by the rules or follow others’ leads. They have promised to hold a RED Day (presumably at their HQ in California), ‘when they are fully ready.’ As always, covering RED is covering the expected.

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Here’s a nice little piece from Digital Facility on PlasterCITY Digital Post’s RED Workflow, which they’ve been perfecting ever since the camera first came out. Here’s a quote from owner, Michael Cioni:

“We’re seeing a lot of production companies and DPs make use of the RED camera because of image quality, compact design, cinema lenses and overall lower costs. RED footage makes up a significant portion of our work,” says Cioni. “As early adopters, we’ve worked closely with the RED team to design and deliver powerful end-to-end tapeless and tape-based workflows. SCRATCH is the ideal post tool for RED footage because it’s the only software that can deliver real time results of color grading, down-converting and window-burn dailies from a soft-mounted firewire drive.”

For the rest of the story click HERE.

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Happen to be in New York City? You’ll want to pass by the Gizmodo Gallery at the Reed Annex this December 4-7th The RED One will be joined by countless other iconic gadgetry such as the iPod and Apple Phone prototypes from Frog Design. Here’s the lowdown:

We’ll have a lot more than the 1983 Apple Phone prototype at the upcoming Gizmodo Gallery. Perhaps you were interested in getting a good look at the famous Red One camera? That’s good, because we sorta know a guy.

The Red One camera was never really interested in capturing HD video (1920×1080). Instead, the system’s Super 35mm-sized Mysterium sensor captures footage at 4K (3626×2664) in precious RAW format. The camera starts at only $17,000, but once you get it fully loaded, the system can approach $80,000. Sound like a lot of money? It is. But seeing as it doesn’t require purchasing or developing costly film and it still manages to nip the heels of 35mm quality, the Red One represents the democratization of an ever-opening Hollywood system.

For more details visit:

http://gizmodo.com/5093557/at-gizmodo-gallery-the-red-one-camera

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RED’s much anticipated December 3rd announcements have arrived and with them come the usual flurry of analysis and speculation. We’ve received a huge new brochure chock full of specifications and new 3D renderings of a litany of cameras.

But what’s actually new? Well here are a few things that seem to come across(with thanks to Gunleik Groven for being such an eagle eye.)

• The fixed-lens Scarlet, clearly aiming at Sony/Panasonic/Canon cameras has shown up with a price- $3,750 for the complete kit.
• RedCodeRGB-1080 scaled from full frame sensor. This was a previous anounced feature of the Red One, and is still supposedly coming in a separate build.
• Epic-X, a nicely priced upgrade path from Red One. Package is $28,000-$17,500 trade-in for Red One=$10,500.
• $4,500 for the Mysterium X sensor upgrade for Red One.
• Lower compression rates for the new cameras.
• Higher maximum fps., now up to 250 (for Epic).
• Delayed delivery of most cameras – as most expected anyway.
• Anyone buying the Red One before the first Epic is delivered can use the upgrade path to Epic-X.

See for yourself here as we analyze some more.

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=23112

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Never one to play by the rules, RED guru Jim Jannard reveals some early details in advance of the planned December 3rd announcements. First he lays a little background behind the reasons for the update so soon.

We were a bit frustrated with certain system limitations with respect to digital signal processing and REDCODE data rates inside the “brains” so we took steps to more completely control our development process from start to finish, including all aspects of the electronics design and sensor fabrication. Additionally, our RED engineering team came up with a radical new approach to overcoming some of the previous system limitations. Given all these factors, we were able to re-write the system specs, to the benefit of our customers. We felt no compulsion to keep these advances a secret. So here we are.

We have been known for being “fashionably late”. We are frankly still very new at building cameras. While we seem to have a much better understanding of what it is we are doing… there is still room for us to miscalculate. On top of that, many technological advances are occurring during the development process. We are implementing as many “changes for the better” as we can even though we are near the end of this system’s development. The incredible new specs we are announcing today does come with a justifiably slight schedule hit. Certainly worth a few extra weeks in our opinion. Hence, “Prices, specifications and delivery dates are subject to drastic changes”. Count on it and you won’t be disappointed.

Jannard also drops a nice little Christmas present to early RED One adopters, a special edition of the EPIC camera including the CF recording module, I/O module and battery module at no extra cost. It’s his way of rewarding the folks who took a roll on the dice with him in the first place. For more info, follow this link:

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=23112

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Here’s a piece from High Definition magazine about Dan Mulligan of Rogue Element Films. Dan recently took delivery of the first Sony F35 in Europe and “found himself somewhat defending the purchase ‘People have been asking ‘Why did you buy that, why didn’t you buy a RED?’”. Dan continues:

There’s still a lack of awareness of what digital is out there and not many fully understand it really. The loss leader price of a RED at $17,000 is such a massive red herring because by the time you spec it properly you’re looking at the same sort of rental costs as a decent F23 system. The F23 and F35 image quality and delivery is much better but nobody will believe you.

He boils it down to- Sony has been around longer, they support the F35 at Band Pro and some technical arguments that don’t quite hold true if you’ve used a RED One more than casually, at least in my opinion. But I wanted to put this up in the interests of presenting all viewpoints. Please sound off in the comments, is Dan right on or way off?

Read the whole story here:

http://www.definitionmagazine.com/cameras/mulligan.htm

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