That Peter Jackson Demo

[Sevenout]

I have been following the Red story for quite a number of years and I would have never thought that a company, that really up till yesterday, had not demonstrated a working product to the public, would manage to get Peter Freaking Jackson to test their prototypes, let alone make a mini-movie!

On that note, I see on the Red website, on some of the pages, there is a banner with obviously a frame from the WWI Peter Jackson Demo, most likely a placeholder for later use.

I do ask that you guys post a "realistic" version (like 720p Windows Media/Quicktime) version of the PJ demo, and then also an "insane" version of what ever the maximum resolution is for a file output :)

Also, please post some new stills! I am tired of looking at the same two women drink milk, blow smoke, and that pair of sunglasses. ;)

Anyhoo, congratulations on the massive achievement that is the RED camera!

[REDHKSC]

[QUOTE=Sevenout;29389] never thought that a company, that really up till yesterday, had not demonstrated a working product to the public, would manage to get Peter Freaking Jackson to test their prototypes, let alone make a mini-movie!

Like an instrument to many great artists, and they just trust the people can bulid it and it's kind of Sexy Wow feelings.

May YOU ALLOW ME TO ASK ? Are you an artist ? or ANY KIND OF digiTAINMENT creatOr ?

My warmest regards,

Stewart
Founder
REDHKSC
HKG/CHINA

[Petr Dvorak]

footage will be posted soon, look here

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1650

[Martin Drew]

I have been following the Red story for quite a number of years

Are you sure you meant years?

M

[Zakaree Sandberg]

i guess if he was a res holder i can see what he is saying..
it feels like years to me!:)

[Gerz]

Just back from NAB and when you see this demo projected in 4K using the RED compression codec you will be floored. Hats off Jim. The biggest attraction at the NAB circus and the focus of buzz for years to come...
a quicktime on the site would not do it justice. Having met the DP and discussed how it was shot I can assure you that it is a truly amazing feat to have achieved a production of this calibre in 2 days of shooting!!!
congrats RED dudes. I as many others are sold on RED being a dominant force in digital production.

[Brian Kaz]

I just want a high quality 1080p version. Even if it's only a sampled part(s) of the film. I've got a 1080p projector w/ 10 foot screen which the Milk Girls vid looks stunning on. I can only imagine how this will look.

[baro]

Gerz, as you talked to the DP, what was his opinion of the camera?

[Poi Boy]

I've read a few times now people casually mention they spoke to the dp and no detailed feedback from anyone...come on, the dp must have given some feed back !
-A

[David Dennis]

Well, let's see, Poi Boy:

* The DP was at the show and allowing his name to be used. If he didn't love the camera, I'm sure he would not have spent time in the booth promoting it.

* Mr. Jackson allowed Red to use the short and his name to promote the camera. I'm sure that if he thought the camera was not superb he would have done neither thing. If you think about it, the time of Mr Jackson and crew is worth tens or maybe even hundreds of thousands of dollars a day, so his provision of the footage to Red is quite generous.

I don't think either of those things would happen if they didn't love the camera. Also, Jim did report that they ordered the maximum number of cameras possible to order for themselves.

I know it would be nice to hear them speak but figured I'd throw in those facts :-).

D

[Zimati]

I think it is just amazing that a big industry player like Jackson steps up to discover new technologies. Jackson has allways been just one of us guys trying to get his hands on all things cool, new, fascinating and new ways to make films. That is what made him the man he is these days. It's great to see he still is that guy and just exploring new possibilities. Great jobs on the camera guys, can't wait to check it out myself one day and looking forward to seeing the PJ short.

[ahusain]

really stunning demo! congrats on creating that and creating the tools to make it possible! i've never seen such noiseless, grainless footage in my life. very exciting!

now i watched the demo at nab with a far more critical technical eye then i'd normally watch a movie in the theater; besides the outweighingly positive points above. here are things i noticed that i haven't seen posted on this board yet:

- there were one, maybe two low-light shots almost in succession of the airplane dashboard that seemed to have some mild vertically-striped noise. can anyone comment?
- there was an outdoor shot of the airplanes flying in maybe the middle third of the film with a rapid camera tilt. the image looked like it warped for a frame or two: the aspect ratio *looked* temporarily distorted. i think i must have imagined it because i can't see even a frame like that making it out of weta post or wherever pj/red mastered it. anyone else notice that? if they did, is that a projector artifact or maybe an optical illusion?
- and finally: what happened to the standard 85dB SPL reference? :) had this demo been at the aes convention there would have been a lot of comments about the volume. :)

anyway this is all incredible work and i can't wait to see more movies made with these tools!

[Michael Ragen]

Yeah ahusain, I saw the noise in the dashboard shots you are talking about. The projector also messed up for a few frames with a big black spot on the screen. I'm not worried about it though. It could be an issue with the format that the Sony projector uses, or its just that it was shot with prototype cameras. Whatever it was, I'm sure it will be ironed out in time. I saw absolutely no noise in the same exposure levels on the actors faces versus the airplane cockpit so either its something outside the camera, or it is something that will be resolved for the shipping cameras. I'm no compression expert or anything though, so someone with some knowledge in the area should chime in.

[Jannard]

There was a shot with FPN. My fault. It was under-exposed several stops and the image was pulled up out of the dirt for the sake of the story. It is one of those shots that you would just re-shoot if you had the time. Everything was done in two days and then we flew out of NZ.

Ther were issues with vibration on the air to air footage. Could have been the long zoom and stability issues, a sensor setting or drive problem. Without the ability to go back and analyze, no telling.

Remember, this was not a movie for theater release. It was two days of test footage on Alpha cameras that turned into a story. We are very proud of what these two cameras were able to do. And we were awe-struck with Peter's capability and the team he assembled in such a short timeframe.

Jim

[Rick Darge]

I can't see what everyone else is going to do once the floodgates open up..

Bye bye film.. bye bye old hollywood

thanks again jim & crew

[Don Woods]

It was amazing and allot harder then just shooting some cars or girls in the park. It was the way RED needed to come out. But Jim I still would love to see the drag footage from frankie

[Jarred Land]

Frankie is now part of the red museum.. and I dont see us posting anymore footage from him in the future.

[Samuel Doyle]

Jim Hi,

may I ask if the shoot was in the Wairarapa? or Omaka?

S

[Ken Willinger]

Frankie is now part of the red museum.. and I dont see us posting anymore footage from him in the future.

Funny, I thought Frankie was a girls name...you remember the song "Frankie and Johnny were Lovers"? So I always considered the camera to be a she, like my car and my guitar! But being RED it can be either. I was called Red when I was younger (I had red hair). And I'm sure Kelly has been called Red a few times!

BTW, the demo was extraordinary. I wish I could take delivery now! I brought one of my top clients (and best friends) to NAB with me and after seeing the demo and the camera he is sold on the RED and FCP workflow (currently his editor is on an Avid but it looks like they'll be adding FCS). We want to get it working on our projects right away!

[Don Woods]

Come on Jarred.... Please Jarred that footage has to be bad ass. just a frame something...

[Deanan]

Jim Hi,

may I ask if the shoot was in the Wairarapa? or Omaka?

S

It was shot in Masterton.

Deanan

[Samuel Doyle]

awesome....my home town...

S

[C.H.Haskell]

http://www.freshdv.com/2007/04/peter-jackson-dp-richard-bluck-interview.html

Here is an interview with the Dp of PJ's short film at the RED booth.

[Rodrigo Lizana]

Maybe "posting" it on the Red museum ?

[Gerz]

Richard Bluck was the DP. I spoke with him about his lighting, etc. He shoots mainly film and spoke highly of the latitude he was able to achieve from RED ONE. Especially since it was being compressed using the RED CODEC he felt it held up the low light levels well(as do I after viewing the projected demo.)
With such a tight schedule it was hard to create a continuous look(you may notice some of the closeups look "lit". The sun had already gone down!) But we have to remember that good images start with the light, then the lens, then the sensor/film. Bringing feature lighting and camera techniques(dollys, cranes, etc.) is what creates the look. Not just the camera. Richard brought that to the table. Turns out that Peter operated along with Neal Blommkamp on most of the shots - in particular the flying - and was really pleased with the size of the camera for doing difficult handheld work.