AC for the RED

[Adobe]

Just introducing myself, I just got off a shoot as AC for the RED and am trying to drum up some extra work as AC on some future jobs.

I thoroughly enjoyed working with the RED and hope I get an opportunity again, soon.

Much Thanks,
TJ Cooley

[crysangeles]

You are so lucky TJ, i wish i could have one in my hand or have an opportunity as yourself to hold one and use it. Conrgadulations and i hope you get an opportunity again as well.

Crystal

[number6]

Just introducing myself, I just got off a shoot as AC for the RED and am trying to drum up some extra work as AC on some future jobs.

I thoroughly enjoyed working with the RED and hope I get an opportunity again, soon.

Much Thanks,
TJ Cooley

TJ, can you talk about the shoot? If not specifically, anything that went right?... went wrong? What was your experience from a pure "man vs the machine" transition to "man is one" with machine?

[Brent J. Craig]

Just introducing myself, I just got off a shoot as AC for the RED and am trying to drum up some extra work as AC on some future jobs.

Just a suggestion, but it might be helpful for potential employers to know where in the world you are located, the Internet's a big place.

[CJ Roy]

TJ did a great job on The Horseman. A lot of handheld and moving shots while wide open. No easy task. He's a great guy to have in a pinch.

-CJ

[Adobe]

Thanks Crystal - I really was lucky - CJ Roy really let me have a whole lot of hands on experience and answered all of my questions. The crew was great too. They were all enthusiastic, helpful and friendly, no matter how cold or disastrous it got.

TJ Cooley

[Adobe]

TJ, can you talk about the shoot? If not specifically, anything that went right?... went wrong? What was your experience from a pure "man vs the machine" transition to "man is one" with machine?

Happy to talk about what I can - I believe that the producers are trying to keep most of the plot under wraps until its release so I will have to skip around that.

The what went wrong is easy - the RED is not perfect, YET - there is still small glitches and hiccups - which could have been the cold or user error (Me) in most cases a reboot (recycle) of the system was in order - could have really lived to use the LCD and an external monitor, at the same time - and the viewing area of the LCD is much to be desired its really narrow, no peeking in from the side you have to be dead on with it - the thumb screws for the hard drive rack need a redesign - they easily come loose and needed a constant eye on them. But I am sure these are all things that have been mentioned before and as a whole did not shut down production, so IMHO they are minor issues at best. One thing that almost brought us to a halt was the battery charger died, RED promptly sent us a new one, but we were on location as it was at waiting for us after FedEx delivery in the hotel. So to keep production going I strapped a 400w inverter to a car battery and plugged the RED's AC cable in to it and just used that for the remainder of the day - worked great - just had to have a grip on stand-by to hump the battery/inverter from setup to setup. (Why not plug it in the wall? We were in a ravine and cave that day - and the only power came from a generator - I did not want a surge from the generator to accidentally fry the RED so the battery/inverter was a good solution)

What went right? I set up and broke down the RED every day - and after figuring out the easiest way to place and lock the mounting bracket it was easy (it really needs outside alignment marks - but what I did was insert the plate and align the forward edge a millimeter shy of a lock hole and then I would move the lock lever and it would lock in every time) - The RED has a ton of flexible options - threaded holes, rails, brackets, awesome handles. I do pride myself on being some MacGyver knock-off - and with that I have no doubt with all the options and flexibility of the RED I have no doubt that I (or anyone else) would have no issue mounting something to or on the RED. The UI (User Interface) was easy to use and easy to navigate - the next best thing would be a mouse and beyond that a graphic user interface (GUI) that laid over the top of the image. Since the hard drive were not out - we used 8 GB cards that acted like rolls - formatting each one advance the roll number and on the rare occasion that it lost count it was easy to force a roll number.

Can't say enough good things about the RED - if I didn't answer with enough specifics - happy to field more questions.

Much Thanks,
TJ Cooley

[Adobe]

Just a suggestion, but it might be helpful for potential employers to know where in the world you are located, the Internet's a big place.

Crewpix,

Thanks for the tip, I currently live in Columbus, Ohio. I grew up in Buffalo, NY and have lived in CA and Las Vegas. I am willing to work anywhere on the planet (heard Antarctica is nice this time of year) and off planet if NASA will take me - lol.

I didn't mention my location as I didn't want some label put on me as some local-yokel - I like to think my work ethic and willingness to learn helped land me AC on "The Horseman" and I hope that anyone considering me to crew their production will focus on my abilities and not my physical location.

And if I may ask - so you know of any sites or companies that may further my work search?

Much Thanks,
TJ Cooley