Room101
12-19-2007, 07:08 PM
Hello, and season’s greetings to everyone at reduser.net
I would just like to introduce myself as another satisfied RED customer who has had the amazing experience of shooting my latest project with the RED.
While ours was a short film shot only over an 8-day period, we put the camera through a rigorous and ambitious schedule. We shot in the Midwest out of Columbus, and filmed in the greater southern Ohio region and Clinton, Tennessee. Rented from CJ Roy and let me just say to anyone looking to work with a stellar DIT who knows his RED, its CJ. (He’s also quite the talented DP, editor, and visual effects aficionado as well.) Seriously, hire this guy.
As CJ has previously mentioned, we shot most of the film exteriors in temperatures ranging from 30 degrees F, to 50, to 0. We shot in the snow, in drizzling rain, and for the most part the camera performed incredibly. No problems whatsoever with glitchy footage shot in cold temperatures. At one point our Rugged drives literally froze, but the RED kept on trucking. The largest hitch we encountered was when the power supply died on us, but Red sent us out another immediately, and we were back in action a day later. We made due in the meantime by hooking up the AC to a power converter and a car battery. Ingenuity plug for Mr. TJ Cooley our 1st AC, who always seemed to have a back-up plan for every possible contingency.
The exteriors we shot mostly with available light, and this is really where the camera is mind blowing: the handling of low light levels was incredible. Some shots (See image hsmn007 below) were almost non-viewable through the LCD screen on location. Histogram was barely reading, but we had no lights that day, we were losing the sun and had to just go for it. When looking at the dailies in Redcine after wrap, we were able to pull the entire image out of the dirt with minimal noise and I was stunned to see every shot in clear detail. Truly astonishing… (Again, my hat is off to TJ for his trusty tape-measure.)
As someone who has mostly shot on Standard/High-Def cameras like the DVX, HVX and Cine-Alta, the biggest challenge for me was simply getting my head around the shooting nuance. This is definitely not a video camera. Take your time, get the focus, respect the RED, and she’ll take you where you want to go.
This camera truly was a dream to work with. The hype is true. As most independent filmmakers with shoestring budgets can attest to, the biggest issue has always been how much bang for your buck can you get, and image quality has always been the quick dividing line between the guys with money and those who can only dream. You can get creative, and cameras over the years have been improving, but this is the first option I’ve experienced where the image looks truly awe-inspiring at a fraction of the cost. Film is fine, and will probably be around for awhile, but I certainly can't afford it. Red is for the everyman, and it allows the filmmaker to put their money up on the screen.
Thanks to Jim and his team for finally making the tools available to everyone. Now it comes back to what movie making was always about in the first place: telling a good story. We at Room 101 Productions hope you’ll enjoy ours, and we’ve included some ungraded 4K versions of the stills at the following URLs to check out in the meantime while we navigate the choppy waters of posting a RED project.
http://www.room101productions.com/4Kstills/horseman001.jpg
http://www.room101productions.com/4Kstills/horseman002.jpg
http://www.room101productions.com/4Kstills/horseman004.jpg
http://www.room101productions.com/4Kstills/horseman005.jpg
http://www.room101productions.com/4Kstills/horseman006.jpg
http://www.room101productions.com/4Kstills/horseman007.jpg
http://www.room101productions.com/4Kstills/horseman008.jpg
There will be more images and footage to come after the holidays, until then, Merry Christmas, and have a safe and happy New Year.
Ben Bays
Director/Producer
Room 101 Productions
http://www.room101productions.com/horseman.htm
I would just like to introduce myself as another satisfied RED customer who has had the amazing experience of shooting my latest project with the RED.
While ours was a short film shot only over an 8-day period, we put the camera through a rigorous and ambitious schedule. We shot in the Midwest out of Columbus, and filmed in the greater southern Ohio region and Clinton, Tennessee. Rented from CJ Roy and let me just say to anyone looking to work with a stellar DIT who knows his RED, its CJ. (He’s also quite the talented DP, editor, and visual effects aficionado as well.) Seriously, hire this guy.
As CJ has previously mentioned, we shot most of the film exteriors in temperatures ranging from 30 degrees F, to 50, to 0. We shot in the snow, in drizzling rain, and for the most part the camera performed incredibly. No problems whatsoever with glitchy footage shot in cold temperatures. At one point our Rugged drives literally froze, but the RED kept on trucking. The largest hitch we encountered was when the power supply died on us, but Red sent us out another immediately, and we were back in action a day later. We made due in the meantime by hooking up the AC to a power converter and a car battery. Ingenuity plug for Mr. TJ Cooley our 1st AC, who always seemed to have a back-up plan for every possible contingency.
The exteriors we shot mostly with available light, and this is really where the camera is mind blowing: the handling of low light levels was incredible. Some shots (See image hsmn007 below) were almost non-viewable through the LCD screen on location. Histogram was barely reading, but we had no lights that day, we were losing the sun and had to just go for it. When looking at the dailies in Redcine after wrap, we were able to pull the entire image out of the dirt with minimal noise and I was stunned to see every shot in clear detail. Truly astonishing… (Again, my hat is off to TJ for his trusty tape-measure.)
As someone who has mostly shot on Standard/High-Def cameras like the DVX, HVX and Cine-Alta, the biggest challenge for me was simply getting my head around the shooting nuance. This is definitely not a video camera. Take your time, get the focus, respect the RED, and she’ll take you where you want to go.
This camera truly was a dream to work with. The hype is true. As most independent filmmakers with shoestring budgets can attest to, the biggest issue has always been how much bang for your buck can you get, and image quality has always been the quick dividing line between the guys with money and those who can only dream. You can get creative, and cameras over the years have been improving, but this is the first option I’ve experienced where the image looks truly awe-inspiring at a fraction of the cost. Film is fine, and will probably be around for awhile, but I certainly can't afford it. Red is for the everyman, and it allows the filmmaker to put their money up on the screen.
Thanks to Jim and his team for finally making the tools available to everyone. Now it comes back to what movie making was always about in the first place: telling a good story. We at Room 101 Productions hope you’ll enjoy ours, and we’ve included some ungraded 4K versions of the stills at the following URLs to check out in the meantime while we navigate the choppy waters of posting a RED project.
http://www.room101productions.com/4Kstills/horseman001.jpg
http://www.room101productions.com/4Kstills/horseman002.jpg
http://www.room101productions.com/4Kstills/horseman004.jpg
http://www.room101productions.com/4Kstills/horseman005.jpg
http://www.room101productions.com/4Kstills/horseman006.jpg
http://www.room101productions.com/4Kstills/horseman007.jpg
http://www.room101productions.com/4Kstills/horseman008.jpg
There will be more images and footage to come after the holidays, until then, Merry Christmas, and have a safe and happy New Year.
Ben Bays
Director/Producer
Room 101 Productions
http://www.room101productions.com/horseman.htm