Jeff

Finally.

Last Thursday night I arrived in Detroit to meet her for the first time, and I had 24 hours before the launch of this years GO GREEN 48 HOUR FILM FESTIVAL.

For those who don’t know, the 48 hour film festivals are competitions where you get a theme and a couple parameters, and then you have 48 hours to come up with an idea, write it, cast and plan and shoot the piece, then deliver it.  It’s a crazy “test under fire” scenario to really challenge ones ability to be creative in a stressful environment.

First thing I did was open the boxes and start going through all the bits.  Things had been arriving from RED for a few weeks, but I hadn’t worried about them until the actual camera was in hand.  So the touch screen, batteries, chargers, Red Station, Red Mags, and of course the Scarlet were all new to me that night.  The only things that still has yet to arrive is the ellusive side handle.  (Side handles can be seen in the wild, often hiding behind Hermit Warblers and… other rare things…  Good job Jeff, first joke in a blog and it fails.  Should probably just delete it.)  Not having the side handle means no using the Redvolt batteries, which meant we were limited to AC power.

First time I saw it.

SCARLET-X BODY:

This thing is truly great to hold.  The build quality is immediately appearant, in the way that countless little details combine to make German cars indescribably solid.

For me the camera is the perfect weight, not the jittery-light feel of a DSLR, and not the shoulder breaking heft of the fully loaded Red One or larger cameras.  For me, the most important thing a camera can do physically is stay out of your way.  Meaning that the camera should be pleasant to hold all day, while stable enough for handheld, while agile enough to make sure the operator is still willing to lie in a gutter or climb on a roof to get a cooler shot.  From the satisfying button feedback and placement to the round rivets – this thing, while a part of a modular machine, feels complete and solid.

RED 5.0 INCH TOUCH LCD:

Another simple / less is more design, the physical feel of this screen is matched only by it’s image and touch creen responsiveness.  The durable build is great, though without adapters it’s kind of tedious to attach and detach.  I have built my camera case to allow me to keep this attached while ensuring that it doesn’t fold down and cut the screen on the actual Scarlet body.

HOLE CRAP THE MENUS!  In the way the iPhone was an improvement to cell phones, the Touch Screen menu playout and interface is so intuitive and simple I was operating it without thinking instantly.  It wasn’t until a few hours later that I paused to reflect on the menus of EVERY OTHER CAMERA I HAVE USED that I realized this menu system had skipped past “vast improvement” and jumped into “this is just how things should be, now let’s go shoot something”.  Without doing anything you are one touch away from things like ISO, frame rate, shutter speed, resolution and compression ratio. With one touch you can either review previous shots, or have immediate access to your display, sound, media, HDR focus and more.  I would put the “learning curve” on the menu system at about 3 minutes or less.

RED MAGS, REDSTATION, REDVOLTS, CHARGERS:

The feel and responsiveness of all these pieces is inline with the elements mentioned above.  The Red Mags, in particular, are pleasant to hold and feel satisfying, like the clip in a great handgun or a solid metal smartphone.  … They should feel like this, I guess, at $950  apiece.  But it takes a FAST storage format to handle raw footage.

I will update with my use and impressions of the Redvolts when I can actually use them, but I wanted to give credit again for the software engineers who did the work for the media workflow.  It is all plug and play and the ability to mix shot formats (from 2k 60 fps to 4k 24 fps, or anything else) is a great answer to the face-palm inducing workflow of the Red One.  The only real caviat, and this is unfair, is that the Redstation was not plug and play for eSata, so I used USB 2.0 and had an offload time of about 29 minutes per 64 gb card, which is fine because I was averaging around 45 minutes of footage per card and only had to stop shooting once to offload, which was good because I hadn’t eaten in 12 hours.  The reason this criticism is unfair is because I haven’t put in a second of time researching the method to get the Redstation attached via eSata.  When I do, I will try to let you know.

A third card might be nice, but is completely unnecessary for me at this time.

It holds lenses and stuff!

CANON and PL MOUNTS:

Badass.  I haven’t attached glass with our Ti PL Mount, but the build is great.  The Al Canon Mount is the best still lens mount I have ever used.  The Ti version is probably better, but at the moment the double locking design is such an improvement over the t2i / 5d mkii / 7d / and all the non-canon mounts I have used, that I am still elated.  The camera came properly calibrated and sharp as a tack with good Canon L glass.  My cheap Canon EF 50 mm 1.8 performed smashingly as well, but I can’t wait to get a set of Zeiss Primes to play with the manual beasts.

First image ever.

Skin tones!

IMAGE IS KING:

Above are the first and second shot ever made with my camera.  Right out of the box, existing light, no sharpening, subtle curve.

In other posts and vlogs I will surely express my agnostic approach to cameras, firmly being in the camp of “shoot with the best camera you can afford at this date… and have a good story”.  That said, I will admit the first reason I wanted the Scarlet vs Alexa vs F3 vs DSLR was the resolution and raw image format.  I love color correction and the reason movies originating on film always looked better than those originating on DVX100′s, even when simply viewed from a dvd player, is because you were downsampling from a MUCH better source.  It’s the same reason recording studios master music at sample rates much higher than anything the average user can play, let alone download or stream.  Start with the most information and durability in your master, it will carry you through.

Shooting my awesome t2i for awhile has given me a hyper-discipline that is invaluable, but now the shackles are finally off.

What this all means is the footage is breathtaking.  Even just using RedGamma 2 or 3 in camera is great, but it really shines when you grade it in post.

WARNING – know about blacks and noise.  Red cameras shoot raw and do no noise reduction or sharpening in camera.  This is why some people feel Red footage is flat or bland.  You have to know about applying a luma curve, or at least maintaining Red Gamma 3 to get the footage clean like it’s meant to be, and sharpening is always an option (depending on subject matter).  Your post person / DP / camera rental house should be able to keep this simple for you, if you are still confused.

RELIABILITY:

In the 48 hours of run and gun production, I had NO HICCUPS.  No resets were needed, no shots were lost (even when the director unplugged that camera after yelling cut so we could move on faster, though I hadn’t shut down yet – lol, Hugh!  ;-)  ).  I promise to report the first snag I hit… until then know that I am shooting a LOT in all styles and places without issue.

This isn’t the right section, but the :14 second boot time is so effing obvious and right vs. the nearly 2 minutes of the Red One.  Just the fear of missing something would make you run the Red One without ever powering down, chewing up batteries and keeping the camera hot for no good reason.  Even running AC off a car inverter it took me about 30 seconds to plug in the power cord, turn on the inverter, and boot the camera at the start of a new location.  This might be a TAD slow, still, for those who work in a warzone doc setting and like the immediate response of a DSLR which averages around 2 seconds to turn on and roll.  This camera is meant for shoots where you are moving methodically, not franticly.  However, I will be using it on everything I do, including run and gun Discovery Channel TV shoots and more.

And, as a counterpoint to my SLIGHT hesitation abot sing the Scarlet in a warzone doc setting, read this great post from Matt Johnson on his site:

http://mattjohnstonsfp.com/2012/03/12/red-scarlet-x-as-a-documentary-tool/

Scarlet and a Gaming PC with Adobe Premiere Pro. All you need... plus talent

POST PRODUCTION:

Now listen up right here and right now.  There are more uneducated people, usually from outside the camera department, who will tell you how hard Red footage is to work with in post.  They don’t know what they are talking about.  Sony Vegas and Adobe Premiere (My current weapon of choice) are drag and drop, with native playback and instant responsiveness if you have your settings right.  (I will have a post workflow entry soon enough, but just know that it takes about 2 minutes to learn how to set up your first R3D timeline, after that you are a master.)  In the first true love ex-girlfriend that broke my heart Final Cut Pro 7, there is a plug-in you download and install from Red.com that installs in 1 minute, allowing you to Log and Transfer in your footage, which automatically cross converts so you can edit it a few minutes later.  I don’t want to talk about FCP X *sniff*.  ;-)

Again, I am a believer in the right tool for the right job for the right person.  I don’t care what people shooting with, unless I am working on the project or am asked to help advise.  I think that fast turn around settings like news should use something more P2 or XDCAM based for the absolute fastest ingest-to-deliver times.  And Alexa has a slightly faster post pipeline in exchange for the 1/4 resolution and crippled color space*.  Know your needs, do tests.

(* stop yelling!  I love the look of Alexa, different strokes for different folks.  I personally wanted the resolution and color space and form factors of the Scarlet / Epic, and I can get the Alexa look myself in post…  and I saved a TON of money.  That’s all.  I hope to do an Alexa overview sometime soon.  It’s always better having options.)

So our edit and renders were as fast as can be with my Premiere Pro system on what is ostensibly a 1.5 year old gaming machine.  No hiccups, no complaints.  No diggity, no doubt.  Under fire Scarlet performed from production through post.

CONCLUSION:

It’s amazing.  Ater all the research and planning and careful consideration, there were no dissapointments, and quite a few things that exceeded expectation.  Rent an Epic / Scarlet and see for yourself.

I am almost caught up on sleep after 48 hours of delirious production, so I will have more to come as I slow down and catch up.

… oh, and it’s #1633 “THE DARK KNIGHT”.

Jeffrey T. Morgan
Jeff@PrometheusMotionPictures.com

Wouldn’t it be great if there was some fable or commonly know story you could point to that would break it down a little more? As Michael Moore said in The Winter of Our Occupation, now is the time for planning and creation. What we produce this winter, while it’s too cold for many of us to stand outside of banks or to camp in parks, will be the ammunition we use to win this national debate when the spring thaw hits.

I feel that the strength of the Occupy movement is the absence of a central leader. As Alan Moore so astutely pointed out, ideas are bulletproof, and a movement that lacks central leadership is much harder to disrupt via violence or to corrupt via fiscal leveraging (ie. Bribes). However, a leader can oftentimes help to frame what a movement hopes to accomplish for those who either lack enough information to make a decision or for those who have heard willful misinformation from a complicit or democratically hostile corporate media. Many people have already heroically stepped into the breach to defend and articulate the positions of Occupy. However, these leaders can’t be everywhere at once, and in general, one must be a cable news junkie or already hip to the progressive intertubes to catch wind of them.

I’m going to posit that the people we need to reach out to, as progressives and de facto Occupy members, are the ones who are currently tracking Kim Kardasian (sorry, I’m not linking….) and who she will next marry. Thats a hard nut to crack, the whole disinterested hipster demographic; they know the political establishment has been corrupted through corporate influence… why pay attention?

We know that these people consume media. Lots of media. They carry smartphones, they use tablets, they have 4G. What if a progressive message came their way in the form of an entertaining story, something that made the issues interesting and of an increased relevance to the day-to-day existence. What if this parable caused them to engage, deputizing them as progressive envoys to their well maintained social networks?

Well, thats what the Saga of Larry Tunner is all about.

I think the Occupy movement needs a folk hero, a political Paul Bunyon of sorts. Someone who can further articulate the message of Occupy, but due to their lack of existence in reality, cannot be killed of corrupted.

Without further ado:
The Saga of Larry Tunner follows the classic hero tale, with a few exceptions. Instead of discovering a flaming sword our warrior discovers a huge check, and rather than questing against a great dragon that has plundered the countryside, our champion and his merry band struggle against an unchecked corporate power that has corrupted our daily existence.

Homeless drunkard has-been Larry Tunner has had a rough couple of years since the plant closed, but his luck is about to change! Along with some of his trusty friends, including an unemployed professor, a liquor store clerk, and a bag lady, Larry is about to turn the American political establishment upside down.

After hitting the jackpot and realizing that he really can do anything, Larry decides to run for President, giving voice to the real concerns of America’s ninety-nine percent. Unpolished, charismatic, and full of heart, Larry is on a mission to save America, or die trying.

I’m proposing that a dark political dramady micro-feature (in movie speak, thats a project that costs less then 1 million, but in this case, the budget is $49,250) is one way to create this strawman leader. What would it look like if some laid-off UAW worker had the opportunity to take the national stage and break through the corporatist noise. Wouldn’t it be nice if someone on that debate stage had the balls to tell Newt he has no moral authority? Would you appreciate someone telling the Bluedogs and Conserva-dems the county is collapsing while they continue giving free hand jobs to Wall Street? Larry Tunner can do that, and much more.

How’s this all possible? We live in amazing times. Getting something on iTunes requires only $2500 and the ability to pass their tech specs, bringing with it access to the largest media storefront in the world. A camera amazingly similar to those that are shooting The Hobbit and Spiderman 4 can be rented for only 6k. Jeff is willing to shoot and edit for 1/3 of scale. We plan to disseminate The Saga of Larry Tunner to the masses for the minimum price set by iTunes, right now $4.99 for HD content. The rental will be minimal fee as well, set at $2.99 by iTunes.

Want to help Larry Tunner get off the ground? In order to have this project be available on iTunes by August (it takes an average of 90 days after Apple receives the submission for a project to become available), it needs to start shooting no later than March 9th. Three weeks for shooting, Two months for post (thats the edit, the score, color correction, sound mix, etc) and the iTunes wait mentioned above put this project on a breakneck timeline. However, like the Avengers, the team is assembled. We have a cast and a production team ready to go (it’s the off season in Michigan, which, along with Gov. Snyder’s decimation of the film program, makes it much easier to attach talent). All thats left is coming up with the budget, which is off to a great start.

We’ve raised 20% (10k) so far, and are working like busy bees as we search for the remainder. So, if you are or know of someone who is interested in high-risk, unsecured, progressive-minded investment, don’t hesitate to send them our way!!

(contact: Andrew@prometheusmotionpictures.com)

Want to check out the script? I’ll send you a draft. Message me.

*Before someone says it, I’m aware of Kickstarter. We’re more then willing to do that, but we think this project can be financially viable as well. As such, we want to give people a chance to jump on the train with us.

Thanks!

Andrew

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/09/1052955/-The-Saga-of-Larry-Tunner:-An-Occupy-Themed-Progressive-Messaging-Endeavor?via=blog_613882

Do you support the ideals expressed by the greater Occupy Movement?  Have you struggled to explain to your Grandmother, who gets most of her news from Rush on A.M. radio, what Occupy is really about?  Does your seemingly exceedingly intelligent co-worker not understand what the deal is with all those hippies standing in the cold holding signs?

Wouldn’t it be great if there was some fable or commonly know story you could point to that would break it down a little more?  As Michael Moore said in The Winter of Our Occupation, now is the time for planning and creation.  What we produce this winter, while it’s too cold for many of us to stand outside of banks or to camp in parks, will be the ammunition we use to win this national debate when the spring thaw hits.

Please follow me over what used to be the fold to see where this is all going.

I feel that the strength of the Occupy movement is the absence of a central leader.  As Alan Moore so astutely pointed out, ideas are bulletproof, and a movement that lacks central leadership is much harder to disrupt via violence or to corrupt via fiscal leveraging (ie. Bribes).  However, a leader can oftentimes help to frame what a movement hopes to accomplish for those who either lack enough information to make a decision or for those who have heard willful misinformation from a complicit or democratically hostile corporate media.  Many people have already heroically stepped into the breach to defend and articulate the positions of Occupy, including our own MinistryOfTruth.  However, these leaders can’t be everywhere at once, and in general, one must be a cable news junkie or already hip to the progressive intertubes to catch wind of them.

I’m going to posit that the people we need to reach out to, as progressives and de facto Occupy members, are the ones who are currently tracking Kim Kardasian (sorry, I’m not linking….) and who she will next marry.  Thats a hard nut to crack, the whole disinterested hipster demographic; they know the political establishment has been corrupted through corporate influence… why pay attention?

We know that these people consume media.  Lots of media.  They carry smartphones, they use tablets, they have 4G.  What if a progressive message came their way in the form of an entertaining story, something that made the issues interesting and of an increased relevance to the day-to-day existence.  What if this parable caused them to engage, deputizing them as progressive envoys to their well maintained social networks?

Well, thats what the Saga of Larry Tunner is all about.

I think the Occupy movement needs a folk hero, a political Paul Buyon of sorts.  Someone who can further articulate the message of Occupy, but due to their lack of existence in reality, cannot be killed of corrupted.

Without further ado:
The Saga of Larry Tunner follows the classic hero tale, with a few exceptions. Instead of discovering a flaming sword our warrior discovers a huge check, and rather than questing against a great dragon that has plundered the countryside, our champion and his merry band struggle against an unchecked corporate power that has corrupted our daily existence.

Homeless drunkard has-been Larry Tunner has had a rough couple of years since the plant closed, but his luck is about to change!  Along with some of his trusty friends, including an unemployed professor, a liquor store clerk, and a bag lady, Larry is about to turn the American political establishment upside down.

After hitting the jackpot and realizing that he really can do anything, Larry decides to run for President, giving voice to the real concerns of America’s ninety-nine percent.  Unpolished, charismatic, and full of heart, Larry is on a mission to save America, or die trying.

I’m proposing that a dark political dramady micro-feature (in movie speak, thats a project that costs less then  1 million, but in this case, the budget is $49,250) is one way to create this strawman leader.  What would it look like if some laid-off UAW worker had the opportunity to take the national stage and break through the corporatist noise.  Wouldn’t it be nice if someone on that debate stage had the balls to tell Newt he has no moral authority?  Would you appreciate someone telling the Bluedogs and Conserva-dems the county is collapsing while they continue giving free hand jobs to Wall Street?  Larry Tunner can do that, and much more.

How’s this all possible?  We live in amazing times.  Getting something on iTunes requires only $2500 and the ability to pass their tech specs, bringing with it access to the largest media storefront in the world.  A camera amazingly similar to those that are shooting The Hobbit and Spiderman 4 can be rented for only 6k.  A union cinematographer is willing to shoot and edit for 1/3 of scale.  We plan to disseminate The Saga of Larry Tunner to the masses for the minimum price set by iTunes, right now $4.99 for HD content.  The rental will be minimal fee as well, set at $2.99 by iTunes.

Want to help Larry Tunner get off the ground?  In order to have this project be available on  iTunes by August (it takes an average of 90 days after Apple receives the submission for a project to become available), it needs to start shooting no later than March 9th.  Three weeks for shooting, Two months for post (thats the edit, the score, color correction, sound mix, etc) and the iTunes wait mentioned above put this project on a breakneck timeline.  However, like the Avengers, the team is assembled.  We have a cast and a production team ready to go (it’s the off season in Michigan, which, along with Gov. Snyder’s decimation of the film program, makes it much easier to attach talent).  All thats left is coming up with the budget, which is off to a great start.

We’ve raised 20% (10k) so far, and are working like busy bees as we search for the remainder.  So, if you are or know of someone who is interested in high-risk, unsecured, progressive-minded investment, don’t hesitate to send them our way via Kos messaging!!

Want to check out the script?  I’ll send you a draft.  Message me through Kos.

*Before someone says it, I’m aware of Kickstarter.  We’re more then willing to do that, but we think this project can be financially viable as well.  As such, we want to give people a chance to jump on the train with us.

Thanks!

Andrew

Andrew Tomlinson

Producer, Prometheus Motion Pictures

Andrew (at) prometheusmotionpictures.com