RED Camera

Now here's something interesting, the folks over at Silverado Systems have partnered up with Vuze to create a different kind of contest. OpenCut is a completely open-source film competition designed to encourage people to take professionally shot material and edit it in their own way. As there is no "one way" to tell a story, so too can stories benefit from being re-edited and re-told from many different vantage points and perspectives.

They have a short film shot on the RED camera with dailies they'll copy over to your hard drive. Then you cut it altogether any way you want using Final Cut Pro. It's a good way to get your hands on RED footage if you haven't already and maybe even get credited as the editor on the final version as they submit it to festivals.

Here's a tool for anyone working with the solid-state and tapeless workflow, for example the Panasonic HVX200 and Sony EX1. If you've been dragging and dropping footage from your folders to your hard drive you could be a bit more at risk than you realize.

ChronoSync is a data management tool that allows you to efficiently synchronize files and folders from one disk location to another with full verification and resume capabilities. In other words, it's perfect for copying footage from your SxS card or P2 card onto your hard drive.

About the only real drawback with ChronoSync is that it doesnt generate a checksum for the files. So verifying can be a a bit slow.

For more information and to order, visit econtechnologies. Here's the link:

Here's one last little NAB item from RED. Interesting little device, essentially it's a 4K media server in a $1,000 box. You encode your 4K footage to REDCODE, burn to a standard dual-layer DVD-R and voila you have a 4K file you can playback directly to a projector. This could prove to be revolutionary to theatrical and festival presentation. Or not... Let's let time, actual delivered product and reality tell us!

SPECIFICATIONS:

* PLAYS 4K, 2K, 1080P, 720P AND SD FROM RED DISC AND RED EXPRESS
* ALSO PLAYS NATIVE RAW R3D FILES FROM COMPACT FLASH

SPECIFICATIONS, DELIVERY DATES AND DESIGN ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

Here's the first bit of info out the gate from RED about their new Scarlet Pocket Pro Camera:

Not confirmed but rumor is under $3,000 SRP. Take that AVCHD.

* NEW 2/3" MYSTERIUM X SENSOR
* 1-120 FPS (180FPS BURST)
* UP TO 100 MB/SEC REDCODE RAW AND RGB RECORDING TO DUAL COMPACT FLASH
* 4.8" LCD
* 8X T2.8 RED ZOOM LENS
* FULL AUTO OR FULL MANUAL SHOOTING MODES
* HDMI and HD-SDI
* FIREWIRE 800 and USB2
* STILL MODE
* COMPATIBLE WITH MANY RED ONE ACCESSORIES
* WI-FI CONTROL

This is a really impressive chart from Gizmodo, that shows the difference between standard definition and HD and then goes on to compare it to 2K-5K including the Scarlet and EPIC cameras they introduced at NAB. Those are some really big frames. Of course that needs to be backed up with really excellent optics in front of the sensor.

As you may or may not know, RED is set to announce their new "pocketcam," code named SCARLET, at the upcoming NAB Show. This announcement has generated quite a bit of buzz, and many people, myself included, are looking forward to this camera.

I have a few friends who work on the RED project and one of them has been secretly chatting with me about it. They said that they were impressed with the camera design as it lends itself to being inconspicuous...so that you can get those much wanted candid shots without drawing too much attention to yourself. Unlike the main RED camera that looks like a weapon out of Star Trek, they took a different approach with this camera. My friend snuck a quick snap of this camera with his iPhone and e-mailed the picture to me last night. I'm so impressed with this design I had to post it.

Quick, before I am ordered to remove the link.

SCARLET PIC

ok, so as I stated previously, I am working with the RED a lot recently and though I'm exhausted after a 20 hour day I just had to talk about how pissed I am.

See here is why I love film. when you shoot your mag, you tape it off in say red tape or ape that says exposed etc. and some loader sees that and says "hey this was shot" not to mention you pick up a 5lbs (is that the right weight?) mag and you know your holding a TON of money in your hands of painstakingly exposed film. You don't f@#$ up and tossed a used mag back on a camera and say WOOP i lost the shot.

So what happened tonight? Well we are in THE most crucial shots of the night, the nightclub our heroes have visited is falling apart, we shoot a slow mow 2k sequence, which requires a card swap. I grab that card, go DL it, Bring it back. it was very quick as it was 1 2k 60fps sequence, so it took all of 35 seconds to dl the card.