1 Man 1 Red & A followfocus

[Gibby]

Hi,

As somebody posted on CML,

"If you know how to light it does not matter what you shoot with, if you don't know how to light, it does not matter what you shoot with"

Stephen

Very true...

A broader perspective on that equation may be: "If you have talent and experience it doesn't matter what you shoot with, and if you don't have talent and experience it doesn't matter what you shoot with."

Talent is in-born, not learned, experience is acquired over time, and technology is the easiest element to obtain.

Martin, I agree whith what you said...

[Finner]

Talent is in-born, not learned, experience is acquired over time, and technology is the easiest element to obtain.

Gibby I am not quite sure how much of the first part of this statement I believe?

"Talent is in-born, not learned..."
I agree that a person does have to have a little in-born talent but I have seen a lot of people in all different fields of work that have lots of raw talent but not the drive to develop it. Reversely I have seen people with a little bit of raw talent but tons of determination and they develop their talents to become leaders in their field. So I think "Talent" to a certain degree can be learned by developing it.

[Milan Nikolic]

Finner,

Second to that!

[Emanuel]

i choose Red. its much more experimental.

can i do it by myself without looking too out of place?

You did the best option. Don't worry! I second Martin. And follow the other advices. Deep DOF as far as possible, etc. I disagree on the 4K only for professional use. This is the great 10 megapixels (almost) graal plus the future proof without to mention the medium agnostic advantage. But better than that. It will be affordable. Especially with the 320GB Mini-Raid introductory feature under $1,000... Is it necessary to say more than that? For 1080 and 720 delivery you can always downsampling. As you will for the SD target. See an interesting example of the benefits of this route here:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=81853

btw. any news about Redcode RGB 2K Scaled will support white balance control and will the Red manual documentation be available to everyone as a download?

best regards

Unfortunately, there isn't scaling 2K RGB @REDCODE anymore. But you have the 4K choice and the 1080 RGB for the 60fps from the regular 35mm format. There is/are "just" 9.5 megapixels. On the rest, you should pay attention these next months. I believe it will be available for download.

[evinsky]

Some people are inherently good at certain things, others love it and pursue the craft with a religios passion regardless of thier "Born talent".
I'll take passion over talent any day.

[Emanuel]

There is/are "just" 9.5 megapixels.

Or more correctly, 9.4.

[Haakon]

Finner,

Second to that!

Agreed. Also, the tired pronouncement of "if you know what you're doing, it doesn't matter what you shoot with" is a weak and flawed, since it's quite obvious that everyone who does know what they are doing uses the best tools they can regardless of their profession. Yes, we all know that a talented filmmaker could use a crappy camera to tell their story if they wanted to, but the vast majority don't because they care about the quality of their images. Making films is an art, after all. Is RED the magic solution that will turn any amateur's short movie into an award winning masterpiece? No, of course not. But it can raise the level of quality and effectiveness of a piece when used in skilled hands, and that's the whole point of using such a system.

I welcome the day when film grain looks like "dirt" to our eyes and will only be used in David Fincher movies as a "stylistic choice." Oh wait... didn't he decide to use the Viper for Zodiac? Maybe there is hope left in the world after all. :-)

[Stephen Williams]

Agreed. Also, the tired pronouncement of "if you know what you're doing, it doesn't matter what you shoot with" is a weak and flawed, since it's quite obvious that everyone who does know what they are doing uses the best tools they can regardless of their profession. Yes, we all know that a talented filmmaker could use a crappy camera to tell their story if they wanted to, but the vast majority don't because they care about the quality of their images.-)

Hi Haakon,

The pronouncement was "If you know how to light" is very different from "If you know what your doing"
IMHO there are many people who know what they are doing, but can't light. (and vise-versa)

Stephen

[Gibby]

Let me clarify my position. Everyone is born with certain talents. What you do with those talents, or don't do with them, is up to you. If you have the drive to develop your talents, that is the pathway to experience. Some with limited natural talent work extremely hard to maximize their talent, gain experience, and achieve far more than others who have a vast amount of talent, are lazy, and never come close to their potential. Bottom line: the limited talent person who applies themselves has an opportunity to out-achieve the highly talented person who does not apply themselves to their craft.

All that said, of the scores of beginning shooters, editors, and directors that I have mentored in a 30-year career, there has not been one that I could teach certain in-born abilities: abstract reasoning, creative visualization, and a natural feel for aesthetics. I believe those are either abilities you have, or you don't have. If you have even a small amount of them, and work hard to gain experience, you stand an excellent chance at succeeding in the motion media industry. If you have a large amount of them, and work commensurately hard to gain experience, I believe you stand an even better chance of succeeding in this industry. If you have a large amount of those qualities, but you're lazy, you probably won't achieve very much success. If you have almost none of those abilities, you should probably choose another profession that better aligns with the talents you do have.

IMO for the motion media industry:

High talent + high experience = an excellent chance of success (you've probably already succeeded)

High talent + low experience = a good chance of eventual success (with more experience)

Medium talent + high experience = a good chance of success (you may have already succeeded)

Medium talent + low experience = a fair chance of eventual success (with more experience)

Low talent + high experience = someone who has a great amount of perseverance and has a decent chance of succeeding, or already has by maximizing what they have.

Low talent + low experience = a low chance of success, but may succeed if they have the tenacity to gain experience

No talent + low experience = a very long shot chance of succeeding

No talent + no experience = someone who should find another profession that aligns with the talents that they have

Technology
No camera system will increase your natural in-born talent. Camera systems will increase your experience if you use them regularly and challenge yourself to broaden your genres of shooting, and sub-skills within them. No camera system will teach you tenacity, business skills, interpersonal skills, and a myriad of other qualities that enhance one’s chance of success in this business. RED One, or any other camera system, will not magically transform someone into a master cameraperson. But, a versatile and capable camera system like RED One, in the hands of a talented and experienced cameraperson becomes a very potent combination. Conversely, you can take that same talented and experienced cameraperson, hand them almost any paintbrush (camera) and they can do excellent work based on their talent and experience. Acquiring a pen does not make you Shakespeare, acquiring a paintbrush does not make you Picasso, and picking up a camera doesn’t make you Ansel Adams. Talent seasoned with experience potentially makes you a Shakespeare, Picasso, or Adams. All that said, if you have a very capable and versatile tool in your hands (like RED One), you can seriously enhance the potential of your artwork, assuming that you have the talent and experience to match the tool.

Enter RED One. The biggest challenge for any RED One user is to have the open-minded attitude, talent, and experience to maximize the broad potential of RED One.

Technology is relatively easy to acquire. Experience you work much harder to acquire. Talent can’t be acquired – you have a natural level of that, or lack thereof.

MrSleep: in no way am I passing judgment on your post, talents, or experience. I'm simply defining my view of the tools/experience/talent paradigm.

This is a good thread!

[Haakon]

Hi Haakon,

The pronouncement was "If you know how to light" is very different from "If you know what your doing" IMHO there are many people who know what they are doing, but can't light. (and vise-versa)

Stephen

Hi Stephen,

I agree with you on this, though most people who throw the argument around don't specifically mention lighting. Just a few posts after you, for example, Gibby expanded upon your post and offered up, "a broader perspective on that equation may be: 'If you have talent and experience it doesn't matter what you shoot with, and if you don't have talent and experience it doesn't matter what you shoot with.'" There's nothing in there focusing on the lighting aspect.

Also, the responsibility of good lighting is up to the DP and not the director. On places like CML, I often see the tired perspective of "the camera you use doesn't matter" followed quickly thereafter with something like "Steven Spielberg could shoot on Hi-8 and still make a masterpiece, because he's Steven Spielberg!!!" as if talent trumps everything else in every situation. Again, this has nothing to do with lighting.

Certainly, skill and experience will make a huge difference on the effectiveness of a film regardless of what format or camera one decides to shoot on. But let's not downplay quality tools as necessary investments just because a skilled filmmaker could, in theory, still make a watchable movie on outdated and poorer-quality equipment.

Best,

Häakon

P.S. - I have never, ever said, "if you know what "your" doing."