The RED ONE Economy

I'm sure the statistics will bear you out on that. I'm just going on my personal experience. Could be I've just been lucky...so far :grin:

Of course, it still bears the question. Even if the Red is a pain in the butt, does what it give make up for that?

The definitive answer is maybe. We still shoot the majority of our stuff on SD because that is what's appropriate for our clients, at least for now. I wouldn't put the extra burden and complication on that type of shoot just to be able to color correct/crop/transcode and show it on huge screen when none of that matters to the person footing the bill. An interview for a state agency that will be shown on a website doesn't need it.

Different tools for different jobs.
 
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Ohh yea, no doubt about it, the footage shot on Red looks amazing!

What are Red camera's renting for in Co.? Here in KC I can rent them with nikon lenses, o'connor tripod, matte box and a few accessories for about $300 a day, less if I want one for a week.
 
That's pretty sickening and sad. I still get better rates on my gear, close to rental house rates or better depending... But I know it won't continue to last long. The good thing is being aligned with people who do business for corporations and big money.

It all goes back to either having your gear specifically set up for rental, snatching what business you can while you can to support it and honing whatever trade you're offering. Be it as a Camera Operator or First AC with gear.

Times are a changin'... I know I sure need to do more and learn more so that I get better projects.
 
Not much of a rental market in KC and there are 20+ Reds around here now. I know the prices in other markets are much higher.
 
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ChipG said:
Ohh yea, no doubt about it, the footage shot on Red looks amazing!

What are Red camera's renting for in Co.? Here in KC I can rent them with nikon lenses, o'connor tripod, matte box and a few accessories for about $300 a day, less if I want one for a week.
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The shoot I'm on next week (not my camera) is renting for $1200 with the RED (Flash cards, 320 GB HDD, Viewfinder, LCD, etc), O'connor tripod, mattebox, lights and a Cooke 20-100 lens.

Don't know if that's the going rate, but that's what he's getting for this rental. But I think his weekly rate is only about double that. Don't quote me on any of that though :grin:
 
That is DEFINITELY not the going rate for private owners. They'd probably try to murder him if they found out he was getting real deal money for his camera still.
 
Well, let's just keep this to ourselves then, shall we? Last thing I need is one of my colleagues (and best friends) wanting to kill me because I shot my mouth off. :beer:
 
I know about 20 wolf's that are hungry and need to eat. They'd take less than his daily rental for a week although that is a nice piece of glass.

I don't think $1k is a bad deal for a week, heck, in 20 weeks your camera is paid for minus tripod and accessories. Not a bad deal IMO.
 
I think that's where you run into the issue of people understanding their position in the marketplace.

Are you a rental house?
Are you a DP that packages yourself with your camera?
Are you a filmmaker that rents out to help pay for your gear?

Different needs, different goals, different expectations.
 
here is texas I can get a nice red packge with zeiss superspeeds for about 550 a day and maybe an o'connor if I feel like playing hard ball

(part of the package is private party and part is rental company)
 
I knew I was right when I decided not to buy a RED. As if the camera makes a difference anyways. It's all the same in the end.

**** films look like **** no matter what they are shot on and vice versa.
 
ChipG said:
I understand Red has a Billionaire owner that can feed it money for a long time but It will stop at some point. I'd love to see thier financial books :)
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We were talking about this in the car today. I was curious if RED even intends on becoming a real company.

I wouldn't be surprised if they continue to innovate, and then were consumed by the R&D division of a larger company.
 
The few times I have talked to Jim, I got the impression that wouldn't happen. He's got a ton of money, and a big part of his motivation (it seems to me), is to break away from companies like Sony, Panasonic and Canon.

I know that (like the RED), all things are subject to change, but I don't see him doing that with the current mindset he has.

He may sell someday, or close up shop, but I don't think he'd sell to one of the big boys.
 
Mark Harris said:
We were talking about this in the car today. I was curious if RED even intends on becoming a real company.
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what are you talking about? they are a real company, they specialize in creating computer generated images of what cameras may look like in the future.
 
ugafan said:
what are you talking about? they are a real company, they specialize in creating computer generated images of what cameras may look like in the future.
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Man, I love your posts. Simply brilliant and great sense of humour!
 
ugafan said:
what are you talking about? they are a real company, they specialize in creating computer generated images of what cameras may look like in the future.
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That reminds me, who has the CGI pic of thier new headquarters in Vegas?
 
Ryan Patrick O'Hara said:
As a cinematographer, my biggest complaint is the indie mistake of hiring a DP simply on the merits of his/her camera package. I'm sick of untalented hacks getting jobs and screwing up films simply because they dropped the dough on a RED and the production can't afford to hire both a Cinematographer and a camera package.
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I know some guys that spent $50K in Arizona on a horror trailer intended to garner investor support... and the trailer looks ridiculously amateur... and so they decided to try something different here in STL... and amazingly enough they did the exact same thing again... gear gets gigs. Sucks, but true.

There are even some locals that own Varicams (makes a RED seem cheap $)... and in a pinch they'll do a gig for what would have been just the rental on the Varicam... of course in THIER case... these are real pros that shoot for national TV shows and theatrical release movies... so I'm not putting THESE guys in the same camp as the horror kids... but I'm just saying that on ALL levels... let me repeat... ALL levels (even sound)... GEAR GETS GIGS.

It's either :) or :( depending on how it all turns out... and which side of the deal you're on.
 
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