Let's talk fundraising!

[DorkmanScott]

I've been lurking here mostly, watching the RED get cooler and cooler, and telling myself if I should come by $1000 before today, Halloween, I would put in a reservation.

And it just so happens that $1000 came along just last week.

So, yesterday I sent in my e-mail scanned reservation for the RED. :beer:

Haven't heard back yet (but they say 1-3 days, so no biggie), but I look forward to joining the family and getting my number.

Now, Jim and the team have been hitting pretty much every mark they've set for themselves, and I have no reason to think otherwise WRT ship date, so if he says Q1 2007, I estimate we'll see it around March.

Add that to the fact that there'll be a good 7-800 cameras to build before they get to my REDservation number, and I'd guess I've got another 6-9 months before my number's up.

But am I complaining? No sir! Because you see, I have to find another $16,000 somewhere! Take your time, guys! :cheesy:

I figure if I sell every bodily fluid that someone will buy on a fairly regular basis, I can get myself about $5000 by then. I need some other ideas on what else I can do to raise the money. The wackier and more Lucy Ricardo-like, the better. Any suggestions?

 

[Damon Botsford]

Well you could invent something cool and sell it. Perhaps design a revolutionary pair of sunglasses with interchangeable parts, like an iridium coated lens. You could even offer a warranty where customers could easily get a replacement pair for free. Heck, if audio players got small enough, you might be able to fit them on your glasses some day. Oh wait...

 

[Jim Arthurs]

I figure if I sell every bodily fluid that someone will buy on a fairly regular basis, I can get myself about $5000 by then.

Body fluids will raise you some cash, body PARTS can take your fund raising to a whole new level.

Jim "Why do you need TWO kidneys?" Arthurs

 

[Ruairi Robinson]

Body fluids will raise you some cash, body PARTS can take your fund raising to a whole new level.

Jim "Why do you need TWO kidneys?" Arthurs

Also, you could sell your soul.

I'll give you a fiver for it. Via paypal.

R.

 

[zeke]

I heard 7-11 is hiring. Can you speak Hindi?

 

[craigbowman]

Get a group of like minded indies together and pool your resources into a Red Cinema Co-op. This is what people have done for years. Shared gear which nobody can afford on their own but together, aha! If the co-op is structured right you will probably qualify for grants.

In the past thirty years I have belonged to different organizations across the country that started grass roots like that and wound up getting hundreds of thousands in funding for all sorts of stuff.

 

[D. Sweetman]

Especially since you say you are not a regular poster on this forum (as neither am I) I find it troubling that no one has posed the following questions (I assume your query is made with seriousness, not just an attemt to recieve a series of "cute" and zany get-rich-quick responses): What will you use the camera for? Do you realize once you put in the 16k that you don't have -- you still haven't made a movie? In that respect, are you in a position to make money off the camera itself? Do you have access to glass, or have you considered its cost, as well as the additional costs involved for data storage and especially post? Have you considered your alternatives, such as 16mm, in which format for 16k you could either get a sweet short produced from beginning to end, or get a very nice professionally accepted 16mm camera kit, with glass and the works?

And furthermore, is your motivation for ordering Red One simply to hop on the bandwagon?

I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from ordering Red, but it baffles me when decisions that seem to be made without proper consideration are not met with any manner of "but why?"

That said, I think Mr. Craig Bowman's idea is intriguing. Does it take some legal 'maneuver' or paperwork of some sort to establish one of these co-ops? And also where do you find all these grants?

 

[DorkmanScott]

Especially since you say you are not a regular poster on this forum (as neither am I) I find it troubling that no one has posed the following questions (I assume your query is made with seriousness, not just an attemt to recieve a series of "cute" and zany get-rich-quick responses):

To an extent it's both. Though I don't post here, I do read here and I appreciate the sense of humor typically found in many of these threads. I was just anticipating the inevitable jokes, which I'd be happy to hear. And besides, I do know some ways I can make money. I just thought it would be fun to come up with some silly "alternatives" as well.

What will you use the camera for?

Lattes and espresso, obviously.

Joking aside, the direction to which my RED (if I can afford it) will be applied will be its intended purpose: high-resolution digital filmmaking.

Do you realize once you put in the 16k that you don't have -- you still haven't made a movie?

Of course. But money for a movie can come from investors (i.e. not my cash). The RED itself is a "personal" expense, with no direct return to offer and therefore an unwise investment for a third party.

In that respect, are you in a position to make money off the camera itself?

There's always rentals if all else fails. Someone's always making a picture.

Do you have access to glass, or have you considered its cost, as well as the additional costs involved for data storage and especially post?

I've thought about glass. For now I'd probably rent a Cooke zoom for my own projects, and recommend that any rental clients do the same. Once the RED zoom hits the market, and assuming that I'm not huddled with my RED in a cardboard box somewhere by then, I'll probably pick one of those up as well. I saw no reason to reserve one of those since it won't be along with the camera.

In terms of data storage, a lot can change between now and then. Terabyte drives are already available for under $500, and the conventional wisdom is that capacity doubles and price halves every six months or so. In all honesty, this is probably the issue that concerns me least.

As for post, my business partner (i.e. "roommate," as indie definitions go) works in post production professionally, and I do it freelance. I'm aware that our systems will likely require significant upgrading, but that's something we were going to need to do anyway to accommodate RED-based productions.

Have you considered your alternatives, such as 16mm, in which format for 16k you could either get a sweet short produced from beginning to end, or get a very nice professionally accepted 16mm camera kit, with glass and the works?

I'm not sure what you mean by "professionally accepted", but film is an unwise investment for us. I know it sounds obtuse coming from someone who has posted a thread about not having money, but film is cost prohibitive for the kind work we want to do. As far as I'm concerned, investing in film now would be taking about 10 steps in the absolute wrong direction.

The thing about RED is -- if it lives up to its goals, which it seems to be doing pretty well -- it's just about the last camera I'll ever have to buy. Unless, of course, I want a second one.

Much of the footage for VFX that originates on film is scanned in at 2k, as the loss of resolution when reprinted to film at the end produces no visual loss, at least as far as 99% of moviegoers are concerned. People's eyes aren't going to get any more acute (less so, if anything), so a 4K camera should last a good long time.

Yeah, maybe in 10-20 years things will move to 3D or multi-planar viewing or god knows what other kind of sci-fi thing might come along, but we can decide then whether we believe in the future of those technologies, and invest accordingly. In the meantime, for as far in the future as I can predict, the $17k investment now will get us a camera that we can shoot with until it stops working, which ideally will be many years without needing to upgrade to "keep up" with new camera developments. RED has leaped to the finish line.

And furthermore, is your motivation for ordering Red One simply to hop on the bandwagon?

You make that sound like a bad thing.

Since the very first DV camera became available, and software prices started dropping, I knew that digital was going to be the future of not just mainstream cinema, but particularly independent filmmaking.

Looking at all the professional cine-cams, they've all had the same problems, and all made me ask myself the same questions. "If the color sampling is so crap, why don't they just improve it? If the image looks so different from film because the imaging plane is smaller than 35mm, why not make the imaging sensor bigger? If film has so much resolution, why not make a camera with more resolution? And why can't it be cheaper?"

And lo and behold, finally someone with the money to do something about it found himself asking the same exact questions. And did something about it.

The motivation for getting Red One is because this is the camera I've been waiting for.

The motivation for investing now instead of waiting has several factors. One being that only reservations could lock in the price as it is now. I may struggle for the $16K, but it's better than waiting until it goes up! Another being that getting it now means that it will be the latest and greatest, which doesn't matter to me but I'm likely to get more rentals (and more money back on the investment outside of my own projects) at the beginning, when it's new and hot, than after it's become more commonplace.

And yes, I won't deny, there's the draw in knowing that in ten years, I can point to my little titanium R and tell people I was part of the revolution. It's certainly not my main motivation, but I'd be lying if I said that it hadn't crossed my mind.

As far as doing it without the money already in hand...well, I've found that when you really take a leap of faith, the universe will usually find a way to catch you.

I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from ordering Red, but it baffles me when decisions that seem to be made without proper consideration are not met with any manner of "but why?"

Really, the worst thing that happens is I get my money back. The real question I had to ask, and found I couldn't answer, turned out to be "Why not?"

That said, I think Mr. Craig Bowman's idea is intriguing. Does it take some legal 'maneuver' or paperwork of some sort to establish one of these co-ops? And also where do you find all these grants?

I would also like to hear more.

 

[Damon Botsford]

Scott,

Perhaps you could get a second job? You mentioned that you freelance in post production. Chances are you might have some extra time. If you're really passionate about this, I'd bet you're willing to work your ass off for it.
This sounds stupid, but when I was younger, I delivered pizza as a second job and made some pretty good dough. In fact, my friend and I consider those the good 'ol days when we had too much cash in our wallets to close them. Ahhh... the good 'ol days... no responsibilities... playing pool... slamming beers...
Okay anyway, you could also look into a personal loan if your credit's decent. If worse comes to worse and you think you made a huge mistake, you could probably sell the camera (painful thought) to somebody who didn't reserve early who absolutely needs it for a production. I saw it happen with the HVX.

OR

you could sell "clean" urine to parolees

 

[Craig Ryan]

Great response Scott! I think in your situation Red is definitely the way to go. And I wouldn't worry too much about that 16k. The way I see it, people buy brand new cars for 20k without batting an eye...and usually right when you drive off the lot, you can never sell it at the same price you bought it for, therefore never being able to get all of your money back. With Red, you can get your money back in all of the ways mentioned so far. If you're already working in the field, might as well go all the way. For comparisons sake, I don't know ONE professional musician, or freelance musician who doesn't own SEVERAL professional grade instruments.