RED - The Giant Leap
In the present situation, where 5Ds and 1Ds have taken the place of Film cameras, there is a silent changeover from DSLRs to Medium Format Cameras. The RED Cameras marked the entry of Medium Format Cameras in Cinematography.
Why Medium Format? Do we need this much of detailing in each scene? - This is what every cinematographer asked at first. But the results are enough to convince them totally. As a company, it could be argued that RED was essentially ahead of its time in the company’s belief that the future of film was in 4K resolution and thus sought to create a digital camera that could truly look as good, if not better than film, while being significantly smaller, more portable, and ultimately more affordable.
RED’s story is one that is rooted in the American tradition of game-changing companies that started in a simple garage. In Jim Jannard’s case, he founded the company in 2005 with a small group of fellow innovators who sought to build a truly modern digital camera. Jannard was the founder and owner of sunglass and sportswear giant Oakley, providing him with the capital and means to literally engineer the future of digital cinema, which first set sight on the goal of creating a new generation of digital cameras able to handle 4K resolution.
What is so special about this? Apart from 4K, the videos are being recorded in RAW. Imagine a medium format camera clicking Raw pictures , giving so much details. The result of RAW footages had a huge impact among the film fraternity. The introduction of RED in the market created ripples. The first Red model was introduced in 2007, and immediately attracted the attention of filmmakers like Peter Jackson and Steven Soderbergh. Since then, directors have used Red cameras to shoot some of Hollywood’s biggest movies, including The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and installments of such blockbuster Hollywood franchises as The Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Spiderman.
Red should claim the appreciation of usage of RAW today in movies. It helped raise standards of filmmakers, changed the way editing was done previously. The other major impact of RED cameras was the fact that it made the other major camera companies—including Arriflex, Panavision, Aaton, and Sony—soon announced they would only produce digital cameras going forward. Today, Digital Cinematography is practised worldwide and is paving way to more of possibilities of exploration.
One more added advantage over its previous film cameras is the body. Built in a much smaller and compactible size, the RED series gives the cinematographer the freedom to use in a much narrower space with much ease. Also the post processing part has given a lot of technological differences to work with.
The introduction of RED Epic and Scarlet 4 years back took it to the next level where 6K videos were introduced upto 100fps which means the whole movie can be done in 6K. Also the amount of a RED camera is half the cost of a film camera ( if it is being manufactured today ) which makes it feasible to be rented out.
The Medium Formats are a boon to the entire Cinematography people. This made companies like ARRI to take their products to a better range. Today, RED and ARRI are two major cameras used in almost all movies which has changed the vision of cinematography.
Why Medium Format? Do we need this much of detailing in each scene? - This is what every cinematographer asked at first. But the results are enough to convince them totally. As a company, it could be argued that RED was essentially ahead of its time in the company’s belief that the future of film was in 4K resolution and thus sought to create a digital camera that could truly look as good, if not better than film, while being significantly smaller, more portable, and ultimately more affordable.
RED’s story is one that is rooted in the American tradition of game-changing companies that started in a simple garage. In Jim Jannard’s case, he founded the company in 2005 with a small group of fellow innovators who sought to build a truly modern digital camera. Jannard was the founder and owner of sunglass and sportswear giant Oakley, providing him with the capital and means to literally engineer the future of digital cinema, which first set sight on the goal of creating a new generation of digital cameras able to handle 4K resolution.
What is so special about this? Apart from 4K, the videos are being recorded in RAW. Imagine a medium format camera clicking Raw pictures , giving so much details. The result of RAW footages had a huge impact among the film fraternity. The introduction of RED in the market created ripples. The first Red model was introduced in 2007, and immediately attracted the attention of filmmakers like Peter Jackson and Steven Soderbergh. Since then, directors have used Red cameras to shoot some of Hollywood’s biggest movies, including The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and installments of such blockbuster Hollywood franchises as The Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Spiderman.
Red should claim the appreciation of usage of RAW today in movies. It helped raise standards of filmmakers, changed the way editing was done previously. The other major impact of RED cameras was the fact that it made the other major camera companies—including Arriflex, Panavision, Aaton, and Sony—soon announced they would only produce digital cameras going forward. Today, Digital Cinematography is practised worldwide and is paving way to more of possibilities of exploration.
One more added advantage over its previous film cameras is the body. Built in a much smaller and compactible size, the RED series gives the cinematographer the freedom to use in a much narrower space with much ease. Also the post processing part has given a lot of technological differences to work with.
The introduction of RED Epic and Scarlet 4 years back took it to the next level where 6K videos were introduced upto 100fps which means the whole movie can be done in 6K. Also the amount of a RED camera is half the cost of a film camera ( if it is being manufactured today ) which makes it feasible to be rented out.
The Medium Formats are a boon to the entire Cinematography people. This made companies like ARRI to take their products to a better range. Today, RED and ARRI are two major cameras used in almost all movies which has changed the vision of cinematography.
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