Bobble`s Bog

I was organizing files on my PC before a huge backup, and I stumbled upon a bunch of old text files. I decided to post them here.

In his book, Sled Driver, SR-71 Blackbird pilot Brian Shul writes:

“I’ll always remember a certain radio exchange that occurred one day as Walt (my backseater) and I were screaming across Southern California 13 miles high. We were monitoring various radio transmissions from other aircraft as we entered Los Angeles airspace.” “Though they didn’t really control us, they did monitor our movement across their scope. I heard a Cessna ask for a readout of its groundspeed. “90 knots” Center replied. Moments later, a Twin Beech required the same. “120 knots,” Center answered. “We weren’t the only ones proud of our groundspeed that day.. as almost instantly an F-18 smugly transmitted, “Ah, Center, Dusty 52 requests groundspeed readout.” “There was a slight pause, then the response, 525 knots on the ground, Dusty”. “Another silent pause. As I was thinking to myself how ripe a situation this was, I heard a familiar click of a radio transmission coming from my backseater. It was at that precise moment I realized Walt and I had become a real crew, for we were both thinking in unison. “Center, Aspen 20, you got a groundspeed readout for us?” There was a longer than normal pause…. “Aspen, I show 1,742 knots” “No further inquiries were heard on that frequency”

Red Digital Cinema recently shipped 25 of their revolutionary “Red One” ultra-high definition cameras. I’ve been following the company for almost two years now, and it’s exciting to see the flagship product finally released. Red is offering a system that could totally transform the playing field in the digital cinematography industry. As it stands now, there are a several camera systems available that are used for professional quality digital cinema capture. The benefits to shooting on digital media are the cost (it’s much cheaper than 35 mm and 16 mm filmstock), and the workflow is efficient because you can quickly get the stream into Non-linear digital editing software. Film on the other hand needs to be scanned frame by frame through a telecine machine, and as your shooting ratio goes up, the cost of using it greatly increases. The shooting ratio is the ratio of film shot to the amount that actually makes it to the final cut.

The popular manufacturers of these digital cameras are Panavision, Arri, Sony, Panasonic, and Dalsa. The problem with things today is the image quality of these cameras is still not good enough to rival film, and they are priced from $65,000 to $120,000, usually not including the lenses or essential accessories. They aren’t exactly targeted at the micro budget independent film maker, but then again neither is shooting on 35 mm. The problem lies in the fact that professional quality digital cinema should not, and does not have to cost this much money.

The cost problem stems from the fundamental landscape of the industry in its current form. The big players in the camera industry have to offer tiered product lines with planned obsolescence cycles to stay in business (*See the note at the end for a similar example in the automotive industry). Most of them offer three or four product levels, from prosumer to professional. The lower cost cameras can’t be allowed to compete with the higher end ones, because if they did, they would hurt their revenue stream. The lower volume, high cost professional equipment is an important source of revenue because rental houses purchase them and big productions can spend money like its water.

For the camera manufacturers, the solution has been to design in limitations and “detune” the cameras depending on the designated product tier. This isn’t exactly a free market model where the consumer is getting the best product for their money. Most of the cameras being offered had rather expensive on-board processing and video compression hardware, along with features to allow the systems to adapt to existing work flows or recording mediums in the industry. The lower end cameras were offered with smaller, noisier sensors, the lenses were not swappable, and they were always made with cheaper glass to meet the price requirements. Having to use the existing recording mediums was in itself a limiting factor, because they were all designed with substantial levels of compression, which reduced image quality and maximum resolution.

The cameras were easier to use for applications like ENG (Electronic News Gathering), and broadcasting, but they weren’t necessarily best suited for the filmmaker. Since many filmmakers don’t desire all of the additional on the fly processing, they shouldn’t have to pay for it. With a high res, high dynamic range stream, the processing work and color correction can be done in post (similar to the film workflow, but with benefits of instant NLE and digital archiving). In an ideal case, from a technological standpoint, it should be possible to shoot footage in RAW format (much like a digital SLR camera can), and eliminate chroma subsampling and very lossy compression. Enter the RED.

The RED Digital One offers an incredibly high dynamic range 12-mega pixel CMOS sensor, with little on board processing and the ability to output video in any format you want, from 4K raw, or compressed 4K, 2K, 1080P, all the way down to standard definition DV. 4K (depending on format) is around 4096×1714 pixels, and 2K is 1828×1332. You can dial it back to whatever resolution or compression you want, and get a superb over sampled image based on the (4520×2540) capture. Every digital video camera on the market that I know of uses chroma subsampling, which takes an image and performs a form of compression on it before it ever gets to storage. With the RED, you get a RAW sample (much like the RAW format on digital SLRs), and sophisticated nearly lossless compression is used on this RAW sample before it gets stored. You can also choose to output the stream in a conventional form, similar to existing digital cameras, but the image is still based on the original high res stream. With this, you get awesome chroma sub sampling, as you can choose between 4:4:4 or 4:4:2. A digitally captured image is composed of pixels representing the luminance (or light intensity) and the chroma (color). On a lot of cameras, less pixels are used to represent the color values, because the human eye is less sensitive to color than light. The RED supports shooting with the same number of pixels being used to represent both, which requires more bandwidth to capture, but helps out in post for color correction, lighting, and chroma keying (blue/green screen stuff). If you shoot RAW, you are technically getting a better image that any camera that uses 4:4:4 can deliver (which was always considered the best before we could shoot in RAW).

Another awesome feature is the camera supports over and under chranking from 1-30fps in 4K or 1-100fps in 2K. These allow film like effects for things like true slow motion or speed up. Only a few of the other professional cinematography cameras offer this much variability over the frame rate. Many high end HD cameras base their image on a 2 Mega pixel sensor and use degrading 3:1:1 chroma subsampling.

The other big deal feature is the ability to use just about any 35mm lens you want. The sensor is sized in the same dimensions as a Super 35mm film frame. If you are on a lower budget production, you can shoot on standard 35 mm still camera SLR lenses with an adapter. You get the professional shallow depth of field look of 35 mm with very affordable glass. If you have money to spend, you can use professional Arri or Cooke glass or Red’s own lens offering. I have also heard mention of an adapter for Panavision lenses! Some of the high end motion picture lenses cost thousands of dollars.

So you get all of these features on a camera with an MSRP of $17,500. The RED website has some beautiful sample photos in the gallery, and I’m sure there will be many more to come. The RED is definitely going to change a lot of things in the film industry. None of the big companies will be going out of business just yet though. Die hard film veterans will continue to shoot with film for the rest of their lives, regardless of what comes along. People who have existing work flows established, will continue to use old equipment because upgrading can be costly. Electronic news gathering will continue to use cameras that are out there. One great phenomenon that might start happening because of the RED though, is a lot of DP’s may now be able to purchase their own equipment and bring it with them to their shoots. As it was before, many DP’s would rent camera systems, which would add to their overhead.

* Note about Automotive Industry
Several car manufacturers have used similar marketing strategies. Oftentimes they will intentionally design limitations into their lower end performance cars so they cannot compete with the higher end models, even when no additional manufacturing costs would be incurred. Sometimes the performance limitations end with the manner in which they advertise the cars. For instance, the Chevrolet Camaro had a 346 ci LS1 engine, almost identical to the one found in the Corvette of the same year, besides the engine accessory configuration. However, Chevy advertised the Camaros engine as producing only 305 bhp (brake horsepower, power at the flywheel), while the Corvette was advertised as 345 bhp. People dynoing their stock Camaros were finding around 292 at the rear wheels, which meant they were producing significantly more than that at the flywheel (Corvettes were only getting 286 rwhp according to Hot Rod Magazine). Chevy was advertising the cars this way to keep Corvette owners thinking they were getting their money’s worth for the extra $25k or so. It’s been documented by Hot Rod Magazine that the Camaro gets more power to the rear wheels, which is probably due to the exotic transaxle system on the Corvette. ‘Vette owners were still just buying the name, the image, and an independent rear suspension.

When I was getting started on the film project about a year ago, I was trying to pick up as much as I could about filmmaking in as short of a time as possible. I read through a few books on production, screenwriting, and cinematography, but the one that made the biggest impression was From Reel to Deal by Dov S-S Simens.

Dov is most well known for his two-day film school. He affirms that everything a person needs to know about producing feature length, marketable films, can be taught in two days. A lot of famous people in the industry seem to agree with him too, as graduates of the course include Quentin Tarantino, Spike Lee, Robert Rodriguez, Guy Richie, Will Smith, and Christopher Nolan. The following excerpt makes an interesting point about film schools in general:

“The numbers show the course’s success: 3 percent of 2-Day Film School™ graduates either produce, write, or direct a feature film within six months. Three percent might sound low, but considering that not a single graduate of all the two- to four-year film schools in America makes a feature film for at least five years after graduating, if ever, 3 percent is extremely high.”

The goal of the book is to teach you everything you would learn by attending the 2-day film school in an accessible, easily readable text. Each chapter covers an important part of the film production process. He tells you exactly what you will face in every situation and tells you how much everything will cost. One of the interesting features of the book is that it provides an ongoing budget sheet and shows you each check you will need to write as a producer. If you want to produce a feature on a $5,000 to a $5M budget, this book tells you who you need on your team, and how to get it done. It also shows you how to work your way up the ladder, by starting with an affordable “web-feature”, reinvesting the proceeds until you can produce something worthy of distribution. Some of topics covered are: Types of producers and their roles, tips for screenwriting or finding a screenplay, optioning and hiring, copyrighting, the insides of the distribution business and how to make distribution deals, insurance, permits, effective budgeting, finding actors, scheduling, financing, finding investors, cinematography, film stock, equipment rentals, lighting, sound, expendables, and how to go about forming your own production company. There are priceless tidbits of information including industry insider contact information, how to find bargains on rentals, equipment, etc.

So if you want to make a feature, do yourself a favor– Skip film school altogether, save yourself $120,000, and pick up a copy of Dov’s book. Film school definitely has its place, don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to get flame mail from all the film majors who read this. All I’m saying is a lot of people get convinced that when they graduate they will be filmmakers (That’s how film schools advertise their programs). They never teach you the real world in’s and out’s of the business. The only substitute is getting experience on your own or learning from a mentor. A lot of people accomplish this by playing the game, kissing ass, being an assistant’s assistant, and working their way up the ladder. Talent only gets you so far, and it’s never far enough. This is because, fundamentally, film is a business. There is a considerable artistic aspect to it, but if no one on your team has a business sense, your films will go absolutely nowhere. Furthermore, if they do go somewhere, it will be because someone with a business sense took your distribution rights, screwed you over, and made millions through the deal. Dov kicks ass. He’s been through it all, and his words are priceless.

He writes in a down-to-earth, tell it like it is style. He tells you the best way to get things done, since he’s been through it every step of the way, and he knows what you will face. Distributors and industry insiders will try to screw you, and this book tells you how to avoid it happening to you. It is all written in plain language, and every chapter is very motivating. Whether you are into film or not, it’s a great read. Even if you aren’t interested in the film business, but wondered what goes into producing a feature (there is much more involved than most people realize).

I haven’t posted anything on my blog in a while, so here is an update for my fans (all 5 of you). I hate the weather in New England. It’s nice for four months out of the year, aka 33%. In my experience, anything that is only 33% good is unacceptable. I woke up a few days ago and saw that it was -15 degrees wind chill and I wanted to kill someone. When it is this cold out, I don’t feel like doing anything except staying inside and trying to keep warm. Someday I will move away to a place where it is a state of emergency for it to be below 32 degrees or 0 for you foreigners. Until then, I will complain about life and be unhappy for 67% of the year.

In other news, Tom and I established Seven Twenty Films as an official Limited Liability Company (LLC). Our writer recently sent us a piece of the screenplay; it looks like we have a great starting point, even though we are behind schedule. We are planning to push the time table up to assure a quality product, if that’s what it takes to win an Oscar, so be it. I’m the proud owner of a pink ipod mini, thanks Megan The battery is dead so I bought a replacement online, and I’ll be installing it as soon as it arrives, and painting it a more masculine color. I thought about possibly re-anodizing it, but there is really no need, spray paint will work well enough.

I’ve been reading a lot about Nagyvary Violins. Joseph Nagyvary is a renowned violin maker. There have been articles about him in a lot of online publications, and he’s been featured on TV. He’s retired Texas A&M biochemistry professor who spent over 30 years (and hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money) researching the biochemical and scientific reasons for the sound of the original Stradivarius violins that so many have tried to reproduce. His violins have won contests for sounding better than or on par with multi-million dollar violins that were made by Antonio Stradivarius hundreds of years ago. I am seriously considering buying one at some point (maybe if I get to a level of being able to perform in front of people, it will be a gift to myself). I contacted him via email with my compliments on how amazing the violins sounded based on the samples online and with a technical question about the spectrum analysis of the violin’s harmonics on his website. He was nice enough to send me a CD called the “The Stradivarius Puzzle” performed by Zina Schiff, as well as a homemade CD with samples of his violin compared to an authentic Strad. If I was going to purchase one, I think it would be a good investment, I’d have to get it insured.