RED in Post

[Jaron Berman]

To steer things back slightly - RED in post.

 

I don't completely agree that RED buyers and users have all things sorted and figured. Yes, there are some extremely experienced and well educated buyers and users. There are also vast numbers of people who've seen results and jumped in without the slightest clue. Check ebay and reduser's classifieds. But their post process sums up the entire "red" ideology. It's pretty open-ended. You CAN do it on a micro-budget with very little in the way of equipment and come out with an outstanding product. You can do this yourself. The question is how much time and energy do you want to devote to this process?

 

That's the same question with ALL production. You can do just about anything yourself given enough time and knowledge. Granted, it's not always safe, economical or smart to, but saying you can't write, direct, edit, finish and distribute a film alone is a fallacy. You can now, you always could regardless of format. The conflict now seems to be that there is a misunderstanding based on RED's rabid marketing and consequent following. It's the latest incarnation of the Robert Rodriguez syndrome, but now the price is higher.

 

More people than ever believe themselves to be auteurs and experts in every aspect of filmmaking. Sure, some certainly are gifted, but just as before - the vast majority of people who take the lone-wolf route will fail. Many of us can do a number of things well, but when you work with a talented team of producers in pre-pro, a fantastic crew on set, and talented editors and colorists in post, even the most cocksure filmmaker should at least recognize that surrounding talent. And if you can't recognize their talents, then at LEAST recognize that with specialization, each team member can devote his or her full concentration on one task or group of tasks. In the "war" (borrowing RED allusions) that is filmmaking, concentration and singularity of purpose can be the difference between a vision realized and an unreleased drive of footage.

 

The big three variables in post are speed, quality and money. Given unlimited time on a laptop without any output card or grading monitor, you could possibly stumble upon a nice looking grade. Given that the software has no proper scopes, it's unlikely. The difference between this approach and a real post-house workflow comes down to standards. If you're willing to grade on a laptop LCD in the wrong color space with a limited gamut and no measurements of any kind, then by all means go for it. The reason most larger projects pay for talented colorists is because they are unwilling to sacrifice the whole picture's look to save a buck in the color correct. If you're willing to render at 40-60x realtime, then by all means spend months converting your feature on your laptop. Most projects can't afford that kind of time. If you can afford to buy an edit system, the training to use it, and a number of projects to practice on before touching your critical project than by all means cut and color away!

 

Sure I can run around apple color pretty well and grade my reel, but when it comes time to grade a feature who's going to be better at it, me with a few hours of experience or the guy/gal who's career it is to grade all day, every day? If nothing else, he/she has a few time-saving tricks and habits which will save a LOT of money over the hobbyist. Same as DP's. Many directors know a whole lot about camera and lighting, but on set their attention is often divided between departments and cast. Who will consistently make better lighting decisions and camera decisions, the guy/gal who does it every day and shoots many projects a year (for many people and learns from each), or the director who occasionally dabbles in the camera arts once a year? The point is not that it can't be done, just that like everything in the film world, specialization CAN be beneficial. I've personally found that a lot of people who knock specialization either can't see the difference between hobby and truly skilled craft, or don't understand the old adage "time is money." When it's someone else's money....