I just finished post production on a music video for I directed for “The Jessica Stuart Few”. The video was shot in one day earlier this month with a RED Scarlet and a skeleton crew. The Scarlet was a great little camera – really a lot like the Epic but without all the bells and whistles. It’s a pleasure to work with next to a RED MX because of the size and the fact that you can keep it stripped down to almost nothing. It did have its downsides (it’s quite grainy even at low ISO’s), but overall was great to work with. I will do a more detailed writeup on my experience with the camera soon, but for now here is a link to the completed video:
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Noam Kroll
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Noam Kroll
Noam Kroll is an award-winning Los Angeles based filmmaker, and the founder of the boutique production house, Creative Rebellion. His work can be seen at international film festivals, on network television, and in various publications across the globe. Follow Noam on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for more content like this!
9 Comments
David Jones
atDid you use EF or PL lenses? I recently purchased a Scarlet and I’m not pleased with skin tones with EF glass so far.
Noam
atNormally PL, but on this shoot I used EF. I find skin tones on all RED cameras to be less pleasing than Alexa or Blackmagic (regardless of the glass).
Jonathan Hickman
atI’ll be certain to read your post.
I’ve been posting the doc I shot last year on the two GH1 and HMC150 set up. It is looking nice and makes me feel good about the GH1 for interviews. The footage can fall apart if you try to push the color and exposure in Final Cut Pro X too much. Makes me think about how I need to shoot the next one and focus more on exposure. The three camera set up saved me on one interview already. It is a great safety net.
Noam
atSounds great – would love to see it when it’s up. DSLR’s are definitely quite limited in post, but sometimes that can be a good thing. It’s always nice to have options, but when you have to get the look on set sometimes it forces you to make decisions in the moment that may add some substance to your final product. Having RAW however, is the ultimate safety net as it is quite foolproof.
Jonathan Hickman
atFor my documentary work, I’m so torn. I like my hacked GH1s, and honestly, I can’t imagine parting with them. I did sell my trusty HMC150 today. I shot so much with it, but on my last documentary, I used it as a c-cam for audio.
So, the question is for my next documentary: do I stay with the GH1s or buy the GH3 OR do I go all in and buy the Canon C100?
I know the Canon is a big jump, but I used to shoot a lot with two T2Is and still have one for stills. The T2I kept over heating and the clip length limit is the main reason I went with the Panasonic. But after watching what folks are doing with the C100, I’m tempted to sell all my Panasonic gear and go back to Canon.
What would you do?
Noam
atWhen is your documentary shooting? I’m about to write a post on the new Blackmagic Pocket Camera, but that might be another good contender for you!
Jonathan Hickman
atVery smooth work. Did you mean that the MX was a Red One and you ran it along side the Scarlet as a B-Cam? And the One MX was more grainy than the Scarlet?
Did you shoot it at 4K?
Noam
atI actually only used the Scarlet, not the MX on this shoot – but I’ve used the MX many times in the past. The scarlet is definitely granier in my opinion, but in every other way the Scarlet is a superior camera. And yes we did shoot a lot at 4k and the slow motion mainly at 3K to allow for higher frame rates.
Xiong
atVery Beautifully shot, love the use of red through out the music video. Cant wait to read your write up.