This article was edited on 22 October, 2007. Same info, words are reconstructed to make more sense.

The first short movie to be shot with RED Digital Cinema cameras, Peter Jackson’s short World War one film entitled Crossing the Line, is making a slow trek to the net in bits and pieces. Today, 4k frame grabs (in compressed JPEGs) and a short Quicktime excerpt (at 1k) were released. They are hot.

For those wondering “what is RED?”, basically this is a camera that is better than film quality. Think the size of film with no grain. (Unless of course you want it.) The camera is entirely digital too, so you don’t have to worry about any complex scans - just import the data off your RED Drive (or whatever storage method you choose) onto your computer and process it with the included software.

Further, the camera is modular, like a LEGO toy. Don’t be tied into your camera manufacturer’s configuration, switch it up however you like. There is no limit to the number of combinations you can assemble.

What’s best is the price - at only $17,500 indie filmmakers (and studio filmmakers) will save millions of dollars because they don’t need to worry about film processing (think of what you save by not having to develop dailies) not to mention the price of the film stock and the film camera themselves. For the price of a new car you have better than anything available now. This is revolutionary. Furthermore, RED is backed by Jim Jannard (creator of Oakley sunglasses) so we know there is a name to trust. Jim communicates frequently with RED fans at REDuser.net in an act of radical transparency.

Even after seeing this 1k sample, it’s apparent that the RED will be a force to be reckoned with. This is a defining moment for the digital revolution.

Find the video and credits at REDUser.net and the stills at RED.com.

Images copyright 2007, Wingnut Films. Used for educational purposes.

Thanks Editblog for posting the link to the Apple ProRes 422 codec whitepaper.

Overall the paper isn’t too technical, though I’m sure developers will get more information on deeply technical aspects soon. Some of thte highlights of the paper include:

• Degredation in quality over multiple generations. Hint - it’s very low.
• Data rates/storage requirements chart. 1080p at 29.97fps and 220mbps will set you back 1.65GB of storage per minute. At 147mbps, it’s down to 1.10GB per minute.
• The whitepaper mentions RED’s codec and P2 AVC-Intra by name, noting that they aren’t good enough for real-time software decoding. As we’ve seen in Apple’s demo videos, they are targeting broadcast markets with FCServer, and this will no doubt be extended through to ProRes.

The link to the ProRes 422 whitepaper again.

One of my favorite pieces of digital cinema tech is RED, as is hinted by the number of posts I’ve written about this revolutionary, world changing, awesome-packed camera.

Enadget (lucky folks) got a hands on look at the new RED ONE camera at this year’s NAB, and they’ve posted an image gallery. Until this point we’ve only seen non-functioning prototypes and 3d renderings, so this is the first time for seeing the final camera. It appears to be a functioning model as well.

Insert jealousy here.

I admit, the title is a bit dramatic. Apple isn’t impacting the world that much. However, they are definitely impacting the film industry, and yesterday’s announcement of Final Cut Studio 2, Final Cut Server, and the addition of Colour to the upgraded Studio suite present a multitude of new options for filmmakers across the spectrum. Indies and professionals alike now have a more powerful system available to them with more capable and more accessible tools.

The announcement that excites me the most (though it is by now means the biggest announcement of yesterday) is Colour, a new Final Cut Studio 2 application based on the work of the folks at Silicon Color and their Final Touch application. Colour grading digitally is a relatively unexplored area (in comparison to the advancements made with non-linear editors). Autodesk’s Lustre, used on Pete Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and King Kong, is a Windows program designed with high-end studio applications in mind. It is incredibly powerful, check out the Appendices of The Fellowship of the Ring for an example of the application in use. Colour grading can subtly change the entire mood of a scene, refocus various elements, and ultimately improve the feel of a scene. The availability of Colour will add another option for filmmakers who are interested in working with this powerful artistic tool.

Final Cut Server is a new application that Apple is apparently targeting at broadcasters. The application is designed to easily move elements of a production easily from one Mac to another, streamlining the workflow and ensuring that everyone involved has the up-to-date version of everything. Whilst targeted toward broadcasters, the application will undoubtedly see use among filmmakers as well. The ability to sync up work in a central workflow is something that many have tried to solve before. Having this successfully accomplished, Apple poses a threat to the existing solutions on the market.

Final Cut Studio 2 is a generally awesome upgrade. The changes include new codecs (support for RED appears to be a top priority for Apple) with focus on real-time. Motion 3 supports three dimensional elements. There are lots of little fixes and added features, the Studio upgrade appears to be a great one. Apple’s continued march toward pushing Avid out of contention is impressive to say the least. Their solutions that target a wide range of filmmakers are catching on quick. It’ll be interesting to see what Apple does with this growing marketshare in the coming months.

DVGuru has an article highlighting ten reasons why you don’t need to worry about film school if you’re looking to go into filmmaking.

I couldn’t agree more - in the age of cheap webcams and Revver, you can make high quality video and easily distribute it to people across the globe - and make a profit.  Now that cinema quality cameras like RED are driving down prices across the board, you can even create high-quality films for all markets at ultra-affordable prices.

Quick update, the 4k resolution screenshot taken with the Mysterium sensor is online!

The folks over at Red have put up the first picture from their revolutionary Mysterium sensor, and its available here, at 2k resolution - roughly half of what the camera will output when available.

“Red” is the name of the next generation camera being developed by Jim Jannard and co. Jim Jannard is the founder of Oakley (the sunglasses people) and a bona fide billionaire. The idea behind Red is to create film quality images without grain (all digital, start to finish, 4520 X 2540), for under $20,000 - and revolutionize the idea behind the camera along the way.

Traditionally, cameras are made, sold, used, then junked. After the process, you start over - make, sell, use, junk. It’s pretty easy to follow. Red is revolutionizing this by turning the camera into a computer. Essentially - the Red camera will be upgradable. It’s designed for extendability too, check out the design of the camera. There are screwholes all over the camera to add in cool extras. Awesomeness.

EDIT: Via Jim Jannard on DVXUser, 4k/full res footage tommorow!

Via HD For Indies