RED® is a trademark of RED Digital Cinema |
 |
home | about us | Red One F.A.Q. | rental inventory | editing | news | contact
News DECEMBER 2008 Danone "New Year Challenge" NOVEMBER 2008 Meteor "Dinner Call, Lost in the City, Henna Call, Coal Call, Beach Call, Hot Air Call, Business Call, Jungle Call" Parklane "Goodbye" Pepsi Max "Hatchback" Telenet 50+ Kair Jet "Christmas" 1 Life Direct Nada Dairy Artist: Dare Art Alade "More" Artist: Dare Art Alade "Let You Know" OCTOBER 2008 Robb (Nigeria) Artist: Dare Art Alade "No Stars" Artist: Dare Art Alade "Not the Girl" Zilwa SEPTEMBER 2008 Ackermans "Summer Campaign" Artist: Nathaniel Bassey "Someone's Knocking" Band: Kid of Doom Engen Ocean Basket "Sushi University of Pretoria "Imagine" AUGUST 2008 3rd Red One Digital cinema camera arrives Band: Chasing Friday Parmalat “Nature’s Refreshment” Hercules Castor Oil “Dancing Orange” Nokia “Samsung Fightback” Afribank “Gladiators” VUKA! "Anti-drug" Clicks "Beauty" Clicks "Lalu" Hyundai “What you do for Fun” JULY 2008 Engen "Anthem" Engen "Heroes" Suit Supply, UK Website “Transaction”, an Mnet New Directions production shot on the Red One Camera Red One Africa supplied the Red One Digital Cinema camera and offered Technical support and data management on Mnet’s New Directions feature “Transaction” “Transaction” was produced by Leanne Callanan and Mzilikazi Kumalo of Emzantsi Entertainment and was Directed by Thabang Moleya. Transaction is a story set in the heart of inner city Johannesburg where Mxolisi is a young upwardly mobile architect and Nathan is a coloured, struggling blue collar worker. These two men from totally different walks of life will meet through a messy turn of events, which will force them to reckon with who they are. Nathan is forced by circumstance to rob and kidnap Mxolisi, the twist comes in that he is not a passive victim and questions Nathan's actions. In doing so their interaction erupts to expose social in discrepancies and some of the unspoken dynamics that are abundant in South Africa today. When the tables turn and power dynamics change, the victim takes charge and ends up having to save the life of the man who is committing the crime against him. It's a compelling story that the forces both character to evaluate their values and their legacy. This story is not only based on a true story but is uniquely South African and explores the nuances of our very diverse cultures. The production team for Transaction is headed by Emzantsi Entertainment which consists of Mzi Kumalo, director of My Beautiful game (Documentary series) and, Leanne Callanan producer of Bunny Chow (feature film). Thabang Moleya who is a freelance director brought his expertise and understanding of television to Transaction, his experience ranges from directing Jozi H (International TV Drama) and Jacobs Cross (MNET drama series) etc. Red One Africa’s, Russell Campbell, supplied the Red One Camera, was First Assistant Camera and offered Technical and Lighting support throughout the feature shoot. Mzi Kumalo stated that "As a group of young professional filmmakers our synergy is amazing, working together on set was a wonderful yet grueling experience. It felt good to create a film that poses questions to society and asks them to reckon with who they are in the bigger scheme of things." On finding out about the brief Emzantsi Entertainment, the production company run by Leanne Callanan and Mzi Kumalo, grabbed the opportunity and went on to write what is now known as Transaction. Leanne Callanan says "We went through so many drafts but the end result was well worth it. Shooting on the Red One Digital Cinema camera was a truely great experience and working with Red One Africa added great value to the production as a whole. The Red One Africa team is a must for any production!" Both Mzi and Leanne stated with relieved conviction that, "Our team was good and really came through in transforming this powerful story from paper to screen. The team is anxious and excited as we step into post but from what we've seen we can promise South Africans some very compelling viewing". JUNE 2008 “The Necklace”, an Mnet New Directions feature shot on the Red One Digital Cinema Camera Red One Africa supplied the Red One Digital Cinema camera for Mnet’s New Direction feature, Killer Necklace. This is one of the first features to be shot using the Red One Digital cinema camera in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Necklace was facilitated by 7-Productions in Kenya, directed by Judy Kibinge and produced by Appie Matere. Director of Photography was Marius Van Graan. Marius Van Graan said “ At first Judy and I had discussed shooting on Super 16mm. But due to a very tight budget, the shooting ratio would have to be kept very tight. The lead cast had mostly not acted before, and so this really concerned me in terms of the shooting ratio. I had heard that Red One Africa had a camera available for rental and started to investigate. I have been following the Red One story from it’s announcement. At first I thought nice idea, but it probably won’t be pulled off in the time period they announced. Then as camera tests started to come out on the website, I realised they were going to get it right, and so I held my breath. Shooting with this camera was a big out-breath for me. Not only in seeing the story of the Red come full circle, but also in many other ways. What blew me away is the way it feels as though you’re shooting on film, so you’re still lighting with a meter, and the discipline is not lost- which is important. Then, working in RedSpace, the colour space set up by the Red team (who have the likes of Graeme Natress programming for them) makes exposure so easy. And if say, the sky is clipping, you can (while recording) quickly flip over to see the raw and all the info going down onto the drive. So for example, if a silver car unexpectedly drove into your shot of a city street and over exposed in RedSpace, you can quickly flip to the Raw view to see if it is even overexposed. I was breathless every time I did this. The latitude of the camera is also just incredible. I did one shot where the character is dragged along by an angry mob, the shot was his POV. This was a real test for the RED, looking straight up into the sky with black faces looking down at me, the clouds have detail in the highlights, while the faces are sitting in the mid-low range. Shot at F22 with the camera rated at 500asa, it really just sees so much. Russell from Red One Africa was also very helpful in managing Data and filling in the blanks about what I didn’t know about the camera. He was extremely careful in his data management and did double back-ups of everything and checked file for file that nothing was lost. For me, it was an enormous weight off my shoulders. I’ve heard people complain about this camera and I’ve heard all sorts of misconceptions. The reality is that this camera is amazing. It has a look to it like no other Digital cinema camera I’ve seen. Think of it in terms of running a Canon EOS 1D MarkIII at 25 fps, that’s the kind of info you’re getting. We did some scenes with the camera rated at 1000asa, and the images are fantastic. Then there is post. I decided to do a first light grade on everything pre-edit and then output the grade to 1080P ProRes(HQ) for editing. RedCine, the software available from Red makes this so simple, easy to operate, set up for usability, I managed to do a basic first light grade operating the system myself. It’s empowering to do that. To conclude, I don’t really want to shoot on another format unless it’s film. For me, there is RED and Film, everything else is dead.” Director of ‘The Necklace’ Judy Kibinge said "working on the RED had exceeded all expectations and added more to the production of ‘The Necklace’ than I had dared to hope for. Many of the films stunning images (nearly impossible to tell from 35mm), were greatly helped by the Red’s incredible light sensitivity, meaning that night scenes shot with minimal lighting as well as scenes shot in outdoor set ups with high contrasts were made possible, resulting in a film with the highest production values on a relatively modest budget. It was amazing how much quicker it was to set up shots and scenes in lower than normal light, leaving us more time to shoot the film we were all hoping for." Red One Africa, supplied the Red One Digital Cinema camera with Russell Campbell working as the RED Camera Technical Advisor, Data Asset Manager and Camera Assistant to Director of Photography Marius van Graan. Take a look at a clip from The Necklace, shot by Marius Van Graan on the Red One Camera.
|