Jul 18 2012
Tags: News
Red Digital Cinema, manufacturers of professional digital cameras, has entered India to cater to the world’s largest filmmaking market. Almost all major feature films released in India and rest of the world over the last few years have used Red’s cameras.
“Over the last three years, Red cameras have been used in about 300 feature film projects alone in India. Apart from movies, the devices are now used for high-end still photography and videography for magazine covers, wedding shoots and ad filmmaking. It was a natural step for us to have a direct presence in India, which makes 1,100 movies a year,” said Arjun Sablok, operations head (India) of Red. “With our entry, we have invested in sales, support and service in the country. We want to handhold the Indian film industry’s transition from film to digital.”
Red manufactures digital cinematography cameras and accessories. It presently produces three models named - One, Epic and Scarlet. The entry-level model Scarlet (camera body without the lenses) is priced at about $10,000 (close to Rs 5 lakh). The higher versions including Epic are priced upwards of $35,000 (about to Rs 19 lakh).
“Any professional movie camera that costs less than $13,000 for the body is considered inexpensive. Moreover, our cameras are lightweight (4.5kg) and weigh less than the tripod unlike the traditional ones. This gives the devices more stability while shooting in motion,” said Ted Shilowitz, co-founder of Red. “Beyond films, we’ve seen Reds being used for TV shoots and even independent filmmaking. Our cameras are becoming popular in India to the extent that any project involving visual effects is now shot with a Red.”
Most big-budget films including the recent flicks The Amazing Spiderman, Prometheus and Pirates of the Caribbean have made extensive use of the Red cameras. Indians have also started to use the devices for purposes beyond films. Independent documentaries and ad films are using the systems for better quality and ease of use.
“My mission is to debunk the myth that Reds are complicated to use and expensive. These are professional cameras with the required level of sophistication but beyond that any cinematographer would be able to handle them with ease. It takes only 10 minutes for a pro to understand the workings of the cameras,” Shilowitz said.
“Moreover, the post-production workflow is the most efficient and can be done even in a home computing environment. Apart from selling and supporting the devices, we also plan to conduct workshops for cinematographers to help them get acquainted with the systems,” Shilowitz added. click here
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