Thesis Experiment

My thesis experiment is a 1m 10s video haiku starring the reliably-bearded Paul Maupoux(!). It is shot at sterling 24fps 4k RAW on the Red One camera; gorgeously lit with a match, candle and bounced 4-bank Kino Flo; and photographed with an 85mm f/1.4 Nikon Prime - a "handsome lens", as Barry Sonnenfeld would say (re: the long lenses he used for "Miller's Crossing"). Add a FADE IN and a FADE OUT, plus a re-timed, re-mixed track from Vangelis' "Blade Runner" score -- and you've got yourself a nice, ambient little film.

This little film was conceived as a "Lux" test for the Red vs. the HVX. Lux is a term referring to the light sensitivity of the hardware. A Lux value of '1' means the camera can get a good exposure based on the light of a single candle. A value of 1 is top of the market. It goes on down to 10.

My thesis screenplay TRIGGER takes place in the wilderness at night, so the purpose of this test was to get an idea of how each camera handled extremely low-lighting conditions. True to it's reputation, the Red performed phenomenally (as you will see once I get a streaming version posted). The HVX (settings: f/1.8, 1080i24p, 1/24s exposure) performed ably, but I didn't even bother capturing the footage. Simply put, it paled in comparison to the Red.

As one of my mentor/teachers said after I showed him this Red-photographed haiku: "That's a $200,000 shot." A $200,000 shot produced for $50? Yes, sir.

Crew:

Malcolm Badewitz - AC, Lighting Tech

Ryan Irilli - Lighting Tech, Grip, docu footage

Paul Maupoux - star, add'l Grip

Marie Whitney - Crafty, Still Photog

(Dir, writer, editor, photog, etc. Yours Truly)

The file is too big to post on YT or Vimeo, and it'll take all night to re-compress from 1.5GB down to 500MB or less, so you'll have to wait on a streaming version.