Shooting on the Red Epic
Setup for a green screen shoot.
Camera: Red epic body, Selection of Zeiss Primes, Sachtler 30p tripod
Lighting: Kinoflow 4×4 bank, 2 x 1k’s, white poly boards, x10 kino studio lights
This week we had the exciting job of filming the title sequence for ITV’s ‘Off Their Rockers’.
DOP Simon Elsbury lit and shot the comedy drama sequence.
We caught up with him to ask how the day unfolded.
“Time and time again people keep saying shooting on the red is like a computer and so very different than the usual Sony and Canon cameras. And they are so true.
I am aware that programs such as ‘Homeland’ and ‘House of Cards’ were amongst many tv dramas that are shot on the red, so I was very excited to get my hands back on the camera.
I had previously shot a music video for ‘blazing squad’ on the red one when that came out, quite a few years ago and was more interested to see what red have done in the aftermath of that. Did it fix all the initial problems?
Yes it did. It still has that classic noisy fan when not turning over but overall it was good. The touch screen monitor is all-fancy and the size of the actual camera is great to work with too. As the studio we had was too tiny to shoot full length we had to turn the camera on its side to get the image, which if shooting with a larger setup may have not been as easy.
I took my trusty 5inch tv logic monitor, always helpful to have a monitor that you know and trust so that you can rely on the fact it looks good, sharp and looking to what you want and should be.
Overall the shooting process was pretty smooth, even to copying the rushes over to a DIT. Although patience is something needed, don’t rush her (the camera).”
Simon also shot the whole of series 3 of ‘Off Their Rockers’ which is now in post and will be aired in the new year. Check back here for exact transmission dates.