New Documentary Begins!

Camera Setup for new documentary by Carl King

Last week I began shooting a new documentary.

My plan is to shoot it entirely on RED cameras in 4K HD (yes, I think 4K HD is a stupid term as well, because 4K is one thing and HD is another… but it’s also called Ultra HD, or 3840 x 2160. So it’s slightly lower resolution than 4K, but close enough). I could have shot it in a higher resolution, but I wanted to release the movie in the 16:9 aspect ratio and most likely in 1080p (and someday when 4K becomes the standard, it can be released in that resolution, too). Anyway, I decided to give RED a try and now I can’t go back. It’s not just the resolution (which is nice to have) but the color depth of REDCODE RAW. 16-bit video frames are just incredible to me. I’m spoiled. Working with any other video footage now feels like the equivalent of trying to create full-page print advertisements with stretched-out, aliased, compressed-to-shit jpg files in my pre-press days).

Anyway, I conducted the first interview for the movie at a recording studio in Hollywood last week. I was very skeptical that I’d even get that initial interview shot, because without it, there’d be no movie (as this person was the star). I don’t want to say what the documentary is about yet, because I need to work out some legal details first. I’m undecided about doing a Kickstarter for it. But I’m hoping I can start bragging about it in the next month. We shall see.

P.S. I’m almost done with the Morgan Agren Movie BluRay Special Features, so I should probably focus on that!

-Carl.

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