Reducation — Part 2

Posted By Daniel Restuccio on December 13, 2010 09:20 am | Permalink
Last week I dropped in to Createasphere's Reducation, the week-long immersive training course taught by Red's leader of the rebellion, Ted Schilowitz, and OffHollywood's founder/CTO, Mark Pederson. Schilowitz has always been the man that has this infectious dynamic energy. His smart enthusiasm combines the excitement of a kid that is constantly being handed really cool toys with the intelligence of an engineer who can quote you the science behind how it works. This was the 7th Reducation and it was held for the first time at Red Studios in Hollywood.

"The original intent," says Schilowitz, "was to give training that came directly from the Red company." The comprehensive curriculum, divided into the broad categories of Red Tech and Red Post, covers everything from the detailed workings of the Red camera to the intricacies of post production.  One of the dramatic highlights of the class is the ability to shoot footage with the Red One and then see your dailies projected in 4K on the super bright (21K lumens) Sony SRX-T420 projector on a 40-foot screen. This year included an in-depth demonstration of the Epic camera and an entire day devoted to shooting 3D with Red.

"We're a learn as you go dynamic," continues Schilowitz. "The technology moves so fast that pretty much every class we have something to talk about."

One of the intriguing components of the class is the demonstration of third-party Red-related hardware and software such as Element Technica's Quasar 3D system, Lightiron's OutPost system, the Foundry's Storm and Nuke software, R3D Datamanager and Qtake HD among many others. Red Community Day, which happened in the evening after normal classes, was like a mini-trade show featuring all kinds of accessory camera and post production gear. This greatly enhanced the in-class instruction by underscoring the fact that Red is not just a camera but an entire technology system.

Schilowitz says the three "take aways" he wants his students to walk out with are: "Learn how simple and user friendly the camera is; learn how logical the post production options are and how many of them there are; and know that what we are talking about in class is not the only way to do things but it's what we believe, and the experts in the room believe, are the best practices."

To Be Continued: Stay tuned for more break out bloggiing information about break out components of Reducation, the Epic camera and shooting on Spider-Man 3D.

The next Createasphere Reducation will be offered in May, 2011.