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Abusing the RED One's Varispeed Option

Abusing the RED One Camera’s Varispeed Option

This weekend while working on "Heather," the crew and I used the RED One to shoot some high speed footage at 120 frames per second. We were waiting for the sun to go down while shooting and took that opportunity to shoot some silly footage of us in super slow motion.

by Evan LuziCameras

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For those who aren’t aware, the RED camera is capable of shooting up to 120 frames per second. The stipulations are, however, that you must drop from 4K resolution to 2K, it must be in a 2:1 aspect ratio, and the footage has to to be even more compressed at Redcode 28. That’s for 120 frames, though, there are other frame rates in which you can up the resolution or compression, etc.

Our first video was of Charles, a grip/electrician, trying to do a running high-five with the gaffer, Andrew:

Then Charles decided he wanted to dance…

…while Andrew attempted to throw some fruit snacks high in the air and catch them in his mouth:

And last but not least is a video of my 2nd AC, Colin, and myself slapping each other. Despite my grin, I swear I was forced into it…

It was a total abuse of the RED camera, but hey, we had time and it kept us busy :P. For those wondering, it was shot on a 50mm Nikon Lens (but at 2K so effectively making it similar to a 100mm on 35) at 2K, 2:1, Redcode 28, 120 fps.

Evan Luzi

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Creator of The Black and Blue. Freelance camera assistant and camera operator. Available for work: Contact Evan here. Learn more about Evan here.

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