In five days I head to LA to meet up with Mike Hedge and prepare for our jouney into Black Rock City.  Mike Hedge is producing a docuemartary out at Burning Man this year called “As the dust settles” and asked me to be one of the DPs.  I will admit I was very reluctant at 1st to bring a RED camera to the Playa, the Black Rock desert can be a very agressive environment… at times 70mph plus winds, huge sand storms, hotter the hell in the day time and freezing at night, why on earth would I take a RED there?  I don’t know…maybe cause so many things went wrong with last years film expedition that I am trying to prove to myself I can do this.  The Playa gives and the Playa takes, you must be ready for anything and open to any outcome in order to find a comfort zone to work in out there.  I learned much from last years “Green Man” (my least favorite year at burning man) and I look forward to doing the time warp again!

I am building a configuartion that is rock solid for run and gun dessert shooting, my goal is saftey of the gear 1st,  design a comfortable set up and try and keep a low profile so not to take away from others expeirence.  I really did not think I was going to be working this year but times are hard and I dont have much a choice…the road ahead is not going to be easy, but then again when do filmmakers ever do things the easy way?

UPDATE: Ok remind me not to mess with the inards of the blog brain, every time I tinker around I end up paralyzing one side of Gotham.  Good news is we are updated, better, faster and stronger then before.

Cheers!

Next I would like to welcome aboard our resident illustrator John Mitchell. JohnJohn has a background in film and animation and currently makes his bread and butter via threadless, he is the man responsible for the illustration titled “PushIt” pictured above.

We are very excited about what is to follow so look forward to some industry professionals we have lined up to contribute. The ball is rolling here and doors are officially open so I would like to wrap this by welcoming you to the Gotham Guerrilla.

The RED Bomb Squad was created to manage the reservation holder’s accounts, when your number is up you should expect this email and identify who your contact is. To find out what serial number batch is currently shipping check the www.RED.com home page. I will warn you, when this email arrives you may want to keep a clean pair of underwear near by. I will not further disclose info about this sacred email as it is prohibited, but in a nutshell it means now is the time to finalize my order.

To say its ground breaking would be an understatement. I checked out of my pyramid shaped motel and headed to the convention center where I have been lingering the RED booth all day. I am speechless, RED showcases their next generation in digital cinema and its EPIC, no pun intended. 5k 1-100 fps, full frame S35MM MYSTERIUM X Sensor with WI-FI control to boot. WTF! I know many RED users and RED ONE owners and reservations holders are beside themselves, I certainly am.

I spoke with Big John who many know from the REDUSER.net forums and he gave me the lowdown and said that this was essentially a conversation starter, the breadbox style design weighs in only at 6 pounds and the technology is here to make it. I say one hell of a conversation starter that plans to deliver in early 2009.

Many RED ONE owners and reservations holders including myself were not expecting a next generation RED so soon so I can not yet imagine how the RED community will react to this next gen RED. At 40,000 dollars, EPIC is apparently aimed at a different market with deeper pockets. My initial reaction was one of concern considering I take delivery of RED ONE in only 2 weeks but then I was informed that RED is offering full credit of your RED ONE, that is 17,500 dollars towards the purchase of EPIC, not bad at all…now I am interested.

RED currently has one camera actually available today and thats the RED ONE so if you want to get in line for EPIC then the only unofficial way to do so is by dropping a deposit for a RED ONE today and take delivery for EPIC some time late 2009 if your lucky.

1. Demo Reel. Crucial and by far the most important element.

2. Contact information.

3. RED rental page. Although not your primary income, this is an option to consider

cause you don’t want a camera like the RED one collecting dust if your not using it.

haskellfilms is not live yet but at the very least you can watch the reel, something is better then nothing.

Mr. Peter Jackson’s short film was the result of a camera test on two limited beta model RED ONEs (Borris & Netasha) with only one feature enabled, Record Run/Stop. After only watching 30 seconds of his WWII short film I was sold immediately and placed a reservation for RED ONE build #1781. You can read all about the RED, poke and prod for hours on end but nothing taste better then the proof thats in the pudding.

I am not alone, an army is brewing… so let the waiting games begin.