DVDs of A True Patriot at 4:56 AM

I am sitting here at 4 minutes to 5 in the morning, having stayed up all night ironing the final bugs out of the production DVDs of A True Patriot. We got nearly to this point once before, but Encore corrupted our project files and the disc had to be reconstructed. This time, though, the burning went fine after a beta disc or two, which revealed further bugs that had to be fixed.

Today we'll find out the results of the first competition to see A True Patriot--the annual Tar Heel Junior Historians Convention. We've already had the premiere, but I wanted to have at least a handful of production DVDs for sale today, so I ended up working VERY late to complete them. They're beautiful, though--this is the first project we've done full packaging for. I snapped a picture of the stack of DVDs on the table behind me--you are the first to see the final production discs!
Expect them for sale online in the very near future for somewhere between $5-7 apiece.

In His Service,
John Calvin Young
Young Christian Studios

RED SCARLET To Compete With Canon, Sony HD Options

Says it all, doesn't it--except the $3,000 price tag. Yes, that's right--3K for $3K. RED, the maker of the groundbreaking RED ONE digital cinema (read film camera w/o the film--this is WAY better than the camera the Star Wars prequels were shot on) has announced a pair of new cameras at this year's NAB trade show. RED EPIC is a similarly awesome camera, supposedly not to replace RED ONE, which will push the absolute bleeding-edge limits of digital cinematography.

SCARLET, on the other hand, is a lower-end (but still very, very awesome) camera meant to compete in the market currently served by the Canon XH and XL-H lines, Sony's EX-1 and -3, and others. As announced, it is supposed to be able to shoot 3k frames on a 2/3" sensor (Canon XL-H1s is 1/3"), has an integrated lens, shoot to solid-state media, plus goodies like Wi-Fi control and HDMI-out (HDMI-to-DVI-to-1080p LCD can be done easily for $500, while a good HD-SDI monitor starts in the multi-thousands.) All for under $3000, if we are to believe RED. Of course, "SPECIFICATIONS, DELIVERY DATES AND DESIGN ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE... COUNT ON IT"--from the RED site, but if we look at RED ONE, they over-delivered, for the most part, albeit a bit late.

This will probably shake up the market, as cameras like the Canon XH-A1 will have little to recommend them over SCARLET, coming as they do with lower resolution and fewer connections, except a more familiar form factor, cheaper media and an established name. (Oh, and the XH-A1 is $3999, not $3,000.) Sony's EX-1 doesn't even have all that. If RED ONE didn't establish RED as a player, I don't know what will...except maybe SCARLET. It's not quite the revolution in quality that RED ONE was, with its integrated lens and 2/3" sensor, but it would be quite enough for a lot of us. I can actually see myself possibly getting my hands on one in the near future, while with a RED I figured it would be rental for a long, long time. Cameras like this may change the economics of many film projects. Time to get back to work and start saving--spring 2009 isn't that far away!

(The full information is here. For those that want to absorb every bit of the speculation, possibilities, predictions, and rumors out there--I did--there is a fascinating SCARLET prerelease forum on Reduser.net.)

John Calvin Young