Dispatches from Africa #1: Kilimanjaro: First Look Back

The first in a series of entries by Mark from the filming trip to Tanzania

This is one huge mountain!

I was mostly concerned with getting down, so I did not get a picture until this shot, somewhere around 14,000 feet. This is also the point at which I started to feel a little bit like I was going to live!

Although only seven weeks post-surgery, it was not my hernia that kept me from the peak of Africa's tallest mountain, but the altitude itself. Of course, I knew I had a battle going in ... my tallest training hike was only about 2,000 feet. And sometimes, the mountain just wins.

Still, all is well. I went to Africa and climbed higher than any mountain in the lower 48 states! and, most importantly, I made it down under my own power. The rest of the story, is a long one. Many photos, posts and video to come.

Jambo, Mark

Lest we forget the filming...

In addition to plenty of cardio workouts, some training with the RED camera - both filming with it and lugging it around - was in order. Here is a snippet of the work we did on Cape Cod this month - special thanks to Cape-based band Earth Junior, who provided the soundtrack.

Tech Talk: Del Padre Tapped to Review the Redrock microMatteBox

Mark Archer, Del Padre Digital's creative director, is featured in the latest issue of Studio Monthly magazine, where he was called upon to review the Redrock microMatteBox for the publication's ROI Reviews section. He used the piece of equipment on a recent music video shoot in Detroit, Mich.

"We’ve been using Redrock Micro products for some time," he says. "When we heard they were offering a universal mattebox, we decided to try one along with our new RED ONE camera."

Archer explains that matteboxes are integral to shooting with high-end rigs like the RED ONE, because lens hoods are often inadequate.

"Often, they are just not large enough to do the job well," he says. "You can bring plenty of gobos and put up light blocks, but this takes time and grips to keep things moving on the shoot. And if you’re using a system with interchangeable lenses, time becomes even more of an issue."

The review is in the December 2008 issue of Studio Monthly, and is also available online. In addition to providing an overview of use, ratings, and troubleshooting while using the microMattebox, Archer also shot his own photos of the apparatus for the magazine.

Music Video Shot on RED Now in Production

Rolling through the streets of Detroit, Del Padre Digital recently became a player in the filming of a new music video for one of hip-hop’s rising stars.

We’re in the midst of editing now, after a whirlwind shoot in several locales in Michigan for Johnny ‘The Greek’ Saxx’s single Take Me Away. This will be the premiere video from his latest album, The Protagonist, released this year by BP/Universal Distribution.

Del Padre Digital’s creative director, Mark Archer, was pulled into the project earlier this month to serve as its director of photography. This created an opportunity not only to film in various challenging locales, from a cigar room to a Bentley cruising down Lake Shore Drive, but also to test the mettle of the firm’s new Red ONE 4k camera.

Mark Archer and lighting specialist David St. George film at Blue Sky Studios

“We shot a number of staged scenes at Blue Sky Studio in Troy, Mich., which is a state-of-the-art, fully-equipped production facility,” says Archer, “as well as at one of the state’s hottest night spots – The Harem Lounge. All of these locations posed challenges, but also unique, exciting filming scenarios.”

The plot of the video follows Saxx through a number of ‘high-roller’ scenes, from mansions to parties with plenty of bling in tow. The footage was shot over two days, and is currently being edited at Del Padre Digital’s suite in East Longmeadow, Mass. It’s slated for completion at the end of this month.

Saxx is already a cross-over draw in Greece and other Mediterranean countries; his previous videos are available on ANT1 Europe, as well as Viacom US.

Del Padre Digital goes RED

After reserving a serial number almost a year ago, Del Padre Digital’s newest acquisition is here. We’ve recently added the lauded ‘RED ONE’ Ultra High Definition Digital Cinema Camera to our equipment roster, allowing us to offer clients video with a dynamic, film-like look and feel.

RED is an entirely new digital motion picture camera and the first that matches the detail and richness of analog film. It has an expansive format in which to shoot and handle postproduction, with over five times the amount of image information available each frame when compared to a typical HD rig.

The system, which is available for shooting in Western Mass, Boston, Hartford, New York and nationally from Del Padre's home base in East Longmeadow, Mass. , also offers image quality that is on par with 35mm film, if not better, as the RED captures footage in a RAW format and allows for a full digital workflow.

Typical high-end HD cameras have 2.1M pixel sensors and record with 3:1:1 color sub-sampled video at 30fps. The RED ONE, however, includes the Mysterium™ Super 35mm cine sized sensor that provides capture at 4K up to 30 fps, 3K up to 60 fps and 2K up to 120 fps with wide dynamic range and color space in 12 bit native RAW plus greater than 66db dynamic range. Too technical? Just think of it as being the digital equivalent of film. According to the RED ONE’s developers, viewers that see RED footage for the first time either describe the quality as 65 mm film or as ‘grainless 35.’

Why Shoot in 4K?

The RED ONE Cinema camera allows you the option to shoot in 2K, 3K, or 4K. When in 4K, the entire Mysterium sensor is utilized, delivering a picture resolution of 4096x2304. In comparison, most of today's HD cameras output an image of 1920x1080, but in reality only record an image 1440x1080 and have to res-up to a full HD image.

As you can see in the diagram below, the RED ONE captures significantly more information than is required by any of today's output methods, thus eliminating the need to up-rez.

Format Comparison:


We use a set of Nikon Prime lenses with the RED, allowing depth of field control, which blurs the foreground or background; the trademark of film production. In addition, the RED offers variable frame rates, up to 120 frames per second, for slow-motion applications.

And, there are other advantages, including cost savings with the elimination of film and processing and the ability to watch dailies in real time. With applications including corporate video production, commercials for television and Web, documentaries, music videos, and short-and feature-length films, the RED workflow adds an exciting aspect to Del Padre Digital’s expertise in high-end video production.