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Peter Jackson reveals the Red Epic secrets behind The Hobbit (video)
Diet and filmmaking legend Peter Jackson's given us another insight into the making of the Hobbit movies, and this time he's talking about his envious collection of tech. Filming with no less than 48 Red Epic cameras at 48fps in full 5k resolution might sound fantastic, but it hasn't all been a bed of cotton candy. Two 3D cameras need to be mounted at the same "interocular" (the inch-or-so distance between your eyes) which is impossible given the size of the Epic and its lenses. The team had to hire specialist firm 3ality to build a rig where one camera shoots the action and the other is pointed vertically at a mirror. Those who would love to shoot with an Epic should also beware that the cameras naturally desaturate the action to such an extent that the makeup, costume and set design teams have to over-color everything to look natural in post production. For more interesting facts, head down past the break to catch the video in full, and try not to imagine how many years bad luck you'd get if you broke one of those mirrors during a key scene.
German video effects company builds camera drone for the Red Epic
Red Epic + Flying drone = The sort of geek math you can't help but wish you'd come up with yourself. German VFX company OMStudios decided to mount Red's super-camera into a custom Octocopter to record footage in resolutions up to 5K. As cool as the setup is, there's a practical purpose: not only is it far cheaper than renting a crane, it can also climb up to 150 meters -- making it just high enough to fly over Hollywood's tallest man, Tom Cruise. Since it's highly unlikely we'll ever get to play with one of these, we'll just have to point you to the video after the break and hope that no catastrophic power failures take place halfway through any real-world shoots. [Thanks, Jeremias]
