FULL FRAME RED MONSTRO VISTA VISION

Nicholas Price | DOP | Producer
Owner operator Red Weapon Monstro VV 8K

FULL FRAME AND THE RED WEAPON MONSTRO VV

I recently took delivery of a brand spanking new Red Weapon Monstro Vista Vision. It's a big name for a big sensor, capable of shooting full frame, high resolution at 8k.

We are in the midst of a full frame cinema explosion at the moment, with all the big manufacturers releasing large format sensors, including Arri, Panavision, Sony and Red.

The first thing I did after receiving the camera was call a friend and head down to Sydney's Vivid festival. It was a cold Tuesday evening and we wondered amongst the crowds for an hour or so, the Red tucked inconspicuously under my arm. I was using the new evf and a 50mm Schneider Xenon FF lens. I couldn't believe how easy it was to walk around and shoot hand held, the camera is modular so you can easily rig it up for a big studio shoot or pair it right back to a doco setup.

TECH STUFF

The Monstro is RED’s premier sensor and provides cinematic full frame lens coverage with 17+ stops of dynamic range. It will shoot up to 60 fps in 8K and record in Raw and Apple ProRes. Best of all, I can shoot ProRes at 4k and utilise the full frame and shallow depth of field look of the Monstro sensor. In other words I can have 4k ProRes without cropping, which is fantastic!

I own a set of Schneider Xenon Full Frame lenses and I shoot wide open at T2.1 as much as possible. They have a lovely consistent look, not too contrasty and a beautiful bokeh.

SHOOTING ON THE NEW RED WEAPON MONSTRO

The first job I shot with the Monstro was a series of spots for LinkedIn, all shot on green screen at 8K, which gave the designers huge scope for reworking the frames in post production. This camera is amazing for visual effects work, shooting at 8k there is so much room for reframing and reworking the image. We shot in studio in Sydney and I had only just received the camera from Red, so it was literally the first time I'd put my lenses on and had a look at the image. I've been so used to shooting super35 with full frame lenses that I couldn't believe how wide the field of view is on this camera. Head to toe shots in a small studio with a 35mm prime lens, wow!

AFTER NIGHTFALL SEASON 2

I followed the LinkedIn spots with day 1, Season 2 of After Nightfall, an award winning Australian web series. For this project we decided to shoot 4k ProRes, using the full frame of the Monstro sensor. Shooting a full day of low budget drama, including a stabbing scene is a baptism of fire for any new camera but It's also great way to get to know it, plus you also find out what bits and pieces you're going to need to make life easier on set (such as a lot of ND).

Its nice to have the flexibility of ProRes, especially for TVC work but I think the 8K raw is actually a better workflow. Premiere Pro will read the files natively, create proxies and apply a LUT for the editor to work with. Plus the ability to re frame the 8k footage in post is a nice luxury to have.

I'm really looking forward to pushing this camera into different environments and situations as well as experimenting with the different aspect ratios, including widescreen and anamorphic.

If you're interested in working with Nicholas or have a project that you think would suit the Red Monstro, contact AusCrew on (02) 9427 4444 or email auscrew@auscrew.com.au

Nicholas Price
DOP | Cinematographer
nicholaspricedp.com

AUSCREW
P. (02) 9427 4444
E. auscrew@auscrew.com.au

Nicholas Price is a Sydney based DOP | Producer who has made commercials, video clips, TV, documentary and short films. Nick is a Masters graduate of AFTRS and is always striving to bring a unique visual style to any project he works on.

Nicholas Price dp
Red Weapon Monstro 8K
Schneider Xenon FF Cine Lenses