HD For Indies

HD4NDs Exclusive: Ted Schilowitz, now "Leader of the Rebellion" for Red Cameras, talks about NAB and RED

I've known Ted Schilowitz (formerly of AJA, see article below) for about 3 years and periodically had a chance to talk and work with him. He's smart as hell and very affable and easygoing and always very energetic and enthused. And now he has a new job title:

"Leader of the Rebellion" for RED Digital Cinema Camera Company.

So what does that mean? He's going to be the point man at RED, touching on areas of marketing, engineering, the development process, you name it.

I talked to him on Tuesday, so I'll just dive right in with the Q&A:

Q: (Mike Curtis, HD for Indies) - So you've told me you're leaving AJA. What will be your role at NAB, and for which company?

A: Ted Schilowitz, Leader of the Rebellion:

At NAB I will be wearing the RED hat, as of yesterday AJA knows I'm leaving. (that would be April 10th - mike)

Key AJA folks have known for a while so that it could be smooth and AJA was covered, the transition has been happening for some time now.

Q: What will your role be at RED?

A: "I'll be employee #1 of RED."

"'Leader of the Rebellion' is the official title. Jim and I are driving this thing to the finish line. One of the things I like about Jim is that he's REALLY involved day to day, NOT in any way just a figurehead. This is his job, he is directly working on the project, he's got job responsibilities. We work hand in hand together every day, calls and emails all hours of the day and night, he's legitimately working hard day and night. Akin to my last life at AJA, the head guy there works every day - head engineer and get his hands dirty. It is part of his job and what he likes to do. I've been lucky enough to work for two different people that enjoy the process, not just the figurehead of the company.

Q: What was your motivation to leave AJA and go to RED?

A: Motivated by a couple of things:

"First, it was opportunity to change the landscape of another industry after doing so in desktop digital video world."

"Secondly, the time is right to prove a digital cinema camera can be created at a viable price point, and to take it out of science fair/experiment mode and deliver something that is viable for a full spectrum of users."

Q: OK, on to product - I see that all content on the website has been pulled - are all the previous specs up in the air?

A: "Things are holding true to form, nothing has changed to the point where people will be dissapointed. The ship has been tightened up, we've been getting the development process in line to make sense for the project, but most importantly 4K/2K/1080p/720p are all still in there."

I said that it sounded like a very ambitious undertaking on a tight timeline -

"We set bar high, and now we're hanging on for dear life." Ted responded jovially.

Q: OK, on to bidness: What will we see at NAB?

A: "You will see prototypes of the camera, you will see protos of how the camera will be used in a workflow, you will see things that really shock the world and shock the competition at how evolved and how much thinking has gone into it."

"This is not just your average bunch of crazy people working on something - these are REALLY crazy people having a good time and taking some hardcore risks, and now is the time to put our money where our mouth is and we're gonna show you what we've got and what we've been working on, one of our big targets is the person that spends their time reading HD4NDs- that type of indie maverick spirit that wants no restrictions on their workflow, and in their tools, they want something that really works for them without restrictions, our goal is to make that work for them."

(he's being lighthearted - I've met and talked to these people, they are hard core industry veterans who know what they're doing)

Q: Along those lines, what about codecs - have you picked one, how is it going?

A: "Codec development is coming on strong - we won't have specifics because we don't want to commit to what is still in development - that curve moves quickly in terms of what's on the landscape and what people know and understand. What I will say is that we are looking very hard at the advantages of wavelet based codecs to achieve the type of image quality we want to see at viable data rates for today's technology."

Q: What about your development timeline - how is it coming along, are you still going to be able to make the previous projections of testing this year and shipping early next year?

A:"We are in development and we are proud of it - we make no bones about the fact that we are in development, and we're going to share with you where we are, and we hope you will be impressed."

"We are working hard to hit initial targets, but because of the development process, that stuff will be a little liquid - we'll do our best to hit those targets - that being said, with any engineering product these are just estimates - we don't want to claim a ship date and miss it over and over. We're taking our best shot at hitting a ship date, but at this point it's just our best guess before we're ready to call it once it is close. We're just trying to be honest with everyone and let'em know how we're doing and where we are."

Once they get close to the finish line and can see it, they'll be able to call the ball from that point and announce a ship date was my (Mike's) takeaway.

Q: OK. Now at NAB, are you going to have any announcements about strategic alliances or partners - NLEs, accessories, hardware, software, etc.?

A: "In terms of development partners, one of the companies already we're in extensive talks with, and moving to a a development cycle with, is AJA video. There will be an announcement of something of significance between AJA and RED, and we'll talk a bit about it at NAB."

"It's really exciting for me personally - nothing would give me greater pleasure to see these two worlds working together. AJA has been pioneering the ability to really take desktop video tools and make them viable and reliable for mission critical, true broadcast use. When AJA came onto the market. A lot of maturing had to happen on capture card, CPU and software side, and at the right time, AJA came in and made it a professional tool. A few years later, AJA desktop technology on a Mac was used for little insignificant broadcast events - things like the SuperBowl and the World Series. I'm very proud of that fact and very happy to keep those two worlds connected and working together."

Q: I saw that the previously posted information on the website was pulled, and that in its place is now a countdown, counting towards NAB on the 23rd. Very Armageddon-esque, by the way, and I mean that like the movie, not the Biblical event.

A: "The first site was just to let folks know what was going on. Hold your breath to see what comes next. What you'll see next is very impressive."

(So sounds like no new info to be revealed until NAB, the countdown ends on Monday the 23rd - when the tradeshow opens at NAB. -mike)

Q: I was talking about the camera and what it was for, who was the target audience. His response:

A: "Your user group (talking about HD for Indies readers -mike) that reads the blog will be waaaaaay into it. We are focusing our design and stuff at the people that read your blog, along with the broadcast markets and ultra high end digital cinema world, that I think will embrace what we are up to. I believe that most folks want a product with no restrictions, they want a product that will elevate their workflow and elevate their quality."

Q: I asked another question, that in other words boiled down to would it live up to the hype that they were creating. He laughed and said:

A: "This thing is so f**ing wicked cool - this thing will knock your socks off, this thing is like no other camera that has ever been built."

Q: I then asked about testing that I'd heard about - were they going to show any test footage at NAB from the camera, or the chip, or anything?

A: "Camera tests are going fine, we decided to not show anything in advance of when we're ready to show 4K. We're pushing our way up the test regime, and are not ready to show images outside of a lab environment yet with our s35 sensor (give us some time...we're young!), that's part of the dev process we'll see in the next couple of months to show that. We have some targets towards Amsterdam and Japan in the Fall that will be a better time to see what we've got on that front."

Q: And will we be impressed?

A: "Hit'em hard, hit'em fast, make'em wonder where we've been their whole lives."

Q: What about this Mysterium sensor - is it ready yet? Is it real?:

A: "Mysterium is under development - the whole process, the whole thing, is still under development, and likely to be more refined over time. We're just going to show you where we sit today."

(so it doesn't exist yet as a finished product - mike)

I then got very specific with Ted about what we'd see and hear about at NAB. Here's the bullet point Q&A:

At NAB are you going to:
Q: reveal pricing?
A: Probably.

Q: Reveal codec?
A: Not final specifics, just goals and targets

Q: Reveal details on lenses & their pricing?
A: "Check with us at NAB."

(I guess SOME things will be kept a mystery until the last minute -mike)

Q: Reveal details on accessories?
A: Some details yes

Q: Pricing for accessories?
A: Probably not

Q: Reveal any NLE PARTNER details?

A: Only the fact that we certainly understand there are a number of good choices for NLE these days, and we will want to support what our customers want.

-----

Q: We talked about the ongoing development process, and making big leaps rather than incremental evolutions. Revolution not evolution. I mentioned that true, big progress comes from the the little mammals busy and scurrying around the feet of the big dinosaurs, not from yet another bigger dinosaur than the one before.

A: "RED is a new mammal - it's really all about innate understanding that new thinking doesn't come from the old dogs. It comes from peole way out in left field willing to take risks no one else will, push limits and push the envelope. That's where the surprises come from. It's been proven over and over, the ones you think will be the leaders of the next generation of tech are NEVER the ones who do. Look at music - if you'd asked 10 years ago who'd be the leader in terms of players etc., 9 out of 10 would have guessed Sony. Oops, look at Apple now. How do you change the rules? Number One, you set out to change the rules."

"I had success doing that with AJA, proving what good hardware and a Mac can do, that they could break a lot of rules. It's time to turn up the heat and take it up a notch." said Ted.

I (Mike) mentioned the quote about the unreasonable man -

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -George Bernard Shaw.

Ted shot back the one about Teddy Roosevent and the man in the arena -

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. ? Theodore Roosevelt, "Citizenship in a Republic," speech at the Sorbonne, Paris (April 23, 1910)

Q: That led into discussions of risky products and ventures -

A: "I've been lucky enough to be associated with successful projects, and I have a very very high confidence level in this one, the fact that we're willing to go way out on the edge and take a risk is huge - It's all about giving it your best shot, and putting all the effort into making it happen."

Q: Last I heard, you guys had a booth lined up for NAB - is all that still good?

A: "NAB south upper hall hasn't changed - SU1401. We'll have a 20x20 booth, it'll be something unexpected/expected all at the same time. Expect something different."

Q: OK, so at the booth - how many prototypes?

A: "How many protos? We don't know yet, we're riding the edge to get it all ready. The drama is good and everyone's having a good time. We'll do our best and hopefully have more than one."

---end of interview---

...and so I think that will make for a very entertaining experience. Their originally stated goals of revealing a non-functional prototype and their future plans are still in place, which is as much as they ever promised. I'll be looking forward to checking it all out, and if you'll be at NAB, I encourage you to hussle on over there the first day or two and check it out.

-mike

Labels: Red