Redrock Micro is a film equipment company that specializes in creating adapters that provide filmmakers with the ability to attach 35mm camera lenses to cheaper more affordable DV cameras. This has always been the holy grail for many independent filmmakers, gaining the depth of field only available to more expensive cameras. I was lucky enough to have Brian Valente answer a few of my questions about Redrock Micro.

Many people do not know this, but the Micro35 was born out of a community of independent filmmakers and their desire to find a solution. This community curated goal and contributions created the Micro35, a competitor to other more expensive alternatives. As Redrock released the micro35, they also released the blueprint and design for the piece for the community to buy giving back to the community everyone’s effort.

1. How did you redrock micro come about and how did the concept of creating the micro35 begin?

We are first filmmakers, and at the time were appalled at the equipment choices available to us. Either they were incredibly expensive (but great) products, or cheap plastic knockoffs that were terrible quality. Even the cheap ones seemed expensive. This seemed particularly true for 35mm adapters, which at the time was the last missing piece to shooting true film style results. Cameras had evolved to offer 24 frames, progressive scanning, and cinema gamma curves, and editing had become powerful and capable, but everything still looked like video. The only available solution was 3x the price of a video camera, which to us seemed just ridiculous. An adapter had to be reasonably priced in comparison to a prosumer video camera. A target price of less than $1,000 was part of our design criteria in the original micro35, and continues to be one of our primary design goals in any new product today.

2. When Redrock Micro was shown in 2004 at NAB, what was the reaction?

The micro35 was originally debuted online, and by the time NAB rolled around there was some buzz already happening. At NAB? Astounding! We didn’t have our own booth, and were showing the micro35 in JVC’s booth. We were absolutely mobbed the entire time 4-5 people deep, and won the show award for best new product. We were absolutely amazed, but thinking back on it, we realized the idea that video equipment could be great quality and still affordable was a fairly revolutionary one at the time. Most folks were used to the “film markup” mentality.

3. I remember, the Micro35 having some roots in the DVinfo forums, how was the involvement among the community? How do you think this common goal of find a cheaper alternative to the PS Technik organized everyone?

The micro35 project was originally founded in the DIY forums on dvinfo.net and Chris Hurd was very supportive of our early efforts. I think there is a shared goal among all indie filmmakers to get the best equipment possible for the least amount of money. Indie filmmakers often have the luxury of time, but rarely the luxury of money. Online communities serve to bring us all together to share ideas, techniques, and gear to create the best possible result.

4. Redrock has from the beginning sold the blueprint to DIY the micro35, what was the though process behind this and how has the community seen this? Also, the community seems to have supported the company a lot, why do you think this is so?

We always wanted to offer something that was ridiculously priced (the guide is only $45) that could get anyone with some pocket change and a little elbow grease to have a 35mm adapter. We felt very strongly there should be something available for everyone, and the Guide is one way to do it.  Since the original Guide there have been many other DIY solutions popping up, and we are really pleased to see others taking up this cause and advancing the state of the art.

Regarding support from the community, I think people are supportive for two reasons: first, they understand and believe in Redrock’s mission to provide great quality products for indie filmmakers at really affordable prices. We also involve the community in which products we build and the feature set for these products. This is a very different approach than simply getting a mattebox from Germany, for example. Second, indie filmmakers love to support an underdog. We’ve grown a lot since our early days, but in many ways we are still an underdog working towards making all critical cinema tools available and affordable.

5. In your experience, have you seen other types of projects such as this where the community is involved to this degree?

Absolutely – People like Stu Maschwitz and his DV Rebel’s Guide is another example of exactly the same mission, except he did this for visual fx and action shooting techniques.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 24th, 2009 at 3:18 am and is filed under social analysis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.