Hasta La Motion!

This Friday I will finally be shooting the plates for my vfx thesis using a RED + some Zeiss Superspeeds. Software involved will be maya, houdini, realflow and nuke for comp.

As far as workflow goes I will be keeping everything at half float exr’s, both .r3d to exr conversions and cg elements. So linear all around.

I already know how to work linear in both maya and houdini so I’m not new to rendering out correct linear exr’s. Few times maya 2009 sp2 x64 has incorrectly flagged the render as sRGB and nuke picks this up, but it is just a matter of changing to linear on read node. Never had that issue with houdini renders. I Also know about cmos and rolling shutter and I believe we have the plugin at school, but as far as my shots are concerned…I dont think I will be running into that problem.

Anyway, I think I have done most of my homework, but wanted to hear about the problems any of you have encountered shooting and using RED footage for FX work or some tips and advice so I can plan out ahead and have no surprises.

Any on set specifics I should know about or inform my dp about?

Most of the shots will be 120fps. I know that when running at 120 the sensor gets a crop applied reducing it to 2k. I heard from my dp that when you shoot at 120fps …the crop factor is applied to the lens like the 1.6x on a non full frame dSRL, does any one know the exact crop factor? When running matchmoves on the plate and setting up cg cameras in both maya and houdini should I use the real focal length of the lens or use result of applying the crop factor?

I’ve read many of the posts about RED footage here on the forum and feel mostly confident, but any input from you guys will be very appreciated.
Thanks!