Today Red Giant announced the release of RUN LIKE HELL – a new short film inspired by the cult classic video game, from Interplay software. The film is directed by acclaimed visual effects master, Stu Maschwitz (Star Wars, Sin City) who is attached to direct the feature screenplay. Stu is also Red Giant’s Creative Director and has designed many of Red Giant’s tools for filmmakers.nnStu wanted to tease some of RUN LIKE HELL’S story and visual effects, while doing it on a very tight budget, so he used tools accessible to almost any filmmaker and visual effects artist. The film is shot POV-style, with a GoPro camera, which can be found in many sporting goods and retail stores for just $299.nn
nn”The GoPro camera was critical in telling the story,” said executive producer Aharon Rabinowitz. “Stu wanted the audience to see what the main character misses – clues about the story, at the very edge of his field of view. The picture quality along with the GoPro’s signature wide-angle look made that possible.” Early in pre-production, Maschwitz came up with a workflow that greatly simplified the process of adding believable visual effects into the wide angle GoPro footage. Once he had the process locked down, he knew he was ready to shoot.nnOff-the-shelf software was also a critical part of the production. On Set, Stu used Red Giant BulletProof to review and backup his footage. “BulletProof saved me a few times during the shoot,” said Maschwitz, who is also the brains behind the software. “At one point, I thought I was on my last take for a shot, but it turned out, on review, that I didn’t get what I needed. I was able to go back immediately and re-shoot, without loosing my light.”nnAdobe After Effects and Premiere CC were used extensively along with Red Giant’s Color Suite for color correction and Trapcode & Effects Suite for visual effects. Other inexpensive plug-ins were used as well.nn”We’re really proud to help a guy as talented as Stu show the world who he is as a director,” said Rabinowitz. “Yeah, we’re a company that makes software for filmmakers and VFX artists, but we make that software because we love making films. Our products are born out of the challenges we come up against in that process. Who knows? New tools might come out of this film too.nn
nnRUN LIKE HELL is Red Giant’s 6th film. You can see all of the Red Giant films at http://redgiant.com/films.nnAbout STU MASCWITZnStu Maschwitz is a filmmaker, photographer, and writer, with a passion for kinetic storytelling. Maschwitz spent four years at Industrial Light & Magic before co-founding legendary visual effects firm The Orphanage in 1999. A champion of accessible filmmaking, Stu directs TV commercials and is developing several feature film projects, as well as serving as Red Giant’s Creative Director. His works can be found at his site, Prolost.com.nnAbout RED GIANTnAt Red Giant, we make tools, films and training to enrich the community of filmmakers and motion designers. For our own award-winning short films, we create new software to fill our needs. Then we make those products available for everyone else, helping artists create the perfect look that matches their story. Red Giant develops tools that make the filmmaking process faster, more secure, more accurate and just more fun. For over 10 years, we have built software for motion design, color correction, visual effects and photography that is used for everything from major motion pictures to worldwide television programming to web production. Learn more at redgiant.com.
