When you’re shooting the prequel(s) to the fantasy genre’s most well-received set of movies ever made, you want to make sure you’re using the best tech available to you. Or better than that, if possible. Peter Jackson knows this, which is why he’s using the most advanced HD camera tech in the world for the two Hobbit movies. And it’s also why his cameras float.
In a newly-released video blog, Jackson and his crew take us behind the scenes of The Hobbit, revealing everything from how the crew relax to where the weapons are stored. But for tech fiends, there’s something very interesting at around the 9:00 minute mark…
Dion Hartley, Head of Technology on the set, takes us into ‘The Tin Shed’, where all the shooting kit lives. As you can see, Hartley shows off what he calls a “surface rig” – a fully waterproof, shockproof and “all wireless” box built for shooting on and in water.
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That’s cool, right? Very; we already know that Jackson’s cameras for the Hobbit are immensely powerful. He’s shooting in 3D with RED EPIC cameras, which run at super-HD 5K resolution. That’s insane. By comparison, 4K technology is what’s widely regarded as being the next generation of HD, and that’s about four times the resolution of the 1080p your Blu-Ray player can produce.
Having cameras shooting in 3D, at 5K resolution whilst bumping around on water and beaming the signal wirelessly back to Jackson is a serious feat of engineering. Needless to say, you needn’t worry about image quality in The Hobbit. It’ll probably melt your puny human eyes.
