Peter Jackson’s upcoming Hobbit films will be (literally) bigger than a Balrog, thanks all the high-resolution RED cameras he’s using.
Director Peter Jackson always seems to be at the forefront of moviemaking technology. The Frighteners was one of the best-looking horror movies of the 1990s, and Lord of the Rings and King Kong were both lauded for their incredible special effects. Now, Mr. Jackson is stepping things up for his his two-movie Hobbit adaptation by revealing that he’s purchased a large number of high resolution digital cameras to film it with.
The man behind the Lord of the Rings films and King Kong has purchased 30 RED Epic cameras. While RED cameras are already well-known for recording video at massive proportions, the Epic format can record at a resolution of 28,000 × 9,334 pixels.
RED Cameras have been becoming increasingly popular in the movie industry for the past couple of years, thanks in large part to the high recording quality they offer while being relatively inexpensive when compared to traditional cinema cameras. Epic cameras apparently cost $58,000 a pop, so buying thirty of them cost Jackson roughly $2 million, including lenses and accessories.
While $2 million on cameras may sound excessive, it’s not a bad deal for so many. Not only that, but Jackson filmed the film short “Crossing the Line” (the trailer can be seen here) on a RED camera and it looked simply stunning. Needless to say, I’m already looking forward to The Hobbit.
