CASE STUDY ALISTER CHAPMAN
The need for top quality So, what does HDR actually mean, and why are so many in the industry getting exited about it? To fully understand the potential of this technology, you need to see the result in the flesh – it’s genuinely inspiring. While 4K plays its part by adding more pixels, the key to HDR is the way that it massively expands the range between the darkest and brightest images a set can produce, upping the contrast while also expanding the number of colours that can be accurately displayed. This enables bright whites to be brighter, dark blacks deeper, while 10-bit panels are now finally able to display all one billion colours. All of this might not sound groundbreaking, but when translated into the picture you see on your TV, it’s truly revolutionary. And once you’ve seen it there’s no going back. One of the issues for those manufacturing HDR TVs is that they can only demonstrate what the sets can do if they’ve got the right material to show, and until recently this was in short supply. So when electronics giant Philips wanted to show off its new Ambilight HDR sets at IFA last year, it needed to find a filmmaker who could deliver footage that would properly reveal the potential of the sets. They found their
“ShootingHDR material does change
the goalposts for filmmakers in a significant way”
ABOVE Alister has a decade of experience shooting the Northern Lights, and was an obvious choice not just to capture the natural phenomenon in all its glory, but to appreciate and understand the technology involved.
30
PRO MOVIEMAKER SPRING 2018
Powered by FlippingBook