What is ‘High Def’?

High Def (HD) is a new screen recording format. It is set to revolutionise film and television as it produces footage which is of a far more impressive standard of realism than the methods of filming which predate it. Many films are already shot in HD and television is moving rapidly in the same direction.

When you watch something in HD both the visual and audio quality surpasses normal television viewing, with incredibly detailed images and clean, crisp audio, making it a real sensory experience.

This enhanced quality is achieved by a greatly increased ‘resolution’ of image. Resolution refers to the quality of the picture you see on the screen which is made up of ‘pixels,’ which are small dots of colour arranged in a grid horizontally and vertically. HD uses a great deal more pixels than other recording formats, which produce a much higher resolution and therefore a fabulously clear, almost effervescent image!

The industry is moving towards using HD as its primary mode of shooting films and television, and this obviously has an impact on the crafts people who work with it, including make-up FX artists and prosthetics technicians.

Training to work in HD

Neill and Millennium FX are among the very first prosthetics specialists in the UK to have already worked extensively in HD on TV projects such as Torchwood as well as several film projects.

This means they are in a position to talk with authority about the demands of HD on the prosthetics and special make-up FX artist.

There is a lot of hype surrounding this subject, and a lot of talk of specialist training, techniques and materials for working in the HD arena. The truth of the matter is however, that this is a misconception. In fact, there are no new techniques involved in make-up FX and prosthetics for HD, there are no new materials and no new ways of working that you need to seek out and learn.

The requirements of HD are simple – it requires you to work with the same techniques, materials and skills as in any other shooting format, at a very high standard. In simple terms, HD exposes more detail to the viewer, so your work needs to be immaculately presented, but this is what is normally expected of professionals in the field anyway.

The standard needed for effective HD work is the standard we work to every day and the standard we have always taught - nothing more, nothing less.

What you learn on a Gorton Studio course will be taught by people who actually have experience in HD, and who have already successfully used the tried and tested methods they teach at the HD level of film resolution.

Effectively what we are saying with genuine authority is that the aforementioned hype about special training for HD is unfortunately just that – hype – and that as we have always worked to the very highest standards on our courses and will continue to do so, we are already teaching entirely what is necessary to equip you with the skills to perform well with HD.

In short…..don’t believe the hype!