Raging Stallion Studios announced this morning that it has completed a six-month-long conversion to High Definition videography.
The studio, one of the leaders in all-male erotic entertainment, first began filming movies in full High Def (HD) earlier this year. Recently the company purchased its second HD camera and completed the conversion of its extensive editing systems to accommodate the new format.
"Raging Stallion is the first major gay-focused studio to make this conversion," stated company president Chris Ward. "As of October 1 the studio has filmed fourteen movies entirely in HD, the most significant of which,Lords of the Jungle, is slotted for a December 1 release.
"We made the shift in cameras early this year and found the new format a significant improvement over the standard DVCAM format," Ward continued. "Our intention is to film the finest quality footage in the industry and to set the bar as high as possible for both consumers and our competition. For me as a filmmaker, the films shot in HD are simply astounding and allow me a whole new range of options in filming adult material."
The company overcame several obstacles in the conversion — not the least of which was the massive investment required to buy new cameras and editing equipment. The extreme widescreen format also posed problems for a production team used to working in the 4:3 standard format, Ward noted.
"The HD cameras show significantly more detail than older, outdated formats, requiring the studio to adjust lighting and set construction. The caliber of models is of critical importance, since HD vividly shows any and every skin flaw," he said.
Although the studio has not yet released any HD films in the new Blu-Ray format, Ward made it clear that these would be coming in the next few months as soon as an audience with compatible players becomes large enough to support the investment. Meanwhile, the post production team at Raging Stallion has developed a compression process that allows standard DVDs and DVD players to take advantage of the crisp images captured by the HD cameras.
"In short," Ward said, "customers today with current DVD players are able to immediately see a higher quality image when viewing Raging Stallion products."
