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Why the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' sequel is filming on this insanely high-definition camera

james gunn guardians of the galaxy
John Phillips/UK Press via Getty Images

Wednesday, "Guardians of the Galaxy" director James Gunn announced on social media he'll be filming the sequel to the 2014 hit digitally using some new technology.

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"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" will be filming with RED's Weapon 8K camera

This thing: 

8k vista vision
The 8K Vista Vision Red

It will be the first movie to shoot using the camera.

What's so special about it?

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Announced earlier this year, the camera can film with a frame resolution of 8192 X 4320 and a frame rate of 75 frames per second.

To give you an idea of what that means: You can watch an HD video on YouTube at 1080 pixels. The 8K camera is showing you eight times the amount. Most films are shown at 24fps (imagine a flipbook with 24 pictures being shown to you in a second to create the illusion of movement). Now, imagine seeing triple the amount at once. The result should be a more radiant, crisper, brilliant picture.

In other words, "Guardians of the Galaxy" sounds like its going to be a beautiful film. And since it sounds like the film will deal with some space adventures, we're even more excited.

chris pratt guardians of the galaxy
Scenes like this one should look even more amazing in "Guardians of the Galaxy 2." Yeah, Chris Pratt. Wow. Marvel

CineTechnica has a good ratio breakdown visual comparing how a film shot on a RED Weapon 8K looks compared other cameras, which you can check out here

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After Gunn told his followers across social media, he received a lot of fan questions asking why he would choose to make the sequel on digital. Gunn, as he often does, took the time to respond to many fans explaining he chose it partially due to some new technology which will be used in production.

james gunn guardians of galaxy 2
James Gunn/Facebook

Gunn became inundated with a lot of questions, so he decided to take some time out to write out his reasoning for shooting on the 8K camera Thursday on Facebook.

Gunn gave a few reasons for his camera choice:

"1) It is easier to seamlessly incorporate massive amounts of visual, digital effects - including a digital tree and raccoon - into a digital base."

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guardians of the galaxy james gunn sean gunn
Here's how Rocket Raccoon looks before he's brought to life on screen. Director James Gunn's brother Sean plays him in the film. Marvel
rocket raccoon guardians of the galaxy
It would be a bit harder to create a digital Rocket Raccoon on film. Marvel

For reference, here's how both Groot and Rocket Raccoon (yes, that's Gunn's brother Sean again) look while filming. Eye opening stuff!

motion capture groot rocket raccoon
Jay Maidment/Marvel

"2) One of the ways I capture my actor's performances is by doing massively long takes, over and over - sometimes up to an hour - much longer than your typical 11-minute reel of film. I find this a better way to capture the energy and rawness in a performance (and we get better outtakes of me yelling at Michael Rooker off-screen)."

guardians of the galaxy yondu
Michael Rooker plays Yondu. Rooker and Gunn have been friends for a long time, so Gunn often makes some funny shout outs to him on social media. Marvel

"3) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 will be utilizing another new technologies I'm very excited about but can't quite go into yet. But, for this technology, you need a camera the small size of the RED Weapon - a film camera is too big, as is the Alexa 65 (which is also an amazing camera)."

In addition, Gunn says it's both an aesthetic and a creative choice as an artist.

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"It gives you more freedom in production and post production to create exactly the film you want to create than actual film does," he wrote on Facebook. "As anyone who has ever worked with me knows, I am a control freak. Such high resolution gives me the ability to control ever single bit of data (to do so would take a long time, but at least the knowledge comforts me)."

That doesn't mean Gunn's against film. Gunn says he appreciates the directors who advocate to shoot on film. (Just this week, Kodak announced it's launching a revival of its Super 8 cameras for filmmakers backed by directors who love the format, including Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino.)

Gunn just feels a lot of people like making movies on film for the nostalgia factor and to create films in the same way they remember seeing them when they were young. That's cool, Gunn's just interested in pushing the capabilities of technology further and leaving a new legacy for children to look back on later.

"Many filmmakers look to essentially replicate the look of film, but I don't share that interest," he wrote. "I believe that innovations in camera and shooting technologies as well as visual and practical effects gives us the ability to create a new aesthetic of film, one different from what the past has offered but equally beautiful - perhaps even more so."  

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"I'm interested in being one of the many who help to create a new kind of magic that will usher the cinematic experience into the future," Gunn added. "What will the children of today think of fondly with nostalgia?"

It will be a while before we see anything from "Guardians 2." The film isn't set to come out until summer 2017.

Read Gunn's full Facebook answer below:

Movies Marvel
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