Like several of the HD features that entered production in the last year, Kentucky's Peridot Pictures Civil War film, The Greatest Adventure of My Life, had a modest budget: $1.2 million in financing, raised by the film's writer/producer/director, Dorian Walker. Unlike most HD projects, however, Walker's film had a speaking cast of over 75, 102 major scenes, three major battles, and practical war effects such as cannon fire and choreographed horses.

To accomplish all this on a tight budget, Walker hired a cast of regional actors, set a strict shooting schedule, and rented three Sony HDW-700 HDCAM camcorders, lenses, monitors, and other HD-related equipment from Plus 8 Video, Burbank. The HD camera's low-light capabilities and ease-of-movement came in handy for shooting the film's many outdoor scenes - which often take place at dusk or late evening - and for the few interior scenes that occur in candle or lantern light.

"Shooting in the spring in Kentucky, we often had very cold, almost winter-like mornings, hot days, and cold nights, with natural light quickly changing throughout the shooting days," says Walker. "Because we were shooting HD, we were more mobile - we used a system of golf carts to move cameras from one position to another in just minutes."

Although DP Steve Anderson concedes that, compared with film, HD struggles in scenes with intense light, he also points out that the format excels in low-light situations. "One scene features the lead character's mother picking up a kerosene lamp and walking into the boy's room to talk to him," he elaborates. "That scene was lit with virtually nothing - just a Chinese lantern with a 250-watt bulb in the next room and a 1K light bounced into the boy's room. I was amazed with the clarity of the picture, given the minimal lighting."