Is video fidelity a myth? 28 Days Later was shot in 480p!

Clip from 28 Days Later showing protagonist in hospital scrubs reading newspaper in an abandoned London .

Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s classic British (not-)zombie horror, 28 Days Later, was largely shot on Canon XL1 camcorders – which max out at a standard-definition resolution of 480p. You know, the resolution you resort to on YouTube when your internet connection’s running slow.

I recently watched a great retrospective on the movie by Archer Green (embedded below), revealing that the reasoning behind adopting the camcorders was twofold. Firstly, the home-movie aesthetic would provide the film with a gritty realism that would further immerse the audience. And secondly, camcorders are highly portable.