Cinematographer Shane Hurlbut, A.S.C., and AMC have joined forces for the highly-anticipated show Into the Badlands, shot on EPIC DRAGON and WEAPON. The series is an adaption of the 16th century novel by Wu Cheng'en entitled, "Journey to the West," and follows a martial artist and his companion as they search for enlightenment in a territory controlled by feudal barons.

Shane is a veteran to big-budget productions having lensed films such as Need For Speed, Terminator: Salvation, and We Are Marshall. For his work on Into the Badlands, he wanted to find a camera that could best capture the unique look and style he wanted for the series. After rigorous testing with the camera and sensor technologies available on the market—Hurlbut decided on the RED DRAGON sensor as the best choice to fulfill his vision.

Shane recently shared some of his experiences while shooting Into the Badlands and described why he chose the specific sensor.

"I feel that the DRAGON sensor [sic] has a beautiful softness to it that is very filmic; it [the camera] saw it just like my eye did, creamy skin tones that resolve beautifully like film... The Dragon's color space was so impressive to me. Over and under exposing rolled off like film and gave me the flexibility to challenge myself and push my creativity. The skin tones were so impressive and gave me the vitality that I have always been looking for."

"I knew we would be in extreme lighting conditions where I would need to use natural light with very little augmentation. The huge dynamic range gave me the freedom to move fast, stay on schedule, and expose in more extremes than even what 35mm film stock would handle, which helped deliver the unique look for the show."

Scheduled to air this fall, the series is being shot in Louisiana. Shane and his crew have equipped their RED DRAGON cameras with the DSMC Skin Tone-Highlight OLPF in order to meet Hurlbut's vision for rich, vibrant landscapes and a stylized film look. Shane has gone on to share his thoughts about the evolution of RED's camera system and sensor technology.

"The master builds a camera design with forethought. They make it future proof; they think out of the box, providing a size that can intensify creativity and a workflow that doesn't require terabytes of storage. The DRAGON sensor has done this for the EPIC."

Learn more about Into the Badlands on AMC's site—and check out the trailer that was released at the San Diego Comic-Con.