subject: Guidelines for Preparing High Definition Material For 35mm Filmout [print this page] Guidelines for Preparing High Definition Material For 35mm Filmout
Point 360 IVC DIGITAL FILM CENTER
Guidelines for Preparing
High Definition Material for 35mm Filmout
All material should be 1920x1080 at 23.98psf.
Delivery can be by HD tape, image file sequence, or QuickTime files.
Tape should be D5, HDCAM, or HDCAM SR. HDCAM SR can be 4:2:2 or 4:4:4.
Files should be delivered on FireWire 800 drives. USB or older FireWire drives take twice the time to retrieve data. Data DVDs are acceptable, but most projects would span many DVDs, which could add to the labor cost of the project.
Firewire drives should be NTFS, FAT-32, or Mac formatted. Ask us before providing Unix drives.
We prefer HD image sequences to be 10-bit DPX files. Uncompressed Tiff and Targa files without alpha channel are also acceptable. All files and folders should be clearly labeled with reel number and any other information necessary to insure proper output.
All HD material is assumed to be linear. Please let us know if your files are logarithmic. If log we will apply a LUT and ask you to approve the look before recording to film.
QuickTime files may be either uncompressed or using the h.264 codec. For any other codec or format please check with us first. There should be one QuickTime file per reel.
All reel breaks must be clearly marked with a visible and audible one frame "two pop" at the head and a "tail two pop" at the end (The two pop is a clearly identifiable frame followed by 47 frames of black before picture and/or sound. The tail two pop is a clearly identifiable frame preceded by 47 frames of black after last picture and/or sound.). A tail two pop is especially important after end credits if sound ends after picture. Accurate two pops are essential if picture and audio are to be in sync on the print.
If the reels are provided as files they should still contain head and tail two pops, otherwise the first file will be considered the first frame of picture and the two pop will be added two seconds before that frame. The last file will be considered the last frame of picture. We can not guarantee that audio will be in sync if you do not provide Head and Tail Two Pops.
No reel may exceed twenty minutes (20:00) in length.
Audio made from a HD tape will be at 23.98 fps. The audio house that makes the sound negative will pull the speed up to 24 fps, film projection speed. If audio is provided as a separate file please let us know whether it is at 24 or 23.98 fps.
The material will be output "as is". Any flaws on the source tape or files will be output to film. Therefore the material should be viewed carefully on a properly color balanced, large size monitor or screening room before it is sent to us. Arrangements can be made to use our digital screening room for this purpose.
Due to variations in monitors and setups we can not guarantee the color or contrast of any material that IVC has not color corrected for film output. However, if the material was color corrected on a system that was properly calibrated for HD, the match with the final film print will be very close.
All negatives are made in the Academy format. This leaves room for the sound track on the print.
Output will be to Kodak 2242 or 5242 intermediate film stock. 2242 (Estar) is recommended if multiple prints will be made from this negative as it is much stronger.
Prints will be on Kodak 2383 Vision print stock. Others are available on request.
Aspect Ratio Formatting
Since there are several possible aspect ratios for HD material, but only two common film formats, it is important to understand how the HD material will be formatted on film. By convention the image should fill the screen either vertically or horizontally. Because of this some cropping may be required.
If the desired film format is 1.85 FLAT the following rules will apply:
A full frame HD 16x9 image (1.78 aspect ratio) will be put to film as 1.78. This is normal for 1.85 deliveries as the projector has a matte that will crop the image to the desired height. This way the image will fit the film frame, and therefore the theater screen, side to side.
A 1.33 image (i.e. 4x3 from standard definition) will be output so that the top and bottom fit the 1.85 area, and the sides will have black bands (pillarbox).
A letterboxed image will be output the same as a full frame, with the existing letterbox.
If the desired film format is ANAMORPHIC (2.39) the following rules will apply:
A full frame HD 16x9 image (1.78 aspect ratio) will be cropped top and bottom to the 2.39 aspect ratio. This way the image on the negative will fill the film frame side to side and frame line to frame line. This ensures that projection with an anamorphic lens will fill the theater screen.
If it is desired to retain the 1.78 aspect ratio, protecting top and bottom and leaving black bands at the sides, this must be specified.
A 1.33 image (4x3 from standard definition) will be output so that the top and bottom fill the film frame and the sides will have black bands (pillar box).
A letterboxed image will be output the same as a full frame. This way the image will fit the film frame, and theater screen, side to side.
About Film Formats
Projectors in theaters use one of two kinds of lenses, Spherical (Flat), or Anamorphic (Scope). To look right on the screen the film must be made for the right kind of lens. A flat image looks the same on the film as it will on the screen. A mask in the projector typically blocks everything outside the 1.85:1 aspect ratio so that no matter what is on the film, only the 1.85 area will reach the screen. 2.39:1 flat images can be masked the same way. An anamorphic image will be squeezed 50% horizontally on the film, making everyone look tall and skinny. On the projector an anamorphic lens will expand the image back to normal. The mask in the projector only blocks the sound track area when an anamorphic lens is used. Anamorphic is often called Scope.
When movies, commercials, or anything else is shot digitally, or on video (HD or SD). It will almost always be in a flat format. Movies shot on film may be flat or anamorphic. Regardless of how the material was shot it can be recorded to film as either flat or anamorphic.
Academy Aperture
The academy aperture reserves part of the film frame for the optical sound track. All of our negatives, whether flat or anamorphic, are made to academy aperture, ready for printing.
