TAPE TO FILM TRANSFORM.

The following information is starting point for those interested in transfering to film from Mini DV. We make no endorsement of the information below. Please read and research. Please see these two documents and read the follow to educate yourself on the various process involved. TAPE TO FILM GUIDE CIRCA 2001 , E FILM PDF #2 Film Scanning , E FILM PDF #3 Digital Post Production. Contact E Film @ http://efilm.com/ , SWISS EFFECTS E FILM PDF #1 Tape to Film Contact Swiss Effects @ http://www.swisseffects.ch

March 9, 2000 Transferring From DV to Film by James Monohan

The first thing the digital filmmaker must consider when deciding whether or not to transfer video footage to actual film is the potentially painful price tag. At the well-known Swiss Effects tape-to-film transfer house, located in Switzerland, a 10 minute transfer of PAL video to 35mm will cost $5,216. At FilmTeam, a similar establishment located in Austin, Texas, ten minutes to 35mm goes for $3,750. At Efilm located in Los Angeles, ten minutes with sound will cost $17,500 (the high cost being attributed to Efilm's deserved reputation for excellence in quality). Thus, for a 90-minute feature, one is looking at over $30,000 dollars for a transfer to 35mm. If these costs are not enough to dissuade the filmmaker from going ahead with a transfer, then the next issues to consider are technical in nature and center around one question: How does one plan and execute video production for an optimal transfer to film? Here are some tips: Choosing a format One of the most frequently heard tips related to shooting for film is to shoot on PAL video, which has 25 fps, closer to film's typical 24fps than NTSC's 30fps. A better quality will result with PAL.

The choice of video format on which to shoot has a huge impact on the final product as well. On Swiss Effects' "Good, Better, Best" list, formats like DV and BetaSP are on the "Better" list, while D1, Digi Beta and DVC-Pro 50 are on the "Best" list. Shooting The Footage Digital cameras offer many options that affect the captured video image during production. Swiss Effects give specific recommendations for video camera alignment. 1. Lower the detail setting. 2. Switch on the DCC (dynamic contrast control). 3. The shutter speed should not be faster than 1/60. 4. Switch off the digital zoom. 5. Don't use the electronic picture stabilizer.

Another tip related to camera technique is to avoid fast camera movement when the subject is stationary or moving in the opposite direction. According to David Hays at Efilm, "When the frame is moved quickly or someone moves quickly within the frame, movement is picked up between the video's interlaced fields. When video is transferred back to 24fps, some field information is taken out, resulting in a strobing effect rather than a smooth motion." Additionally, when the speed of a shot is intended to be manipulated, either slowed down or sped up, these changes optimally should be accomplished in-camera during production or during the actual film-to-tape transfer. Otherwise, speed changes as typically accomplished in video will create field-based artifacts which will be apparent in the transfer to film. Ê

Editing Your Project

According to Efilm, "Telecine transfer, all edits, as well as dissolves and composites should be complete at first-field dominance." This advice helps one to avoid flicker and is especially important for people who originally shoot on film and are completing effects work digitally; however, it also applies to those who shoot on video. First-field dominance is also known as odd- or upper-field dominance. In NTSC video, for example, the frame is composed of 60 interlaced fields that result in 30fps. The first field is the first upper/odd field, and the next field is the first lower/even field. In addition, transfer houses advise that, when creating an NTSC spot exclusively for cinema release, the piece should be edited on whole frames to avoid adding a 3:2 pull down. However, it is important to realize that the material will appear sped up when viewed at 30fps. (PAL doesn't have this problem, since it is 25fps.)

Creating Titles

A spokesperson for Swiss Effects said, "Moving titles, especially rolling titles, are in most cases not suitable for transfer to film and should be made on film." David Hays at Efilm agreed that, "Rolling titles created in the video realm are updated on a field-by-field basis. In effect, a full image is not available at all times. Hence, if rolling credits have to be created in video, it is more labor intensive, and the credits must be created on a frame-by-frame basis." Efilm also cautioned that titles created on video should avoid saturated colors with fine edges, since video does not support the resolution of film in the color area. Knowing Your Aspect Ratio A digital filmmaker must decide whether to shoot video with a standard 4:3 aspect ratio or an HD 16:9 ratio. Then the film aspect ratio must be determined, the common options being either 1:1.66 (European standard) or 1:1.85 (American standard).

If the video were shot at a 4:3 ratio, then transferring to a 1:1.66 film format would require either cutting out a portion of the top and bottom of the frame or curtaining off the right and left of the screen without losing any of the image. If the movie were shot at a 16:9 ratio, then a transfer to 1:1.66 would entail that the right and left portions of the frame would be cut out. If a 16:9 video is transferred to 1:1.85, then either the top and bottom portions of the frame will be cut off, or the right and left portions will have to be curtained off without losing any of the image.

The Future

As time goes on, the cost of video to film transfers will decrease, and the technology will become cheaper and more advanced. According David Hays at Efilm, "The programs that do interpolation from 30 to 24fps are getting more sophisticated, such as Efilm's proprietary technology." Shooting video for film will become increasingly common. Presently, two high-profile filmmakers are finishing up digital projects. Spike Lee shot "Bamboozled" with multiple Sony VX 1000s and Mike Figgis shot "Time Code 2000" with four MiniDV cameras.

The following is a list of prominent tape to film transfer facilities: Cineric Contact: Bob Freeman 212-586-4822 Colour Film Services Contact: John Ward DuArt Film and Video Contact: Domenic Rom 212-757-4580 x690 EFILM: Electron Filmworks Contact: Carrie Holececk 323-efilm.com Film Craft Lab Contact: Dominic Troia 248-474-3900 FilmTeam Contact: Drew Meyer-Oakes 310-362-8616 Four Media Company Contact: Beverly Brooks 818-840-7144 Soho Digital Films Contact: Russ Robertson 888-764-6344 Sony High Definition Contact: Alexandra Anderson 310-244-7434 Ringer Video Services Contact: Gail Ringer 818-954-8621 Lukkien Digital Studios Contact: Marco Fredriksen Telephone +31-318-698000 Fax +31-318-698099 Swiss Effects Contact: Jerry Poynton 212-727-3695 (New York) +41 1 307 10 10 (Zurich) Ê Ê

SWISS EFFECTS guarantees that its printing system will transfer all relevant material with high quality 2K and 4K resolution. Considering these guidelines during all production stages will substantially improve the quality of the transfer.

• Production
• Choosing the correct picture format i.e framing. The following formats are possible for the cinema: 1:1.66 and 1:1.85 (see Info Sheet).
• The video-format 16:9 (1.77 anamorphic) enables a much better picture quality.
• Choosing the right videotape formats: We differentiate between 3 levels of quality. Within these respective levels, the differences are minimal and are therefore also subjectively assessed.
• What you see in the viewfinder of you camera can be quite different from the whole video picture. We strongly recommend to check your camera viewfinder with a professional Monitor (Underscan-Monitor).
• Keep in mind that the image will be cut by about 2.5% on all sides by the film projector (the so-called "projection cacheÓ). This is especially important for the positioning of titles and subtitles. 1. Good 2. Better 3. Best Ê HD SVHS Beta SP D1, D5, DCT Ê HD Cam HI-8 M II Digi Beta Ê DVC Pro HD DVC-Pro 25 DVC-Pro 50 Ê Ê DV-Cam Digital S Ê Ê DV Beta SX Ê Ê Digital 8 IMXNot taken into consideration are the respective camera-heads, all of which can substantially affect the picture quality. The older Beta-SP cameras, in particular, deliver a less-acceptable result than today«s new DV cameras.
• Aligning the video-camera: (Please see swiss effects transform guides @ www.dv24p.net/e_tape.pdf )
• Lower the detail setting
• Switch on the DCC (dynamic contrast control)
• The shutterspeed should not be faster than 1/60
• Switch off the digital zoom
• DonÕt use the electronic picture stabilizer (the optical stabilizer is okay).
• See the Info Sheet for specific information about the different camera types Making a pre-production consultation with Swiss Effects technicians and/or test transfers using the desired setup helps find a good camera exposure and avoids unpleasant surprises.
• For still wide-angle shots: using the EVR (enhanced vertical resolution) is an option with certain cameras.
• The camera movement should not be too fast in places where the object is stationary or moving in the opposite direction. Otherwise, as with film-cameras, this will give a shutter or smearing effect visible only after the transfer to film.
• Using the 50Hz PAL format provides a noticeably better quality.
• Postproduction
• The entire post-production should take place on an uncompressed digital component system. A single compression up to a maximum of 1:2 can not be visually perceived. D2 is not suitable for post-production.
• Every successive analogue copying-process entails a loss of quality.
• Old analogue and amateur formats (VHS, HI-8, Beta-Max, Umatic) should be transferred in Y-C format with TBCÕs and Noise Reduction onto a digital component format. The "Prisma" from Snell & Wilcox is particularly good at converting this signal.
• Changes to speed (speed up/speed down) could lead to undesired jerky movements on the transfer.
• During colour grading watch out that you donÕt crush the levels (in black and white). For changes in contrast, we recommend working with the gamma value.
• Please note that because of the larger size of the picture in the cinema, almost all the effects increase in their intensity.
• The maximum length of each film reel is 20 minutes and 30 seconds. Cut points should be chosen where there is a clear change, it«s dramatically logical and should not have any ongoing ambient sound or music.
• To achieve a saturated and "film-like" black we recommend to NOT crush the blacks in production or post but to keep the contrast in the shadow areas soft in order to adjust the blacks during color correcting at the negative to print stage. In general this gives better results while keeping the most information possible on your video material. Transfer * To guarantee synch-sound, the sound will be transferred by us onto a coded DAT even if we are not producing the sound release negative.
• Moving titles, especially roll titles, are in most cases not suitable for transfer and should be made separately on film. We can provide this service.
• With special wishes for contrast, color saturation etc, it pays to make a test tape of the most important sequences in advance so that different variations can be transferred.
• Even with a high quality color-graded Video Master, it is often necessary to do color grading in the film-lab. A second print may be necessary.
• Please note that as film is projected at 24fps and NTSC video is shot at 30fps, there is a 4% increase in film length over video length. This does not affect the pitch of tone.