Shooting a cinema interior - digital projector flicker

[Graham Ellard]

Hi, can anyone offer any advise on whether a digital projector (as used in a small scale cinema) will appear with flicker if shot on 16mm film?

We've shot from digital display screens (computer monitors) without any problems but are unsure about how digital projection behaves - are there differences dependent on the type of projector LCD, DLP, LED, Lazar?

Any advice and information much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Stephen Baldassarre]

It depends on the projector and the shutter angle.  DLPs can introduce colored flicker, LCDs generally won't.  The narrower the shutter angle, the worse the flicker will be.  LASER and LED are just light sources, as opposed to the various other types of lamps projectors commonly use.  The lamps are not a source of flicker, just the imaging technology, as many DLPs use spinning color wheels to sequentially isolate red, green and blue.  If I could choose my projector, I'd probably prefer a 3-LCD projector with halogen lamp, as that would *generally* render best on film.  I'm assuming you're using tungsten-balanced lighting as well.  LED and LASER are likely going to be 5600K or higher, so they'll look blue on-cam, relative to tungsten lighting.