digital intermediate

Louis · November 30, 2005

At what point during the post-production process does the digital intermediate take place? Is the negative scanned at the dailies stage, or is it done only after the negative has been conformed? The reason I ask is because a teacher of mine recently said that a negative cutter was not needed on films that go through a DI, but I was always under the impression that the negative isn't scanned until after it is done being edited and conformed. Thanks for any clarification.

Dominic Case · November 30, 2005

Methods vary a little, but generally, scanning takes place after the edit. Select takes are pulled from the camera rolls, a scanning list is derived from the EDL, and just the required frames plus handles are scanned. Then conforming happens in the digital realm.

So a negative cutter IS needed, but not to make a fine cut negative. Some people conclude that a lesser technician can extract full takes: for my money, it's original camera negative, and you don't let just anyone get their hands on it, let alone use scissors.

There's no point in cutting the negative to a final frame-exact cut. The splices will cause hiccups on the scanner, and you need extra frames for dissolves, effects, etc.

I'm talking about a true DI here. If you take your film through a video postproduction route and then back to film, you may find people transfer to digital at the rushes stage - on a datacine. Proper film scanning takes too long to consider doing any more than the actual frames the editor chooses.

Louis · November 30, 2005

Methods vary a little, but generally, scanning takes place after the edit.

In your experience, is the negative cutting stage ever bypassed completely in lieu of a digital intermediate? Or is a negative cutter always involved, no matter how the method varies?

Edited November 30, 2005 by Louis

Stephen Williams · November 30, 2005

In your experience, is the negative cutting stage ever bypassed completely in lieu of a digital intermediate? Or is a negative cutter always involved, no matter how the method varies?

Hi,

If you had a very low shooting ratio (3:1) then it might be possible to leave the original camera rolls. It won't save you any money, would waste much time finding the right takes. No one would ever work this way, it's pointless!

Stephen