Working with film

dean alexander · September 6, 2006

Hi,

Just a quick question hoping for an easy answer. If i shoot my next project on 16mm film and send it off to a lab to be digitalised so that i can edit it through my NLE vegas 6, what format will it be given me back in for edit and how much quality will be lost in the conversion? also what format would be best to output back to if not going back to film i.e digibeta, hdv etc? Thank you

September 6, 2006

Hi,
Just a quick question hoping for an easy answer. If i shoot my next project on 16mm film and send it off to a lab to be digitalised so that i can edit it through my NLE vegas 6, what format will it be given me back in for edit and how much quality will be lost in the conversion? also what format would be best to output back to if not going back to film i.e digibeta, hdv etc? Thank you

For starters there are two parts to the process. 1) The film must be processed so it can be scanned. This is an easy step that does not require any personal supervision from you. 2) The transfer from film to video in a colour correction suite is a different story. If you just hand your film to the lab and ask them to take care of all of it what they will most likely do is give your film a one light transfer. This means they'll the correct the first shot on each roll so that it looks "nice" and then lay it down to tape.

My guess is you will not be happy with an unsupervised one light transfer. Typically the cinematographer will sit with the colourist and direct them in how they want the picture to look. There are a lot of tools in the modern film transfer suite.

As for loading into Vegas 6, it all depends on what type of deck you have at home to ingest the footage into your computer. If you have a mini DV camera then you might as well lay it down on Mini DV and then load it into Vegas. You can transfer to D-Beta, but then you'll need to rent a D-Beta deck to get your footage loaded in.

The lab and or transfer house will give you your footage laid down onto any tape format you ask them to.

HDV is a whole different ball game. You would need to transfer your film in an HD suite which is going to be many more dollars per hour than a standard def suite. I would not recomend transfering to say D-Beta in standard def, then trying to bump up to HDV.

If it's your first time I would talk to the lab and transfer house about your options before you start.

R,