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How do/can you get a still print from video/DVD?


Tim O'Connor

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I have a deadline this week to enter a short in a local festival and I just noticed

that the submission asks for at least one still photo for promotional purposes.

 

I don't have any; it was a one day shoot last year and the actors are scattered.

 

Does anybody know a way to get a print from a DVD? Thanks.

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Some DVD player programs for computers have a frame grab function that creates a bitmap file that you can drag into Photoshop or whatever and color-correct, stretch it to look correct (DVD pixels are not square), and then save as whatever type of file you want (JPEG, for example.)

 

Just note that a DVD frame is only a 720 x 480 pixel image. Many publications won't accept such a low-rez digital photo.

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If you're on a Mac, then play the film in VLC Player (freeware player - Apples built in player doesn't allow screen grabs), then press Alt + Apple + 4 and you'll get a

crosshair that you can grab anything on the screen with. It gets saved on your desktop as a .png file which you then simply can open and do stuff with in Photoshop.

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Thanks everybody. I haven't had time to get back on here but all your tips are great.

I had somebody helping me and she went with David's suggestion and we did it that way

but all of the other ways could come in handy under different circumstances.

 

Anyway, we made the deadline with the required materials and if later they want to ask if we can

get a higher-rez image we can do something about that then but for now your help enabled us to

get everything done on time.

 

Thanks a lot!

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