35mm Telecine format question

[JD Marlow]

Hi,

 

I just finished shooting a 35mm short film and will be doing a straight one-light telecine to BETA SP with Keycode burned in (for eventual print back).

 

My question is, to do a separate transfer version for DVD distribution, what is the best tape format to use for the telecine?

 

I was considering doing two versions of Beta SP -- one with keycode and one without, then just doing a 1:1 export from AVID with the no keycode version. But after doing some research (and realizing Beta SP is wasteful of 35mm's high resolution) I've considered just doing one with keycode, then doing a separate, shorter telecine using an EDL later on to a better format like HDCAM for the finished film. Does that make sense as something to do in this situation?

 

-JD

[David Mullen ASC]

Hi,

 

I just finished shooting a 35mm short film and will be doing a straight one-light telecine to BETA SP with Keycode burned in (for eventual print back).

 

My question is, to do a separate transfer version for DVD distribution, what is the best tape format to use for the telecine?

 

I was considering doing two versions of Beta SP -- one with keycode and one without, then just doing a 1:1 export from AVID with the no keycode version. But after doing some research (and realizing Beta SP is wasteful of 35mm's high resolution) I've considered just doing one with keycode, then doing a separate, shorter telecine using an EDL later on to a better format like HDCAM for the finished film. Does that make sense as something to do in this situation?

 

-JD

 

Yes, that would work though you'd then have to do an HD tape-to-tape online session to create an edited version. Or digitally conform in HD using an editing system that can handle HD.

 

If the short is short enough, you could afford to simultaneous make HD and betacam transfers, or transfer to HD and make a downconversion for dailies.

[JD Marlow]

Yes, that would work though you'd then have to do an HD tape-to-tape online session to create an edited version. Or digitally conform in HD using an editing system that can handle HD.

 

If the short is short enough, you could afford to simultaneous make HD and betacam transfers, or transfer to HD and make a downconversion for dailies.

 

 

What about going straight to hard drive simultaneous with Beta SP transfer? There's about 18,000' feet to transfer (3 hrs 20 min) to eventually be about a 20 minute short. Could I hi-res in AVID using the straight-to-hard-drive transfer files later on for a DVD?

 

-JD

[Fred Graffigne]

What about going straight to hard drive simultaneous with Beta SP transfer? There's about 18,000' feet to transfer (3 hrs 20 min) to eventually be about a 20 minute short. Could I hi-res in AVID using the straight-to-hard-drive transfer files later on for a DVD?

 

-JD

 

Hi JD,

Yes one of the best solutions could be to digitize to HDD, in lossless, best-definition format. I Imagine you could find a facility where your 18.000 feet could be transferred to HD-CAM and also to HDD in full HD 24p mode (uncompressed). It will need a lot of disk space (I think 240 Gbytes per hour) but will allow later editing (AVID or anything else) and later on you'll be able to downconvert to BetaSP or anything else.

[JD Marlow]

Hi JD,

Yes one of the best solutions could be to digitize to HDD, in lossless, best-definition format. I Imagine you could find a facility where your 18.000 feet could be transferred to HD-CAM and also to HDD in full HD 24p mode (uncompressed). It will need a lot of disk space (I think 240 Gbytes per hour) but will allow later editing (AVID or anything else) and later on you'll be able to downconvert to BetaSP or anything else.

 

 

What about doing an HDCAM or straight-to-hard-drive telecine of the final answer print of the film? I'm thinking that would be cheaper because we're talking 1800 feet instead of 18,000 even though it's a separate transfer from the one I'm doing now.

 

I've already made the decision to get the footage on Beta SP tapes with the Keycode burned into the black letterboxed frame (so that I could matte it out if I needed a clean version from these tapes). Would I encounter any serious difficulty in just waiting until I had the answer print to make a separate transfer for highest resolution DVD distribution?

 

-JD