video to film scan

[parasher]

i am shooting a digital film .feature lenght to be finally scanned back to film ..i would like to know from the group what are the things to look out for ..in terms for lighting,ratios ,blacks ...etc..

 

its a fx heavy film and thats why the producers have opted for the digital to film transfer...

planning to use either dvcpro or dsr-370 or canon xl..

kindly help me with suggestions and share your experience

 

regards

parasher

[David Mullen ASC]

First issue to deal with is the aspect ratio, since film projection is widescreen and those cameras you mentioned are 4x3.

 

The other thing is to find the transfer facility first BEFORE you start shooting and do some tests.

[parasher]

thanks mr mullen

 

i have shot dv with a pseudo 16:9 masking on the monitor ,i.e composing for 16:9 in 4x3..and then applying a mask in post production ...

 

i have doubts about shooting16:9 because i have different people saying different things about shooting with the 16:9 mode that some dv cameras come with ...they say there are some problems in the post production ..

 

i will definetly do some tests ...and check out the transfer facilities and their results before starting ...

thanks you ..

 

regards

parasher

[David Mullen ASC]

Ideally, you'd use a camera with a 16:9 CCD.

 

Otherwise, the choices are:

(1) compose for cropping to 16:9 / 1.85 but just transfer 4:3 to 35mm and let the projector do the cropping.

(2) compose for cropping & stretching in post for conversion to 16:9.

(3) Let the camera crop & stretch to 16:9 internally if it does that.

(4) Use an anamorphic lens adaptor to squeeze 16:9 onto 4:3.

 

They all have their problems, but only the anamorphic lens adaptor method gains you any pixel resolution over the cropping method.

 

However, if this is for a transfer to film, there's no reason to take a 4:3 image and crop & stretch it to 16:9 video before a film out. You can just transfer 4:3 to 35mm and let the projector crop it to 1.85 during projection, as long as you composed for cropping.

 

So the only improvement would be if you used a real 16:9 CCD camera or used an anamorphic adaptor. And the anamorphic adaptor has other optical problems that you may not like, like limitation in zooming and close-focusing.

 

I'd look for a Sony DSR-500 or 570 at the minimum if I were you. At least that has a 16:9 CCD.

[Filip Plesha]

Parasher

 

I know this is irrelevant for this thread,but putting images

to film would not be called "scanning",but digital printing.

The word scanning is generally used for the action of

collection information about something.

In film industry it means collecting image information from the frames

of film into electronic realm.

[David Mullen ASC]

Generally, "scanning" refers to the process of converting a film frame into a digital file and "recording" refers to putting a digital file onto a film frame. Although you can use the word "transferring" too.

[cvrao]

make sure the colors are perfect in the monitor (sony professional monitor will give better results) while shooting, to avoid flicker and joggery edges around the objects.

 

we worked for four digital movies sofar on the editing and conversion. we found major problems in the shots are flicker and joggery edges.

 

use proper video monitor and right focus etc.,

[John Pytlak RIP]

Remember, what you see on the monitor may not reflect what you get on the big screen, especially if the monitor setup and viewing conditions are not very carefully controlled.