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DCPs


Justin Oakley

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Hello, I have a question because Im stuck and I.e. never really dealt with having DCPs made.

 

I recently had a micro short (about 1:43 in length) accepted to be screened at a film festival. The director contacted me and informed me that they would need DCP format to play at the theater.

 

Can I get a point in the right direction as far as RELIABLE companies or someone who can do these for a reasonable price?

 

I know the process takes a certain technical skill set, but Im really not in a position to pay a fortune for a short that is a little longer than a tv commercial. Just doing a quick Google search I found a few companies that do this stuff, but I have no way of knowing how good they are, or if the price is too steep or what.

 

One of them advertised three dollars per minute With a $100 set up charge...or something. Is this typical? Do short films usually get a little bit of a break or anything?

 

Just looking for help fro some of you who may have experience with this stuff.

 

Thanks!

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I have Resolve Studio as well. But Ive only used it to tool around with color grading test clips. I just stick with FCPX because its really intuitive and smooth with Mac. I just dont have the time to be jacking around with this thing and figuring stuff out. I need this stuff done by March.

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you can export the project to Jpeg2000 or TIFF from Resolve and use OpenDCP to wrap the contents to DCP package (in the case of Jpeg2000 you just wrap the frames to mxf in opendcp and audio wrapped in it as well to separate mxf and possible subtitles added, then make the DCP metadata files on separate page. In case of TIFF, you could encode the TIFF sequence to jpeg2000 in OpenDCP directly and then do the same wrapping thing. Note that audio must always be separate certain format wav files.

I don't remember what other formats the OpenDCP supports but it's a great little free program for this type of small jobs.

 

there may be all kinds of errors in the final DCP so it would be wise to check it in a real dcp projector (in movie theatre) before sending it to festivals. that quality control part is challenging if you do the dcp by yourself, otherwise it is easy

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Thanks for the replies, guys.

 

I am filling out a form online for a company that does this service. I do have a question regarding audio though. For audio output, can I select 5.1? Or should I keep it in stereo?

 

how did you do the final sound mix?

for dcp it is most straightforward to have it in 5.1 I think, stereo may require more work from the projectionist to get the sound right when playing it back and the end result may be anything for that reason (will they use the side channels only for playing back stereo or will they mix some of it to the center channel as well and how much? how the subwoofer is handled. etc etc.)

 

I sometimes do demos by doing a poor mans mix from stereo to 5.1 by mixing some amount of it to the center, some frequencies to the sub if needed and possibly some small amount to the back channels as well. It does not sound "surround" but it is less annoying than having the audio played back only from the front side channels and nothing else like might happen if delivering a real stereo mix only :blink:

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The DCP spec is supposed to be 5.1.

 

If your mix is in 5.1 you just give the masting company the 6 audio stems (correctly labelled) and they will compile it into a 5.1 DCP

 

If you have a stereo mix - the chances are they are going to convert that to 5.1 by putting the 2 stereo channels on left and right speaker channels and potentially leaving the other 4 audio channels silent. That would work in a pinch, but would mean you don't get the dialogue from the centre speaker or engage the subwoofer. So a 2.0 will give you sound in the cinema - but its not in proper DCP spec. The dialogue wouldn't be as focused on the screen and the bass might be a bit thin without sub woofer working. Probably fine but not ideal. Cinemas do benefit from having a dedicated centre speaker to carry the dialogue and if all the bass end is going to the subwoofer - you loose that if the DCP doesn't have the .1 channel. Of course if the left and right speakers are large full range speakers then maybe subwoofer won't be missed too much. That depends on the specific cinema and specific speakers they use.

 

If you are using a firm to create a DCP - ask them how they handle stereo mixes - do they just keep the other channels silent or open it out to a fake 5.1 - maybe sending the bass to the sub track and dialogue to the centre.

 

In this circumstance lots of festivals accept a prores screener - with a stereo mix. That way they can use a laptop to run it, patch the audio in the non-sync input of the cinema processor and turn on the dolby stereo matrix decoder.

 

Running stereo mix through the analogue dolby stereo matrix, converts it into 4 channels with an optional sub - the dialogue automatically goes to the centre speaker and an analogue cross over would drive the sub. Thats a ok way present a stereo mix in a cinema. If the dialogue is the same volume on both left and right tracks and in phase - it will come out the centre speaker. Even if a stereo mix isn't encoded with the Dolby Stereo (surround, Pro logic etc.) format, it will sound ok when played back through the system - for phase reasons.

 

Unfortunately I don't think its easy for most projectionists to patch a 2.0 stereo DCP into the dolby stereo analogue matrix decoder even if they have one in the booth. So a 2.0 DCP is hard wired to the left and right speakers with no easy way to get the audio to goto the sub or centre - unless they have built a patching preset in the cinema processor - which they may have or may not have. The point of DCP's is to not leave it to chance hence 5.1 is mandated. 2.0 or 1.0 will work - but its hit an miss how well it will sound, mix and cinema dependant.

 

DCP's run off a hard wired server and most cinemas don't have technically competent projectionist on staff any more, any time I've been involved with event screening the "projectionist manager" won't let me mess with the settings of the cinema sever. But festivals sometimes will have good (increasingly rare) actual qualified projectionists.

 

One option you could try for DCP is a 3.1 mix (LEFT, CENTER, RIGHT, SUB) wouldn't take too long to produce.

What you could do to make the audio stems in FCPX is export a mono track of just dialogue, and a stereo track of everything else - that would give the DCP masters enough elements to make a 3.1 mix.

 

Also depends on your film 2.0 audio might be fine if you don't want deep bass. Mono might be fine.... horses for courses.

 

However, producing a full 5.1 mix, after all might be overkill for a 2 min film for one festival... or might be worth it - depends on the context.

 

I would say 2.0 would probably be fine in most cinemas, 5.1 would sound much better and offer a more consistant experience in different cinemas (which is the point of the DCP spec, consistentcy)

 

Proper multichannel sound mixing can get expensive quickly, which is why so many micro budget indie films sound so bad. I've found the home brew approach to be hit and miss. On some films I've mixed them at home and they've sounded great in a cinema and one time I was mixing on quite small speakers and I cranked the bass to compensate - sounded fine at home. In the cinema the bass was over powering. But I had no way to tell on my small speakers at home and the cinema couldn't turn the bass or treble up or down - they are often locked out the E.Q and just have volume.

 

I've learn't my lesson - If I'm prepping a film for a theatrical screening, even if I track lay the audio myself at home - I'm going to do a pass on a properly calibrated system. Ideally you want to make sure your sound levels are correct so that when the cinema sets their volume to "7" it the volume you expect. Ideally films are mixed in a calibrated room - using PPM audio meters, so the theory is cinemas should be able to leave their volume control set to "7" for DCP's and not have to touch it between films...well thats the theory anyways.

 

Fun times

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I can also vouch for DCP-O-MATIC.

I successfully converted a 21 minute short film that I had shot and then screened the DCP file at one of our local independent theaters to check the quality before sending out to film festivals for presentation.
I was surprised at how easy it was to make a DCP file.
Good luck with your film!
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