Eugene Lehnert

I see this when a telecine light is pushed too far from dark material. I'm seeing it more and more though. I'm wondering if it's a sign of aging telecines.

I did not realize Ektachrome was discontinued.

I purchased an old roll but it requires the ME-4 process. Does anyone know who does this kind of processing anymore?

What about VNF-1? Is that still supported?

Fantastic. Thanks Dirk. Have you used this option?

Has anyone ever heard of someone doing a custom modifcation on a Spirit 4K so one can capture optical audio from a print?

Thanks again Mr. Mullen. You always provide well worded and detailed answers. I have finished some trailers to 2.35 HD tape that were printed to film and in the theater I noticed that the top and bottom of the images were cut off slightly.

Thanks!

Do theaters still crop 2.35 files to 2.39? From my understanding the 2.39 crop was introduced to hide film splices. Is this still in practice with prints made fro digital sources? I was reading films after 1970 were cropped slightly. Is this correct?

The DaVinci restoration software? I have not. I do not have access to it. Is there a color stabilizer in Resolve?

What resolution are they working in? I would just do an initial debayer to ProResHQ or 4444 and work from there. I see little reason to use proxy files in FCP these days. Drive space is cheap.

Hi,

 

I am color correcting a music video for a friend. They have been editing in Final Cut and are using proxy files. I have a ton of plugins for final cut that I use for color correction so I don't work through color. Is there a way to color correct within Final Cut but not work within the proxy or would it be smart to color correct the high res proxy file?

 

Thanks

Does anyone have any experience stabilizing color in old archival film? I have a shot that we are fixing up dirt and movement wise but the colors seem to have deteriorated in an un-even way from frame to frame and channel to channel. I tried separating the color from the luminance channels in Shake and averaged the color frames together and it helps but anything that moves a lot does not work. I was trying to see if the Foundry might have something for this but I don't see any specific tools that specifically tackles this problem.

Interesting. I talked my client into working in Rec709 so that is the way we went. I'll have to look into the sRGB workflow. Thanks!

Has anyone used the Panasonic Panasonic TH-42BT300U 42" monitor to grade a film in P3 for eventual DCP delivery?

Does a product like Monkey Extract exist for Arri RAW content the same way it does for .R3D files? I need to collect footage for a conform from the EDL into a new directory for a Baselight conform.

How are people doing this workflow?

The digital stuff shot on HBO now originates at 23.976.

We here in the US run at 29.97 for broadcast. In SD it's referred to as 29.97 but in HD you see it as 1080i@59.94. The 29.97 number refers to frames and 59.94 refers to fields. Multiply 29.97 by 2 and you get 59.94 because there are two fields in one frame.

If you shoot 24 it will be slowed down to 23.976 for video. If you are making film prints from your negative there will be no speed change because projectors run at 24fps. If you shoot 23.976 on film, transfer it to video and finish in 1080p@23.976 and then transfer the video to film it will be sped back up to 24. HDCAMSR decks do this all the time. I can take a 23.976 tape and play it at 24fps or 25fps if I want. The speed change is minor and happens all the time.

The big issue is syncing external audio to your film transfers. They both need to run at the same speed to stay in sync. When you shoot 24fps on your camera the telecine slows the film to 23.976 so you have to slow your audio down by the same percentage. If you shoot 23.976 the telecine will play back the film at the speed you shot so there is no slow-down. In this instance the audio does not need to be adjusted to stay in sync with the picture. If you shoot 23.976 and try and sync audio up the audio on a film bench the audio will drift because the film is playing back at 24fps in the projector and it's now running faster then when it was recorded.

The usual workflow is: Shoot 24, transfer to 23.976 or 29.97, slow-down the audio, sync the audio, edit and output a 23.976 or 59.94 HD master. I would suggest creating a 23.976 master first and then adding the pull-down to create the 1080i@59.94 Drop-Frame broadcast tape. You just have to keep in mind that the timecode on a 23.976 timeline is not an accurate measure of time. Your film is actually running longer than what it is telling you.

I hope I haven't given you too much information to make it confusing.

You would need to do some extensive compositing work. You would need to find someone skilled with Flame or Nuke or Shake or After Effects.

From what I understand television used to run at 30fps and when color was introduced tv was slowed down to 29.97fps to make room for the color signal and there lies the rub.

Japan has NTSC but they run their tv at 30fps and their analog black levels are at 0 IRE instead of 7.5 IRE that we have here in the states. We suffer because we had it all first. Maybe the internet will undo all of this one day.

Thinking about it I might be incorrect. If you shoot 23.976 the telecine will actually play back the film at the proper speed it was shot at since it runs at 23.976. So therefore your audio would remain in sync. I've never tried this. Sorry for the confusion.

You should shoot true 24 on film. They are correct.

If you shoot at 23.976 it will be slowed down again when you transfer it to video.

Shoot true 24. Edit 23.976. Slow your on set audio down too.

Has anyone had to create an EDL and a database with keycode from an offline tape with window burn-in? I have a client who has nothing but their window burn-in for their film. They now want to scan the film and create a DCP.

I have done some tests in Final Cut Pro by exporting every shot as it's own clip. I then bring the media back into Final Cut Pro into a new timeline. I alter the timecodes of the clips to match the film source's timecode and then I add the dissolves and speed changes to shots that need it. In Cinema Tools I started a database creating a new entry for every shot I exported: "shot01", "shot02" etc... I am able to export an ALE and Pull List now. So this all seems to work but is there an easier way to do this? I was thinking of bring files in Excel and logging it all that way. I found scene detection software for Final Cut Pro so that will help. I tried to media manage a cut project to create the new media but since all the clips come from one Quicktime file Final Cut Pro does not break the clips up so I'm left exporting each shot manually.

I need the keycode because their film flats are not in their original boxes so I have no idea what timecodes the film flats should be started at. So I'm trying to get as much information as I can into these databases and EDLs.

Thanks!

You will shoot true 24fps when you film. When you do the transfer on the telecine to tape/and or file, it will be slowed down to 23.976. The audio you shoot on set will have to be slowed by the same percentage to keep in sync with your picture. The post-house can do this for you. If you have the right audio recordist he can capture the audio at a higher sample rate so that when it's played back at 48khz the audio is at the correct speed.

You will edit at 23.976 in your NLE. HD cameras will nearly always be shooting video at 23.976. This frame-rate will convert to 29.97 SD or 59.94i HD using a 2-3 pulldown. If you had a true 24 signal it would convert into a 30 fps SD signal or a 60i HD signal. For video work you want 23.976. Then if you need to go film the HD master you create can be sped back up to 24p for a film-out or DCP.

People use 23.976 and 24p interchangeably though. So you might need clarification at times as to what someone really needs or is using.

The other catch is that your timeline will also not reflect time properly. If you think your film is 1-hour at 23.976 it's actually longer because you are playing your film slower than the 24 frame timecode. This is why drop-frame exists in SD. Timecode numbers are skipped at regular intervals so that the timecode stays accurate to length.

What is the difference? When a NLE system reads 24 fps does it mean 23.976? Or vise versa? Do I need a crystal synch motor to do both 24fps and 23.976? Is one or the other best for the 2:3 pull down or something like that? Help, please I'm about to pick the speeds to order on my crystal synch motor.

Thanks

Yeah. It's totally for the true authentic film look. The stills are going to be shot Film Noir style so I want to use good old fashioned film. I'd use film on everything if I had the budget. Maybe one day.

Thanks everyone.

That Nikon scanner is arguably the best scanner out there for 35mm still, with out spending 10k. The Canon FS4000 and Vuescan is a great combo, it is what I use. Why anyone would shoot 35mm film is for look. I shot and still shoot with a DSLR for people, but when I show them what I can do with say Portra 160 or 400 or Fuji 160 or 400, the opinion is unanimous. It can be a hassle with all the work involved, that is why for the volume stated, having the lab do it could be the way to go. 14 rolls of film won't break the bank for P&T. You could get it all processed and put on CD for review for under 100 and then scan selects as needed.

It looks like I can rent this scanner: Nikon Super CoolScan 9000 ED Film Scanner. I'll give that a try.

Thanks.

We actually haven't shot the stills yet and I wanted to shoot with negative to have the extra latitude but maybe I'll shoot some tests with reversal film as well and do some test scans to see how they come out.

At that volume, it might be a better idea to buy a dedicated film scanner. I picked up a canon FS4000u for 300 bucks on ebay. Not quite as good as a newer Nikon, but not a bad scanner at all. It suits my needs nicely. Here are some on ebay. not a fast scanner, so if speed is of the essence, you may need to look else where. If you can swing a few more buck, definitely go for a newer Nikon Coolscan, like the 4000 for 9000. Drum scanning that much could get quite costly. You probably would get a deal, it is just that drum scanning needs to be baby sat a bit, so labor costs. Difference between flatbed and drum, is pretty much night and day. I am assuming you are scanning off of negative film, not prints. In either case, the drum scan can scan at a much higher resolution and can has a much higher dynamic range. Some flatbeds can do rather well with printed material and also do an acceptable job with slide film, but negative film can be a bit trickier. This is because the imager in a flat bed is designed to see positive material. Here is a link to a virtual drum scanner, not quite sure what that means, but the listing gives you the specs of what a drum scanner can do.

What is the big difference between a drum scanner and a flatbed scanner?

I need to scan about 400-500 still images. I was looking at Duggal in NY but Yelp does not have a lot of good reviews of their work.

I'm looking at flatbed scanners that can scan at a 48-bit depth. Does anyone use a particular flatbed scanner for film work?