March 9, 2000

march 9, 2000march 9, 2000 transferring from dv to film by james monohan the first thing the digital filmmaker must consider when deciding whether or not to transfer video footage to actual film is the potentially painful price tag. at the well-known swiss effects tape-to-film transfer house, located in switzerland, a 10 minute transfer of pal video to 35mm will cost $5,216. at filmteam, a similar establishment located in austin, texas, ten minutes to 35mm goes for $3,750. at efilm located in los angeles, ten minutes with sound will cost $17,500 (the high cost being attributed to efilm's deserved reputation for excellence in quality). thus, for a 90-minute feature, one is looking at over $30,000 dollars for a transfer to 35mm. if these costs are not enough to dissuade the filmmaker from going ahead with a transfer, then the next issues to consider are technical in nature and center around one question: how does one plan and execute video production for an optimal transfer to film? here are some tips: choosing a format one of the most frequently heard tips related to shooting for film is to shoot on pal video, which has 25 fps, closer to film's typical 24fps than ntsc's 30fps. a better quality will result with pal. the choice of video format on which to shoot has a huge impact on the final product as well. on swiss effects' "good, better, best" list, formats like dv and betasp are on the "better" list, while d1, digi beta and dvc-pro 50 are on the "best" list. shooting the footage digital cameras offer many options that affect the captured video image during production. swiss effects give specific recommendations for video camera alignment. 1. lower the detail setting. 2. switch on the dcc (dynamic contrast control). 3. the shutter speed should not be faster than 1/60. 4. switch off the digital zoom. 5. don't use the electronic picture stabilizer. another tip related to camera technique is to avoid fast camera movement when the subject is stationary or moving in the opposite direction. according to david hays at efilm, "when the frame is moved quickly or someone moves quickly within the frame, movement is picked up between the video's interlaced fields. when video is transferred back to 24fps, some field information is taken out, resulting in a strobing effect rather than a smooth motion." additionally, when the speed of a shot is intended to be manipulated, either slowed down or sped up, these changes optimally should be accomplished in-camera during production or during the actual film-to-tape transfer. otherwise, speed changes as typically accomplished in video will create field-based artifacts which will be apparent in the transfer to film. editing your project according to efilm, "telecine transfer, all edits, as well as dissolves and composites should be complete at first-field dominance." this advice helps one to avoid flicker and is especially important for people who originally shoot on film

and are completing effects work digitally; however, it also applies to those who shoot on video. first-field dominance is also known as odd- or upper-field dominance. in ntsc video, for example, the frame is composed of 60 interlaced fields that result in 30fps. the first field is the first upper/odd field, and the next field is the first lower/even field. in addition, transfer houses advise that, when creating an ntsc spot exclusively for cinema release, the piece should be edited on whole frames to avoid adding a 3:2 pull down. however, it is important to realize that the material will appear sped up when viewed at 30fps. (pal doesn't have this problem, since it is 25fps.) creating titles a spokesperson for swiss effects said, "moving titles, especially rolling titles, are in most cases not suitable for transfer to film and should be made on film." david hays at efilm agreed that, "rolling titles created in the video realm are updated on a field-by-field basis. in effect, a full image is not available at all times. hence, if rolling credits have to be created in video, it is more labor intensive, and the credits must be created on a frame-by-frame basis." efilm also cautioned that titles created on video should avoid saturated colors with fine edges, since video does not support the resolution of film in the color area. knowing your aspect ratio a digital filmmaker must decide whether to shoot video with a standard 4:3 aspect ratio or an hd 16:9 ratio. then the film aspect ratio must be determined, the common options being either 1:1.66 (european standard) or 1:1.85 (american standard). if the video were shot at a 4:3 ratio, then transferring to a 1:1.66 film format would require either cutting out a portion of the top and bottom of the frame or curtaining off the right and left of the screen without losing any of the image. if the movie were shot at a 16:9 ratio, then a transfer to 1:1.66 would entail that the right and left portions of the frame would be cut out. if a 16:9 video is transferred to 1:1.85, then either the top and bottom portions of the frame will be cut off, or the right and left portions will have to be curtained off without losing any of the image. the future as time goes on, the cost of video to film transfers will decrease, and the technology will become cheaper and more advanced. according david hays at efilm, "the programs that do interpolation from 30 to 24fps are getting more sophisticated, such as efilm's proprietary technology." shooting video for film will become increasingly common. presently, two high-profile filmmakers are finishing up digital projects. spike lee shot "bamboozled" with multiple sony vx 1000s and mike figgis shot "time code 2000" with four minidv cameras. the following is a list of prominent tape to film transfer facilities: cineric contact: bob freeman 212-586-4822 colour film services contact: john ward duart film and video

contact: domenic rom 212-757-4580 x690 efilm: electron filmworks contact: carrie holececk 323-efilm.com film craft lab contact: dominic troia 248-474-3900 filmteam contact: drew meyer-oakes 310-362-8616 four media company contact: beverly brooks 818-840-7144 soho digital films contact: russ robertson 888-764-6344 sony high definition contact: alexandra anderson 310-244-7434 ringer video services contact: gail ringer 818-954-8621 lukkien digital studios contact: marco fredriksen telephone +31-318-698000 fax +31-318-698099 swiss effects contact: jerry poynton 212-727-3695 (new york) +41 1 307 10 10 (zurich) � copyright 2002, 8mmfilmstock. com, p.o. box 480311, hollywood, ca 90048 888-921-6111