so.. I've imported the footage into Final Cut Pro (then sent it to compressor, to switch it from interlaced to progressive) Edited the film.. and now... what's the best way to export it to be viewed by others?

Get an HD-DVD burner; and burn it to disks?
Put it back on a miniDV tape - and take it to friends/family houses to show that way?
Post it on the web (on a site like vimeo that lets you upload in 720p)
??

any suggestions?

any of you guys ever submit footage to film festivals? Do you know the formats they usually accept? (previously I had always used SD, and would send footage via regular-old-DVD)

any thoughts - or - if you can direct me to a thread in the forum where this has already been covered - would be much appreciated

i like to output a high rez prores or other "lossless" codec for archival purposes, but it depends on the kind of projects and available space. with a HQ master you can then transcode to whatever format best works. a year or so ago when i was helping submit a film to festivals, quite a few had an hd-cam option. i've also seen other festivals that will accept .avi/.mpg as well.

I also like .mac's web gallery, it's got multiple options of quality with the highest being almost HD

click on the large button at the bottom of the player
http://gallery.mac.com/aatawm#100070

I wouldn't export to HD-DVD's or Bluray, because not that many people have the means to play them...unless you do.

All festivals are different...in my experience, I sent in DVD's with festival applications, but most will take VHS or mini DV as well.

If you get in, you can send them a better quality tape for screening, like DVCAM, DigiBetacam or I'm sure HDV in some cases.

thanks! that helps...

i hadn't even thought of sending in a SD DVD to start with - and then a "higher quality" if accepted.

yeah all the festivals I've submitted to want either a DVD screener or mini dv, and some even have an uploader to submit mpgs (although that was mostly for ad fests/competitions) and in the submission they want you to specify what your master will be (film 35/16, hdcam, dv etc)

Not sure if you've seen it but http://withoutabox.com is a really good resource and I've blanked on the site that you can upload and they'll keep a copy to submit to multiple festivals only uploading once ... EDIT: http://beam.tv is the archival/distribution site that fests like Cannes lions like to use