DV to 35mm transfer

[Bankim Jain]

Hi,

I wish to make a comecial feature film with Panasonic AgDV200 DV based camcorder with 800+ TVL resolution later to be transfered on to film with the best available laser recorders. How good the quality be for the finl theatrical release !

Pls guide me cox i have Unit, Script, Artist etc ready to roll !

[Don Berube]

Hello Bankim,

Do you have an experienced DP? And who is going to light your project?

Do you have a budget too? If so, how much have you alotted for post production? How many pages is the script?

Don't forget the Golden Rule of DV: If it's being recorded in DV, it has no more than 530 lines or resolution. Regardless of what the resolution output of the camera block is... It's being recorded to tape and output via FireWire with no more than 530 TVL. Now, if that camera had SDI I/O, we could perhaps debate that. However, it's a DV camcorder with FireWire I/O. A pretty decent camcorder too, with 1/2 CCD's and 530 TVL.

Has your Producer or DP ever seen a project through to final film out? Who's editing this?

By the way, did you mean "commercial"? or "comical"?

Best regards,

- don

[Frank Granovski]

How good the quality be for the finl theatrical release!

This depends on the quality and the content.

[Bankim Jain]

Dear Don,

Do you have an experienced DP? And who is going to light your project?

ANS : I am myself going to be the Lighting Cameraman.

Do you have a budget too? If so, how much have you alotted for post production? How many pages is the script?

ANS : I own RTX100 NLE which i plan to use for my edits.

Has your Producer or DP ever seen a project through to final film out? Who's editing this?

ANS : Nope we havent seen any DV to FILM 35mm transfer ie, we post this on this forum to learn any experiance from te people who hve treied this before. I M going to be the editor.

By the way, did you mean "commercial"? or "comical"?

ANS : Comercial...Sorry 4 the typing error...

But i still fail to understnd about the resultant quality from DV to 35mm later to be shown in theatre...

[Nick Jushchyshyn]

There seem to be a lot of your answers available on DVfilm.com

It's a commercial site that sells DV->Film services, but there's a really nice FAQ section on this page.
(Looks like a feature-length projects run for $20,000 and up for 35mm)

It sounds like this might be your first feature project. If so, a great book to read is Independent Feature Film Production : A Complete Guide from Concept Through Distribution by Gregory Goodell. Make sure you get the Second Edition, (not the first). The second edition has additional information on DV, digital editing, telecine, etc.

Have fun.

[Kevin Lee]

if i remember correctly, 2 DV films won best cinematography this year and last year at sundance. If that means anything to you.

[Bill Pryor]

The best thing to do is talk to the lab you plan to use for your transfer before you do anything. You can shoot a test and have transferred for a few hundred bucks, and I believe most of them will apply that money to your real transfer when you do it, although it's only a miniscule amount compared to the final cost.

Res Magazine used to have a listing of films shot in video and transferred to film. Off the top of my head I can think of "The Anniversary Party," (shot with DSR500), "The King Is Alive," (shot with PD150), "Chuck & Buck," (shot with VX1000), Hal Hartley's "The End of Days," (VX1000, with some very nice shutter blur effects), and "The Fast Runner" (Digital Betacam). There are lots of others. Most of the Dogme95 films have been shot in video. I don't know of any one that has been shot with a 1/2" chip camera. Most seem to be either the 1/3" chip ones or higher end 2/3" chippers.

Overall, it's not the camera you use as much as how you use it. Composition and lighting are the two biggest things that determine the final look. What looks good to you on your monitor when you edit may not be what transfers best to film, which is why all the labw recommend that you do a test before you shoot. Back in the days when I shot 16mm I would never have done a shoot with a new film stock without shooting a test roll first, and I would never go from video to film either without a test.

[Don Berube]

>>>>>>ANS : I own RTX100 NLE which i plan to use for my edits.

Bankim,

Just an example: plan on spending around $500/ minute for your film out. That's if everything runs smoothly and you are happy with your first answer print... Now, assuming that your script follows standard formatting convention, timewise a script typically translates into 1 page = 1 minute. *Feature-length* films usually end up at somewhere around 90 pages *minimum*.

Now, I'm not trying to dissuade you from moving forward nor am I trying to focus on the negatives here,,, but it's important to realize that producing a film well includes properly sussing out all of the details, including every little step of post-production in order to make the Director's vision is transformed into a reality. Sometimes, a Producer and Director for a feature-length film may spend months, sometimes 8 months or more even, just on PRE-production. It usually takes longer for inependents due to smaller budgets and workflows which have yet to be established.

For instance, you state that you own an RTX100 NLE,,, will you have the ability to edit at least 4:2:2 uncompressed and output a group of pictures to the film lab which will hold up flawlessly on a big screen? Or will you have to end up living with compromises in the filmout image due to too insufficient planning?

As Bill points out, plan on doing some test film outs until you are content with the look. Make sure that you budget for this step. The funny thing about film outs is that, even though this is now the year 2004,,, each film lab literally seems to have their own unique workflow established. You'd think that in this day and age, the workflow for a DV filmout would be standardized? Well, oddly enough, the reality is that if you find 30 different film labs, you will literally be looking at 30 different workflows. Take the time to establish a relationship with the film lab which caters to you the most for your own particular project needs. Beware, most film outs go through at least two answer prints before the Director and Producer are content enough with the look and color correction to "sign off" on the film out.

Certainly, there have been scores of notable films which were acquisitioned on DV, many of which have won awards and many of which are very hard to tell that they were not acquisitioned on film. These films had thoroughly thought out budgets, producers who were able to asssemble a *complete* crew and seasoned DP's and Lighting personnel. The majority of them were also edited and output UNcompressed, rather than staying within the tiny and limiting DV Codec. For most of these films, I would contend that not a single frame of DV was captured until they had everything sussed out, including but not limited to: a script, storyboards, experienced Directors and AD's who knew how to create an efficient shot list and shooting schedule and how to convey that to the crew, a complete budget that defined the entire post-production workflow all the way to distribution, experienced key personnel, distribution management, etc, etc.

Now perhaps you may see why filmmakers call making a film a "lifestyle"... because once you get a project started, it takes over your life completely in every sense of the word, until the production is finished. And, most committed filmmakers will tell you that "it aint over until it's over..." It's a great lifestyle though!

Being prepared and persistence is key. You simply just cannot be "too prepared" when it comes to *producing* a film. I'm sure that you have the resources within you to make your film dreams a reality.

Best of luck,

- don

[Bankim Jain]

Hi All, Thanks for your time to guie me thru the process. Yes indeed its gonna be my first hand on commercial cinema as i have been into docu drams, ad films, corporate videos. I own my own pre & post production studio which shall enable me to save a good load of money to be sent on other suff in m production.

You can also check this link out to see my rig.

www.freewebs.com/ctv/my_setup.htm

Thanks !

[Don Berube]

Very nice setup Bankim!

Your camera rig looks almost identical to the rig we used as a prop for the FireStore FS-3 DVD. Although our FS-3 had a decal with the TV station call letters "KDTE" on it.

Tell us about "Coverage TV" - what is it like? You must enjoy it, yes?

Very cool pad you have there!

Do keep in touch,

- don

[Bankim Jain]

Hi Don, Thanks for viewing my rig. Well your site tells qute a lot of your work. It is ver impressive and nice to know more on you. I am 29 years of age with my career starting sinc 1988 since my childhood. I ot the feel of camera when i was in class four thru my father who himself is a Cameraperson and runs his company. I founded my compny Coverage TV in 1993, prior to this i started working as cameraman/assistant for my father from 1988. Grauated to a video editor o liear editing suites we had in our studio.

My company now has the rig you already saw, with cameraman & editors in it staff apart from me (as a Diretor/cameraman/Non Linear & Linear Editor/Script writer). We are into the production of Doumentaries for quite a few overseas client on Indian Subjects like lifestyle, food, people etc. We also make videos for companies like Canon, Motorolla, Hero Group, Pearl Group etc.

I really like this forum cox it makes us feel like a big family spred all over the globe. I log on to this orum almost every day if i an not on shoot. This gives me a feeling of sitting in a big large board room filled with noble laureautes sharing each others views on diverse subjects. One cn surely learn and teach lot thru uch forums.,... KUDOS !