Super 16mm Telecine

I am embarking a new project that will be shot on super 16mm. Our plan is to do a simul transfer to Digi Beta (clean) and DV Cam with burn ins. I am going to offline the project from the DV Cam tapes, spit out my neg cut lists and chase cassettes or DVDs and then online the digibetas.

Is there any kind of problem I may expect in this work flow?
Should we telecine everything letterboxed or 1.66 squeezed?
Unfortunately we can't afford to telecine twice so both the tapes must be the same aspect ratio, only the DV Cam will have burn-ins.

Thanks.

I'm wondering, since your plan is to finish on film, why do you need two sets of tape transfers? It would seem to make sense to me to either do a letterboxed version to DigiBeta with burn-ins outside the picture area (so you can mask them out later if you need), or just go straight to DVCam if you only have DV-ready equipment. If you transfer to DigiBeta, you can also just capture at DV quality if storage space is an issue.


www.derekmok.com

It's not my project, I am the editor, yes but they require multiple formats for the festival circuit. I believe their plan is to online and submit, then depending upon funds available and interest, cut negative or cut negative at a later date for archival purposes.

That last part makes sense, the dual tape formats still doesn't sound quite right to me.

If they want, say, a DVD, a DigiBeta, a DVCam tape and the possibility of negative cut later, all those can be done by doing a best-light transfer to DigiBeta. I still don't quite get why you need the DVCam tapes in the equation. Is it because you won't have access to an I/O box or a DigiBeta deck?


www.derekmok.com

Hence my original question. My producers do not want any kind of burn-in on our master dailies. They would prefer to online from a completely clean source.

Makes sense to me. That is how it is done. Clean telecine to digibeta, dub to or simultaneous telecine to DVCAM tapes with burned in TC, possible keycode and audio TC info also burned in. Offline with the DVCAM tapes (no capture card required), online the digibetas and color correct. Spit out a negative cut list for POSSIBLE film print at a later date.

Normal workflow in my experience.


www.shanerosseditor.com

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Thanks Shane.

And I am assuming but I would think that the anamorphic (squeezed) image would be best?

Letterboxed DVCAM would be better. This way you have a place to put the TC information that doesn't interfere with the picture (that you can crop out if you want to)...and when you make dubs or do outputs...or MONITOR your footage on a TV or Monitor, you won't require a 16:9 button to see it not squeezed.


www.shanerosseditor.com

Listen to THE EDIT BAY Podcast on iTunes
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I agree with you there. I have a ws monitor though so that won't be a problem. I also just looked it up and it seems that 1.66 works out to be 15:9. Since I am also onlining the final, I'm hoping 8 bit uncompressed is good enough or I'll have to rent a scsi array, and a 2 pass telecine is out of the $$ question. Do you think we should just letterbox the digi betas as well?

That is something I was pondering. It depends on your method of delivery...but if you intend to use the digibetas to show the movie at festivals...yeah, I think you need to letterbox them.

But please let others chime in...I don't want to be the only voice here...cause I work in TV, not film. I have worked WITH film...but for TV delivery...not film festivals or film release.


www.shanerosseditor.com

Listen to THE EDIT BAY Podcast on iTunes
[itunes.apple.com]

I used this workflow just recently and it was all fine. A couple of notes...

Make sure you go to DVCAM and not mini-dv, since mini dv won't give you accurate timecode.

We letterboxed and burnt in the TC (etc) info in the letterboxed area. For screeners I was able to crop this off really easily. It worked well, except my Director keeps asking me what format the picture is in, (4:3 right now) and why isn't it 16:9 (it will be, when we uprez) since it was shot on film. More confusing to explain than to work with.

If possible, get the TK crew to do the sync for you. We did this and it saved a ton of time. I have heard that some places are more accurate than others, but the guys who did our job (in Melbourne) were pretty spot on.

Also, if you get them to send you an ALE or Flex you can save another ton of time, since all the hard logging work has already been done, and all you need to do is import it. There's a quick FAQ on this here : Importing flex or ALE files

We did DVCAM bestlight and Digibeta. The cut has all been done DVCAM on a G4 dual 800 via firewire. I've even done a lot of the grading on this set-up, although there's quite a bit of banding because the colour work is pretty extreme and the DVCAM can't handle it. I figure I'll tweak it all on the digibeta version once it comes back from sweetening and composing.

if you can i'd go Anamorphic on the Digibetas, for quality.

festivals can cope with anamorphic,
and if they cant you can strike a letterboxed version just for them

Letterboxed on the DVCAM with burn-ins in the letterbox ,as everyone else is suggesting


nick