Film screening shows darker than actual footage??

[SightfulProd]

Last friday we had our first screening of our Digital dance pieces. We all shot our projects with the AF-100. I expected it to be dark and sure enough it was. I don't know much about editing so please chime in for those who are experienced. We use AVID Media Composer 6 at our university and our editors edit native .M2TS files. Now I am wondering where the error lies that is causing our screenings to look darker than it's supposed to be. I saw the same issue with the Canon DSLRS on a 48hour competition.

Is it in the ingestion stage where colour space settings are chosen that effect it? Or in the export settings? The way the player reads the colour space? I am sort of confused as there is so many possible points of cause, that it's hard to track where.

 

[arniepix]

If you're viewing your edit on a calibrated production monitor via a qualified capture card, this should not happen.

You are using a qualified capture card & a calibrated production monitor?

 

[David Jimerson]

Maybe the projection is just lousy.

 

[Jordan Scott Price]

Lots of variables here: how the footage was shot; how it was graded; what monitoring setup you use when grading; the exhibition format; and the projector.

If you are grading on a calibrated monitor, blacks should be black and whites should be white, and colors should look right. Always, always do a tech check before you screen something. Meet the projectionist and adjust the projector settings to your liking.

If you are finding that your product is always too dark, try not to be so aggressive with the grades (but, of course, it could also be how it's shot.) Lots of variables here. You can always check the apparent darkness of your video by looking at your waveform and histogram. Anything under 20 IRE will likely drop to near black or total black on a (good) projector.

You also want to make sure the projector is not on some goofy setting. Most projectors come with some default presets. Switch it to Auto or None or Basic or something and adjust from there. That will help you get your blacks and whites to look right, then you can adjust green/magenta and color temp balance from there. But, like I said, if this is a common problem at different screening venues, check the video. It may be too dark to begin with.