Finish in 4k or HD?

egproductions

egproductions

Veteran
I'll be screening something at Lincoln Center. They have 4K projectors. Normally I shoot in 4K, finish in HD, and punch in and out as needed. Most of the filming has already been done. With that in mind, Should I finish in HD or Finish in 4K (which would require some upscaling of a bunch of shots.)

My feeling is that I should just finish in HD. My logic is that for most viewers the screen might not be big enough to really benefit from 4K anyway. And for those that are sitting close enough, it might be better to have everything at a consistent sharpness rather than some shots looking super sharp (truly 4K) and some slightly less (cropped and upscaled 4K)

Thoughts?
 
I was going to say I agree, finish in HD, but then I don't know the significance of what you could be giving up in 4k detail for the FF shots and their prevalence. You have to make the decision and own it.
 
Are you editing on a HD or 4K timeline?

This is important to know because many people punch-in and out on their 4K material in a HD timeline but don't realize they are throwing away their extra pixels.

I'm assuming you are not if you're talking about a real 4K master.

If you are indeed editing on a 4K timeline and just zooming-in (punching-in) past 100% on certain clips (4K has much more flexibility than HD) - which I actually have been doing for years even though it's frowned upon - then that would make more sense.

And in that case I would evaluate how noticeable the differences are:

If everything is 4K and only a few shots are punched-in (on a 4K timeline) then I would master in 4K.

If it's 50-50 and there are lots of variations, HD is probably best to be safe. You want to avoid providing a minor jarring experience.
 
I would finish in 4k, but just because of marketing: people like to see "4k" written somewhere, but unless I'm two feet away from my 4k 43" screen I can't see the difference between 4k and 1080p. You shot 4k so I don't think it's cheating, even if you're blowing up some shots for reframing (unless that's more than half the shots and you're going 175% on them, which I doubt is the case).
 
Projector might be key here. Do you need to generate a DCP for this project? If so I would probably finish in a 2k standard so that making the DCP would be easier. Still allows for a punch in.

But assuming this is something worth saving, finishing in 4k might be a good idea.
 
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