Framing HD for 2K delivery

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Shizopolis

Member
I'm shooting in HD, but material will be converted to 2K for cinema.
When shooting I should keep in mind that the image will be croped from top and bottom? Is it possible in postproduction to crop image only from bottom or only from top etc. each shot separately?
 
Shizopolis said:
I'm shooting in HD, but material will be converted to 2K for cinema.
When shooting I should keep in mind that the image will be croped from top and bottom? Is it possible in postproduction to crop image only from bottom or only from top etc. each shot separately?
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yea, i have re-framed entire features shot-by-shot , recently did a film shot of 2.35 and pan-n-scan'd it to 4x3 for a deliverable that the distb insisted upon (hint; bring cash, lots of cash)

but the diffrence between 2048x1080 (DCi2K @1.85:1) and 1920x1080 (HD @ 1.78:1) is not a huge deal either, i would suggest using common top and putting a marker on your viewfinder 50 lines from the bottom, and then protect the bottom 1.78:1 area for broadcast deliverables

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yes you can use 1.78 for DCDM, but the question was about 2K… i often see delivery spec's that call for 2048x1080 @24 master, a 1920x1080@23.98 master and a 1440x1080@59i master, all three must be delivered and pass a 100% QC before the producer see's a cheque from the distb.

So end game is if the deliverables contract calls for a 2048x1080@24 DCDM, the distb will not accept a 1920x1080 master

other things to consider is that older projectors have a range of formats that is limited sub-set of the DCi spec's, so most distb's insist upon DCDM's that will run on older projectors, and will not accept many formats that are valid in the Dci spec list (yes HD@1.85 / 1998x1080, i'm looking at you)

Scaleing can pretty much invisible with the right tools, but the right tools are often (but not always) the expensive tools, so where i can be confident that i can scale HD to DCi2k using Nucoda Filmmaster feeding a Christie projector on a 16' screen, i also would not be anywhere near as confident using say Resolve feeding a 24" Flanders lcd...
 
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Dermot said:
So end game is if the deliverables contract calls for a 2048x1080@24 DCDM, the distb will not accept a 1920x1080 master
Click to expand...
Very few films are shot in that format (since very few cameras have imagers that are that resolution), and very few films are released in that format.

If you go to your local cinema, you'll notice that most studio films are either 1:1.85 (1998x1080) or 1:2.4 (2048x853). Documentaries, indies, etc are often released at 1920x1080 for theatrical because they were shot that way.

The DCP encoder pads the rest of the frame out with black. Technically, the frame IS 2048x1080, but the "active" part is smaller, as per the DCI spec, because the DCI spec was written by a consortium of film studios who were used to releasing films in 1:1.85 and 1:2.4 aspect ratios. If it wasn't acceptable, then very few studio films would pass QC.

BTW, the same thing is often done when films are adapted for Blu Ray or streaming. They may be scaled and letterboxed to maintain the 1:1.85, 1:2.4, 1:2.35, etc aspect ratio within a 1920x1080 frame.

If you have questions, speak to your distributor or the QC house.
 
well, i guess it really depends upon your deliverables contract, but the original Q was how to frame… and re-frame in post… i see the least hassle in post by using a common top and then protecting the bottom if you want to do an unscaled 1.78

But as i mentioned earlier, yes it can be done shot-by-shot, i would advise to allow a few days for that process if it was the worst case of 2.35 OAR being reframed into a 1.33 deliverable master that has to pass 100% QC

the real choices i see are;
1) ask for a revised deliverable list (good luck on that one)
2) finish @ HD and then scale the master for DCDM
3) finish @ 2K and then crop the edges for the 1.78 delivery

I look at option 3 as my starting point, but everyone's post workflow is different.

the vast majority of films i have finshed/graded in the last few years have been shot on Epic, Alexa or F55, all higher raster size than 2048x1080, so all scaled down, i count 2 doco's on HD camera's with limited theatrical release, and those we created the DCDM at HD, and 1 feature shot on a HD camera that i scaled up as the distb insisted on 2K.

Of the deliverables contracts i have in hand of the projects alive today (currently 3 features and 2 MoW's) all three features call for 2048x1080 DCDM specifically in their contract, zero wiggle room on that front… the two MoW's that i'm working on have a DCDM spec'd at 1920x1080

If the OP has a contract that spec's 2048x1080 then there is zero chance that a 1998x1080 master will even get QC'd, they will stop before they waste the producer's money and wait for either a revised delivery spec -or- a master that matches the delivery spec...

So it really goes back to how to best protect the 1.78 master and how to scale the frame to match the delivery spec

No real issues scaling 1920x1080 up to fit 2048 tho given the right tools, i have never seen a QC note on the HD second unit shots i have scaled to fit a 2048 master that has 98% 5K Epic on the timeline, given a great HD camera in the first place

Loads of rejections on Canon 5D/7D sourced shots, like a 100% failure rate from numerous QC houses, but never an issue from a f3 for example



d
 
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