Shooter
Veteran
Maybe this could be posted elsewhere but I thought I would share anyway.
Client wanted TV commercial I had shot on DVX102a ( PAL 25fps) to go to cinema release. (Yikes I thought )
Had to be 1: 1.185 aspect ( yikes again !!!) and add a graphic scene.
Normally this would be - supply digibeta of TVC to the Lab and they would "kine digitise" it and output via Arri Film Scanner.
I had edited and post produced this TVC in PremPro on my desk top so I had all the media and I also knew the graphics would fall out of the cinema frame.
Boldly, I decided I would sort it all out from my own desktop despite a deadline rushing up rapidly. So here goes:
I fixed the graphics in PremPro to fit the new aspect and removed a couple that were to be irelevant on the cinema release.
Lab wanted sequential tiff files of all frames with Aspect W 1828 x H 988.
I created After effects Comp to those pixel dimensions.
Dragged in original TVC (720 x 576 PAL) and scaled it edge to edge ( Scaling 254% which I think means 154% up scale) Obviously losing head and foot room in the frame. ( I could adjust this very easily if I wanted to at this point but did not need to)
My original After effects sequence in the TVC did not handle the scaling although the DVX images did ( weird but true and noticeable)... so I rebuilt that AE sequence as a new COMP 1828 x 988 and cut it in to replace original.
Added black head and tail and the new graphic from a photoshop tiff (already at the 1828 x 988 dimension plus bleed). NB: This file gave me an excellent reference when I saw the final print because it had known detail and colour and fixed rez.
I then Out put the whole 40 second Comp sequence to Seq. tiff files ( Each frame was 5.4mb) and I put the files onto two DVDs ( Wouldnt quite fit one DVD)
Out put Audio as OMF and sent to Dolby Audio Post House for encoding etc
Lab loaded tiff files and output to Neg from which 50 prints were made
Lab made Digital audio neg etc from encoded files
RESULT ( which I saw today) amazing
I had expected some evidence of pixel shape and there was none.
Colour was excellent
Sharpness was more than satisfactory. (Slightest loss but just apparent and I felt if I had sat back further fro the screen it would have benn no issue)
Contrast was faithfull to original except in the knee area. Highlights , Mids and blacks were great. (LAb said the Film Scanner may need a tweak in the "lookup" table to control the knee as other clients had noticed it in their outputs)
Dolby Surround Sound was clean and fantastic.
My colleague a film maker / still photographer / DVX owner was as impressed as I was.
Conclussion:
Amazing what one can achieve from the desktop and it opens up incredible possibilities. After Effects did an amazing job of the recomp and up rezzing and this was key to my success. I have no idea how the lab would have done this part of the process but doubt that they would have got a better result. ( They were very sceptical when I said I would supply the seq. tiff files).
The up rezzing was simple and cheap and fast.
Happy to answer any questions on this experience.
Client wanted TV commercial I had shot on DVX102a ( PAL 25fps) to go to cinema release. (Yikes I thought )
Had to be 1: 1.185 aspect ( yikes again !!!) and add a graphic scene.
Normally this would be - supply digibeta of TVC to the Lab and they would "kine digitise" it and output via Arri Film Scanner.
I had edited and post produced this TVC in PremPro on my desk top so I had all the media and I also knew the graphics would fall out of the cinema frame.
Boldly, I decided I would sort it all out from my own desktop despite a deadline rushing up rapidly. So here goes:
I fixed the graphics in PremPro to fit the new aspect and removed a couple that were to be irelevant on the cinema release.
Lab wanted sequential tiff files of all frames with Aspect W 1828 x H 988.
I created After effects Comp to those pixel dimensions.
Dragged in original TVC (720 x 576 PAL) and scaled it edge to edge ( Scaling 254% which I think means 154% up scale) Obviously losing head and foot room in the frame. ( I could adjust this very easily if I wanted to at this point but did not need to)
My original After effects sequence in the TVC did not handle the scaling although the DVX images did ( weird but true and noticeable)... so I rebuilt that AE sequence as a new COMP 1828 x 988 and cut it in to replace original.
Added black head and tail and the new graphic from a photoshop tiff (already at the 1828 x 988 dimension plus bleed). NB: This file gave me an excellent reference when I saw the final print because it had known detail and colour and fixed rez.
I then Out put the whole 40 second Comp sequence to Seq. tiff files ( Each frame was 5.4mb) and I put the files onto two DVDs ( Wouldnt quite fit one DVD)
Out put Audio as OMF and sent to Dolby Audio Post House for encoding etc
Lab loaded tiff files and output to Neg from which 50 prints were made
Lab made Digital audio neg etc from encoded files
RESULT ( which I saw today) amazing
I had expected some evidence of pixel shape and there was none.
Colour was excellent
Sharpness was more than satisfactory. (Slightest loss but just apparent and I felt if I had sat back further fro the screen it would have benn no issue)
Contrast was faithfull to original except in the knee area. Highlights , Mids and blacks were great. (LAb said the Film Scanner may need a tweak in the "lookup" table to control the knee as other clients had noticed it in their outputs)
Dolby Surround Sound was clean and fantastic.
My colleague a film maker / still photographer / DVX owner was as impressed as I was.
Conclussion:
Amazing what one can achieve from the desktop and it opens up incredible possibilities. After Effects did an amazing job of the recomp and up rezzing and this was key to my success. I have no idea how the lab would have done this part of the process but doubt that they would have got a better result. ( They were very sceptical when I said I would supply the seq. tiff files).
The up rezzing was simple and cheap and fast.
Happy to answer any questions on this experience.