Projecting DV

[RicFic]

I'm looking to project footage shot from a DVX100a on a theater screen. We have not yet shot the footage and before we go into production I have a few questions.

First off, the footage will be projected from tape, not transfered to film.

Wondering about a few things:

1.) We are using the dvx100a in 24p mode to try and emulate film. Any special lighting requirements I might want to be aware of? Should we slant the lighting towards less contrast or more?

2.) Any special scene, pedastal, or knee settings I might want to do to tweak the camera for projection on a screen?

3.) Does it make sense to project it from DV or will it be better to up rez it to BetacamSP or Digibeta?

Thanks for any advice. I love this forum.

Rich

 

[Petrus]

3) the picture quality will not get any better if you transfer it to Digibeta, and will slightly get worse on BetacamSP (in theory at least). If the projection is going to happen several times or even continuously, then Digibeta would be more robust medium to have the video on with no quality drop. Less droputs, heavy duty tape drives etc.

Projection is the "norm" for film, so if you try to emulate "film look", the cine look settings are a good starting point, might even work fine as they are.

 

[Need2Paint]

Shoot in squeeze mode or use an anamorphic adapter. You don't want black bars on the top and bottom of a theatre screen.

Most video projectors I've seen are HD native. SD footage on these doesn't look as good as it would on a regular TV, so proper lighting is very important. Do everything you can to avoid turning up the gain.

Noise issues are more important when playing SD footage thru HD equipment, so I suggest following the 'Low Noise' settings recommended on this board:

Cine Gamma (not Cine V or Cine D)
Normal Matrix
85B filter during daylight shots
Master Pedestal at -6

Also:
Sharpness -3 (highest sharpness level without artifacts)
VDF Thin (for more resolution)
Shoot 24 advanced. Most newer projectors will remove the pulldown.

Also, if you're planning on using any diffusion filters, add them in post rather than as a filter on the lens. Adding diffusion in post has the side-effect of diffusing the noise and making it less noticeable.

Hope that helps.