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  • Preparing movie for DCP

    Posted by Robert Gilbert on October 20, 2024 at 12:58 am

    Peace to all

    I’d be happy to hear from those who know, how to do a quality control viewing of my movie before making a DCP for theatrical projection. Should I view it on a big screen tv? Directly from Premiere, or as a Pro res 4444 export? It seems like everything should be already tweaked before you make the DCP, right?

    Thanks

    Robert Gilbert replied 2 weeks, 6 days ago 3 Members · 8 Replies
  • 8 Replies
  • Devrim Akteke

    October 20, 2024 at 3:40 am

    Hi,

    As far as I know, there is no way to do quality control for DCP at home. You can watch the export in the best condition you create to ensure everything is correct, but for DCP QC, the only place you can do the QC is a real movie theater. As you said, before making a DCP, it is better to watch the export you will deliver to DCP makers to ensure the copy you are delivering is correct. But of course, before you watch the export, you have to be sure everything is correct like color values and audio inside the editing software.

  • Tod Hopkins

    October 21, 2024 at 1:21 pm

    Mastering and QC for DCP is not significantly different from any high-quality master. You can take a broadcast master directly to DCP though that would not be ideal. Theatrical projection is more forgiving than broadcast from a technical point of view, and less standardized, assuming you are not creating a feature for Dolby or IMAX. For aesthetic quality control, you can view in any well-calibrated room, but to do it properly you would want to be in a fully calibrated suite with cinema-calibrated projection AND sound because cinema evaluation is highly subjective rather than technical. In the real world that limits you to major market facilities. Frankly, your mix is a much bigger issue than picture in a theatrical release. The mix standard for cinema is specific AND subjectively relative. Meters will only get you part way. A theatrical mix can only be properly evaluated in a cinema-calibrated room.

    In short, if you want it done right, you should be mastering in experienced post facilities calibrated for and familiar with theatrical release. On the other hand, almost anything can go to DCP and be projected.

  • Robert Gilbert

    October 21, 2024 at 1:42 pm

    Thank you very much, Devrim and Todd. I guess I should have mentioned that this is a micro-budget production, so I don’t have access to high-end facilities. It seems like I would need to project it in a theater to do a proper quality control, but wouldn’t that mean making a DCP first, showing it in a theater (if they’ll let me) and then, based on how it looks on the big screen, tweaking the DCP, or tweaking the original and making a new DCP from scratch?

  • Tod Hopkins

    October 21, 2024 at 2:06 pm

    Micro-budget. Master to broadcast standards except for audio. Keep your gamma low, blacks down and shadows shadowy. Theatrical projection will ere on the high side, meaning high blacks and poor contrast. I don’t mean overcompensate. Just be careful. For wide release, you need to be 24fps. Many small theaters are 24fps only. If you’ve mastered at 30fps, this is a significant problem and you’ll want to work through this before mastering or you’re going to see a lot of nasty stutter. You may need to replace or process shots.

    Audio. Other than zero being max, you have much greater dynamic range, 60 db at least. Use it. In other words, don’t compress things to death, keep your voice where you want to be the baseline (this is subjective and depends on what kind of movie you’ve made so tricky). Give yourself headroom and be careful about your quiet sounds. The audience will hear them. Monitor carefully. Ideally, you’ll want to get into a calibrated space but that will be tough. Maybe you can do a favor for the projectionist in your local art house to run your video (most can run video) during off hours so you can hear what you have in a theatrical space.

    Mix to 5.1 surround, but assuming your show is natively stereo, you’ll only use left, right and center. Music left and right. Voice center. SFX depends on the intended effect. In a small room you can monitor this mixed down to stereo. It will work well enough. There are some rules of thumb for filling back channels with music but unless you’re in a calibrated space, this is tricky. I would only do this with music and it’s not really necessary. You will not use the LFE channel unless you have explosions and even then you’ll need to be in a calibrated room to do that properly.

    My recommendation, if you are doing the DCP yourself, is to do your first pass to the best of your ability and find a way to screen it in a theater. You might be able to arrange something will a small theater or maybe a cheap deal with your local post house just to screen it and take notes. Then go back, adjust, and try again.

  • Robert Gilbert

    October 21, 2024 at 2:23 pm

    Thanks so much for all that important info, Tod. That will give me quite a head start on my “first pass.” Hopefully the second will hit the mark!

    Please also let me know if you know of any online guides to this process.

    Thanks!

  • Devrim Akteke

    October 21, 2024 at 4:12 pm

    Well, it is a piece of great advice to have a test in a theater. During the Betacam era, I took my portable VTR for a private screening and made all the sound adjustments on the theatre’s sound mixer with the staff. And left for lunch and guess what, when I came back the guy I worked has left and someone new came and broke all the setup and we had almost no time to set up again and we had to restart the film twice when the audience was in there.

  • Tod Hopkins

    October 21, 2024 at 6:00 pm

    Just a caveat. Like you, my feature experience is limited, but having just struggled with the exact same question, I feel qualified to give you the simple answer.

    For me, the hardest adjustment to make was that it’s not about “levels” but relative loudness. The aha moment was when someone helpfully pointed out that theaters do not adjust volume. The playback is fixed to a standard loudness or, more precisely, SPF. The theatrical standards are for playback, not production. Ultimately, you rely on eyes and ears, not meters. The closer you can get to cinema playback, the more accurate your judgment will be.

    For some more technical info that might help you conceptualize relative to broadcast read this:

    https://simpledcp.com/sound-levels-in-cinema/

    But here’s the key quote: “What comes as a shock to most people who are more familiar with
    broadcast audio delivery norms is that theatrical mixes do not have any
    official limitations or guidelines regarding loudness. Of course, this
    isn’t license to mix the film as loud as you can make it but rather to
    afford you the widest dynamic range as an artist to explore your
    auditory world of your film”

    On a side note, this is somewhat true of the picture except that the luminance and color space is similar enough (on average) that if you stick close to Rec 709 broadcast, you need only concern yourself with the “film look.”

  • Robert Gilbert

    October 21, 2024 at 7:56 pm

    Thank you very much, Tod.

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