Frame Rates, Aspect Ratios, Epic Recording Modes, Once More, With Feeling

[Elizabeth Lowrey]

I debated for a couple of days whether to start a new thread for this or add to one of the existing ones that talk about aspects of my questions in a more fragmented fashion. Ultimately I decided on a new thread. I hope that's okay.

My humble background is entirely with small time video production using mostly 59.94i SD cameras, although I own a DVX-100 that shoots 23.98p SD and owned a used Varicam for a short while that shot 720p at 59.94. I have never delivered for broadcast, only for SD DVD.

I took delivery of my Epic a little over a week ago and will be embarking soon on my very first feature film. It's a documentary about my spiritual journey (including an account of the most profound event of my life, a sudden and completely unexpected encounter with the spirit of Jesus Christ in an Atlanta hotel room in 1994). The film will be highly impressionistic visually and more thematic than linear in narrative, unfolding in a series of "vignettes" that are mostly sculpted by poetry and poetic prose read in voice-over. I anticipate that 60% of the visuals will be from stuff I shoot with the Epic (and probably a third of that shot at high frame rates for slow motion), another 10% time lapse from my Canon 5D Mark II, about 20% NLE pan/zooms on stills for historical aspects of the story, and another 10% using a few 59.94i home video clips and archival news footage (most of the latter probably shot 4:3 SD at 59.94i, although some small percentage may be available in HD at 59.94i.) The news footage is not trivial to the story. It needn't look "pretty" (and there's no fear of that juxtaposed to Epic footage!), but I'd like to preserve the quality of it as much as possible.

I am 'leaping by faith" into this project with no real knowledge other than the overwhelming intuition that it is tied strongly to my life purpose and mission, and I therefore trust there will be an audience somewhere for it. My strongest hunch is that some festivals may show interest, maybe a small art house release or Sundance or IFC Channel TV broadcast beyond that. But I certainly expect it to be released on DVD and perhaps even digital download, even if I wind up doing both the latter myself.

I don't know how you deliver a finished film to an art house theater or film festival (I'm assuming that both use all digital projection by now working only from digital media of some kind, but even that is inference on my part). And I also don't know their preferences or requirements for frame rate and aspect ratio. I see no compelling reason in terms of aesthetics for choosing a project frame rate other than 23.98 (with the exception of integrating the 59.94i news archives). My understanding is that 1.85 and 2.4 are the standard theatrical aspects, and I strongly prefer 1.85 between those two. For DVD release and any TV broadcast, I'd definitely want a 16:9 finished aspect, and I'd even consider that for festival/theatrical release if it's something those venues would accept.

So with all this background, I'm posting for advice and opinions on the frame rate and aspect ratio I should shoot and frame for and also what makes the most sense in terms of available shooting modes on the Epic. Ideally, I'd love it if the entire sensor were a 1.85 aspect, extracting the most potential from wide angle lenses, etc., from which I could then crop just a bit from the sides for a 16:9 DVD master. But file size and available frame rates are also something I want to keep in mind, and should I want to shoot REALLY high frame rates for certain effects, I'd want the footage to mix well with the higher res footage without much noticeable softening or noise pattern magnification, etc. Here are my tentative decisions, which I welcome constructive criticism of:

• shoot with Epic in 5K 2:1 mode @ 23.98p
• master at 23.98p and crop in post to 1.85 (4736 x 2560) for any theatrical/festival release (although I have no idea how the 59.94i archival news footage will look down converted to 23.98 and mixed with the native stuff)
• master at 29.97p or 59.94i for DVD/broadcast cropping to 16:9 (4557 x 2560), and this should preserve the native news video as shot

Any flaws in my thinking?

[Elizabeth Lowrey]

No takers?

[Gunleik Groven]

Hi. Don't have the time right now, but I'll try to look into this over the weekend if not any of the other very knowledgeable people around here can't take their time to help you.

Cheers and good luck!

G

[Uli Plank]

First of all, your Epic footage will all be progressive, i.e. the whole frame will be scanned at once. Your video footage is probably interlaced, i.e. two separate fields coming from different moments in time have been recorded. You can spot that since a still with fast moving objects will show a fine pattern of horizontal lines on those objects.

But in movie theaters all screenings are progressive too, and even Blu-ray can show true 23.98 progressive, abet restricted to 16:9.

So, I'd shoot progressive 23.98, as you suggested and set your editing timeline to progressive too. Any good editing software will de-interlace clips that don't match and you can get decent quality from that process, depending on your software. With frame-blending activated, you may see some blurriness or double-contouring on the videos, but it might be OK for you. There are more complex processes which can improve the temporal quality slightly, but at the cost of much higher rendering times (Compressor on the Mac, for example).

If your video footage is 4:3, you'll have black bars on the sides, of course.

Regarding framing: if you shoot 5K 2:1, just set up guides to show you what will get cropped for 1:1.85 or 16:9 to know what you may loose when re-framing.

Regarding slo-mo: If you don't need to go lower than 3K, you'll be fine for 2K cinema or HD Blu-ray. Extreme slo-mo shot at 2K will look a bit soft. Please note that your lenses viewing angle will get narrower in 3K or 2K.

Hope this helps.

[Meryem Ersoz]

There are no obvious flaws in the thinking, which is probably why you haven't received much feedback. The choices you're proposing will work well.

However, if you're looking for alternative thinking...for a project such as this one, you might consider shooting the whole project in 4K HD - framing up the whole project for 16:9 - that will save you a bit of time in post-production, depending on your workflow and allow you some more overcrank options.

Films with spiritual themes are very popular for projection in churches and other houses of worship and seem to do very well - I'm thinking of films like LEAP and THRIVE - that may turn out to be one of your best venues for getting your film projected to a larger audience.

Art house films typically require the venue to be rented (by you, unless you have the support of a larger distributor who is supporting art house releases within the context of a broader distribution strategy - but there really is no market for standalone art house release) and there's really no advantage to screening an aspect ratio different than 16:9

If widescreen is an artistic choice, that's a different matter - then you make that choice for that reason - but usually workflow/time/cost issues and artistic choices is the standard balancing act. If it is a passion project where you are not on a fixed deadline then having the frame that maximizes the artistry is great. But if you are trying to move along a project and looking for ways to save post-production costs and headaches (for instance, if for some reason, you do sell international rights, your choice is to either frame for 16:9 anyway and crop or to provide a pan-and-scan version).

more food for thought....

[Elizabeth Lowrey]

Thanks, everyone, for the replies. Meryem, some very good suggestions and information in there. If small theaters and festivals routinely screen 16:9 projects, I really have to think if there's any artistic reason to frame for 1:85 rather than 1.78 from the get go. What I like least about the quad HD mode (and not from any actual use or experience, just in terms of theory) is that you are forfeiting more of the sensor real estate (and capability of wide lenses) than it seems one should have to. I know that means smaller files, and maybe I should be happy with that trade off. But at least as for this project, I think I'd probably rather shoot at 5K 2:1 and crop if I finish at 1.78 (which should leave me with a resolution of 4557 x 2560 rather than the 3840 x 2160 of quad HD mode). Then I'd also have the option to master to 1.85. But you've given me something to chew on.

As for any church wanting to screen this film, I think they'd be few and far between. In fact, while I don't want to borrow trouble, if the film ever got a buzz of some kind from a festival or the like, I expect the most vehement denunciation of it to come from Christian Orthodoxy, not because I'm selling Dan Brown sensationalism (far from it) but because I dare to make my concept of Jesus and the Christian path one that flows first and foremost from earnest, inward, introspective seeking -- not church doctrine or even the Bible, per se -- and from the intuitions, artistic inspiration, and subjective experiences that flow from that process. And what flows from it is very different in many ways to what you hear in your average church every week.:-) But I've been pleasantly surprised to learn from some online sources that there are some highly progressive Christian churches springing up over the country, and maybe there would be some interest there. I'll have to keep my eye on that.

Thanks again for the responses.

[Meryem Ersoz]

you might want to have a look at this book - http://www.amazon.com/Think-Outside-.../dp/098257620X

it has good solid nuts and bolts strategies for crafting a non-conventional distribution plan. it's not the be all/end all, but it will definitely get you thinking and probably is one of those rare books whose value added exceeds the price.

[Elizabeth Lowrey]

The description sounds very intriguing. Have added it to my wishlist and will hopefully get a chance to read it sometime during the course of this odyssey.:-)