Red vs 35 mm Cost

[Hans von Sonntag]

Hi Stephen,

hairs in the gate diminished almost to none when new stocks entered the market. When Vision was introduced we all liked it not only for its speed/grain ratio but also its cleanliness regarding hairs. Many shots were copied without checking the gate.

Haven't shot a single meter in the last year. There are downsides owning a RedOne.

Hans

 

[michael zaletel]

In fact if the above happened on a film set, it would likely mean another take is got straight away, on a RED set might mean everyone waits for the cards/drive to be offloaded and the shot checked - which could be more expensive to production in terms of time then just taking another take and trusting the AC got it right when they said they did.

Hi Craig:

I agree with you that there are a multitude of factors in play. Fine artists still paint with oils on canvas but that doesn't mean the medium has equal footing with digital. I just have to respectfully disagree with you both. That doesn't make either of us right or wrong, I'm sure this will be debated for some time to come. I believe one of the cost advantages of digital over film lies in QC and you two for some reason do not. I'm okay leaving it at that.

-michael zaletel
(shooter)

 

[jake blackstone]

". Telecine to Dvcam for offline edit via avid $1000 per/hr of footage w sound.(That was Quote from Fotokem"
"An SD transfer at Cinelicious is $200 an hour (that includes either tape or to hard drive)"

1st, 1000 hr is way to much for a Dvcam transfer

$1000 per/hr of footage w sound. This price is for ah hour of material, which with standard ratio for dailies of 4:1 (it mesans, that it takes 4 hours to do 1 hour of material) which comes out at about $250 an hour. That's actually pretty good price for film dailies.

 

[donatello b]

$1000 per/hr of footage w sound. This price is for ah hour of material, which with standard ratio for dailies of 4:1 (it mesans, that it takes 4 hours to do 1 hour of material) which comes out at about $250 an hour. That's actually pretty good price for film dailies.

syncing audio at 250hr is one way to go ... all of the low budgets that i've worked on that in the end plan Neg to print out just got a one light telecine and the audio was sync by a ass't editor ... in fact even the ones that planned to master on tape had a ass't editor sync the audio ...all comes down to budget ...

 

[Troy Smith]

$1000 per/hr of footage w sound. This price is for ah hour of material, which with standard ratio for dailies of 4:1 (it mesans, that it takes 4 hours to do 1 hour of material) which comes out at about $250 an hour. That's actually pretty good price for film dailies.

Yea Fotokem said, it's $265 perhour, and with sound 4:1 without sound 3:1

 

[John Portnoy]

In my experience budgeting features (which I've been doing for 15 years), it's best to try to get a per-foot rate out of your telecine facility. That matches with all the other numbers you're going to be getting (stock, processing), which makes the Production Film and Lab budget section easier to read and modify (for instance if you want to run a what-if scenario based on a second camera, you don't have to figure out how many hours it'll take to transfer the additional material).

As far as whether to transfer with or without sound, it is obviously a function of budget, but remember that if you don't sync, but need to get dailies out to producers or financiers, you could be adding as much as a day to the process, depending on production's schedule vs. editorial's schedule. I always budget sync sound with telecine, even in low budget scenarios.

$265 per hour is actually not a great number. You should be able to get $175/hour for a standard def telecine, maybe $150/hour if someone's desperate (and who's NOT desperate these days, at least in LA?).

 

[John Portnoy]

To be more specific I was referring in all my numbers to what would normally be in a budget, so yes, you will process what you expose, but you will only pay for what you process, which should average 90% of the number of feet you purchased.

It's an interesting question about whether to up the 90% budget for telecine. I agree people tend to telecine full neg these days, not selects. Does that add up to 90% of what was processed? 95%? All I can tell you is that I rarely see overages in telecine for features based on these numbers. Maybe they're budgeting a higher per-foot rate than they're actually getting. Not sure...

I know you're no amateur...pretty sure I know you based on your screenname. But again, just to be clear: I was presenting information intended to be used in a budget scenario, just so he/she had in his/her head what the steps were and roughly how much they cost. Reality may vary!

 

[M Most]

As far as whether to transfer with or without sound, it is obviously a function of budget, but remember that if you don't sync, but need to get dailies out to producers or financiers, you could be adding as much as a day to the process, depending on production's schedule vs. editorial's schedule.

You also get into a line item issue as to what part of the dailies is a production charge vs. what part is a post charge. I can recall that being a bit of sticking point back in the days when we were transitioning from film to video editorial in television.

pretty sure I know you based on your screenname..

You do, going all the way back to your Lightworks days..

 

[Craig Parkes]

Hi Craig:

I agree with you that there are a multitude of factors in play. Fine artists still paint with oils on canvas but that doesn't mean the medium has equal footing with digital. I just have to respectfully disagree with you both. That doesn't make either of us right or wrong, I'm sure this will be debated for some time to come. I believe one of the cost advantages of digital over film lies in QC and you two for some reason do not. I'm okay leaving it at that.

-michael zaletel
(shooter)

I think QC is a cost that you factor in on any shoot, digital or film, and that knowing there is a problem earlier in a given instance might save your bacon sometimes, but not an appreciable amount to make it a noticeable saving when working with well oiled crews who would normally have the procedures in place to spot such problems anyway.