How to output to film: shot in RED, edited in FCP

[Paul Arrojado]

The kinescoping company here in the Philippines normally requires us to send TGA sequence. 1920 x 1080. Every project was edited in FCP using Apple Pro-res (HQ). I don't know what went wrong but everytime we watch the print, it always looks soft at the big screen. Very noticeable when you compare it to the other prints (i.e. movies, etc.)

What we've been doing wrong?! Is the FCP capable of doing film? What editing suites do the hollywood normally use?

 

[Dan Hudgins]

Compression

Compression

it always looks soft at the big screen. Very noticeable when you compare it to the other prints (i.e. movies, etc.)

You cannot compress images without something going in the images, "visually lossless" depends on how far back you are from the image, it relates to not being able to see the missing small details, if you cannot see them then you do not notice they are not there.

Look into what file format the data is in before it goes to the TGA files, is it compressed?

Here is some info on the TGA format,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truevision_TGA

Quote: [The compression method used in Targa images (Run Length Encoding) performs badly when compressing images with many color variations, such as digital photos, but works well for textures and simpler images.]

The problem comes when you enlarge the images to a 100 meter screen and sit in the front row.

To check your filmout, try shooting some ECN and having scanned to 4K 48bpp TIF files uncompressed, than use those frames as a control for all your filmout tests (do not edit those frames with FCP or any other compressed system.)

I wrote our uncompressed DI/NLE/CC/MIX/FILMOUT system to avoid the problems with "gimmick" Amature software labeled "Pro" for marketing that degrades the whole industry by its adoption.

My system is "freeish" if you have the time to use it. Amature compressed software is preferred because profesionals make a profit by doing things cheep and billing at market rates.

You should also look into using a conforming program like crimson workflow to generate DPX or TIF frames direct from REDCINE etc, rather than output a compressed edit.

You also need to look into how the filmout is being done and the f/ stop being used in the film recorder and if the film recorder is in focus.

My DIY film recorder program works up to 2048x1536 on known video boards, CRT montors work that high, but 1600x1200 LCD look sharper I think, and you can pump more light through an LCD pannel if you take the monitor apart, the the web sites about making a DIY video projector from a LCD monitor to see how that works. To print direct to Kodak 2383 color print stock you need more red light to get the exposure time down, when shooting off a LCD monitor using the backlight you need a ROSCO #22 red-orange filter which cuts the light quite a bit, if you take the backlight pannel off the LCD and use a fresnel lens you can use a tungsten lamp at 85volts like in a printer to get enough red light to speed up the printing.

 

[Paul Arrojado]

what i meant by "soft" is like there's a guassian blur in the image by atleast 2%..

Please bear with me, i'm actually new in filming. Most of my outputs are seen in TV.. HD and SD format. I'm not very familiar how the kinescoping works. I just know it in theory.

Anyhow.. the same company where we bring our projects (TGA sequence) have already made pretty good commercials in film. So credibility is not questionable. I do really think that the softness of the image is coming from us (our output). I suspect the Apple ProRes codec. If i will export a single frame.. be it jpg, tiff, or TGA... it all looks the same.. same softness if you compare it to a clip from the RED ALERT.

Do you have any suggestion on how to produce a high quality output in Final Cut pro?

 

[Lewis-M Soucy]

I have a story here, direct FCP to film print but it really worked well...

It's here: http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=33411

 

[Uli Plank]

Do you have any suggestion on how to produce a high quality output in Final Cut pro?

– Work uncompressed.
– Shoot quad HD if deliverables are in 1920 by 1080
– Apply a mild unsharp masking, the R1 doesn't add any sharpening like video cameras normally do