FLAT and SCOPE Question

[Neil Larson]

We shot a commercial on RED for the Silence you cell phone ads that play before a movie starts. We shot in 2:1 4K and 2:1 2K for slow motion sequences.

We're finishing in 2K 2040x1024 for the theater, but we just found out that they want both flat and scope.

I HAVE NO CLUE HOW TO EXPORT A SCOPE PROJECT! I need some help here guys. You haven't let me down before.

I have FCP Studio 2, Adobe CS4 suite, basically all the tools I should need to get this done, I just don't know how. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Dan Hudgins]

Pillar Box?

Pillar Box?

Are you going to Pillar Box the 2:1 into 2.35:1 Scope ratio.

Having "wide screen flat" pillar boxed into 'Scope is used by Disney it seems, someone at a lab showed me a Oxberry gate cut down for that kind of print, in their case I think it was 1.85:1 pillar boxed into 2.35:1 2:1 squeezed.

See the links to the Celco site in my post here,

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=41282

for details of the Scope and non-scope pixel sizes. You should talk more to your lab about what file types they want the frames in and what pixel sizes.

You first need to decide if you are going to pillar box or letter box the flat into scope since that gives you the crop or fit numbers to enter in the image size of your softwares.

 

[Neil Larson]

Excellent! I appreciate the help.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

Do you mean that they want a film-out for 35mm 1.85 flat and another for 2.40 anamorphic? Or do they want DCP files for 2K DCI projection in the two aspect ratios?

 

[Neil Larson]

Do you mean that they want a film-out for 35mm 1.85 flat and another for 2.40 anamorphic? Or do they want DCP files for 2K DCI projection in the two aspect ratios?

They want DCP files for 2K digital projection. I understand they have different lenses for different projectors depending on the film that's showing in that particular theater, and want both versions.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

There are DCI specs for the dimensions of the image for 1.85 and 2.40.

http://www.dcimovies.com/reference/
http://www.dcimovies.com/DCIDigitalCinemaSystemSpecv1_2.pdf

What's confusing is the difference between the size of the DCDM (Digital Cinema Distribution Master) and the specs for active pixel dimensions for 1.85 and 2.39, which are:
2048 x 858 = 2.39
1998 x 1080 = 1.85

Because the text implies that the 2K DCDM is a standard 2048 x 1080 package, so I'm confused as to whether the actual files are 2048 x 858 for scope and 1998 x 1080 for 1.85, or if the file size is always 2048 x 1080 and there is some sort of metadata instructing how those files are to be cropped to 1.85 or 2.39 dimensions by the projector.

This is why you need to hire a post house that knows how to deliver a DCP.

 

[Neil Larson]

Wow, I had no idea it was this complicated. I've been talking to a couple of post houses and will probably have them take care of it.

Mr. Mullen, I echo what Jannard said about you earlier. You're truly awesome for taking the time to help out joe schmoes like me.

 

[Wolfgang Woehl]

[...] so I'm confused as to whether the actual files are 2048 x 858 for scope and 1998 x 1080 for 1.85

Yes.

or if the file size is always 2048 x 1080

No.

DCI specs (v1.2, 3.2.2 DCDM Image File Format):

The DCDM picture file shall contain only the active pixels in the image. In other words, it is not allowed to pad the picture to the full size of the DCDM container.