2K anamorphic in pixels

[Miguel "Macgregor" De Olaso]

I´m rendering some footage that is going to finish in 35mm film scope projection. This means the image will be streched 2:1.
Now searching accross the web it seems there is not 2K anamorphic standard image format. People seem to scan anamorphic at 1828 × 1332, which seems a pitty because the loss of quality.

According to my calculations, i should work at 2048x1714 pixels to get a 2.39 projection aspect ratio in the theater. Anyone have better info about this?

However if you use math, you´ll see that a 2048x1714 image size doesn´t have a 1.37 aspect ratio (academy format) and that confuses all even more.

 

[Kenn Christenson]

I've researched this, myself, and I'd recommend finding a transfer house that you feel comfortable working with and ask them the specs they prefer for delivery - as you've seen, it can vary widely. In Europe, I'd try Swiss Effects.

What you'll most likely end up doing is delivering an anamorphic file (in the Academy aspect ratio.) You'll work "unsqueezed" in post, at the highest res your system can work efficiently, then squeeze your image 2x to fit the Academy ratio.

 

[David_Cox]

The reason for the 1828 width (from a 2048 full width file) is that this allows room for the optical sound track on the film.

As Kenn said, contact your transfer house and see how they would like to handle it. It's likely that they will just ask you to provide "flat" (non anamorphic) files from which they will apply the correct scaling.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

The 35mm anamorphic frame is Academy width and roughly a 1.19... : 1 ratio, hence 2.39... : 1 when doubled in width by the projector lens.

But there's a difference between scanning anamorphic footage with a built-in 2X optical squeeze and doing a project for film-out to anamorphic.

Generally you'd keep the image spherical if shot spherical and let the Arrilaser do the squeeze. If you shot in Super-35 spherical, your files would be 2048 or 4096 pixels across and would be cropped vertically for the 2.39 ratio and then the laser recorder would do the squeeze for 1.19... : 1 onto the 35mm anamorphic area of the 4-perf frame.

And there are unique specs for DCI masters for projecting 2.39 movies.

 

[Joe G.]

interesting

interesting

David,

I would prefer not to use anamorphic lens, but to still have an image for theatrical distribution.

I was thinking that the 1.85 ratio is a very popular standard, and that 2.39 is may be too wide. Any preference opinion on the two ratios?

What about 2:1? Is that usable as a 35mm format?

Is the anamorphic lens required for a 2.39 film on red? It also seemed like there was enough resoluiton to just crop at 2.39 from the 4k image. Why wouldn't people just do that?

 

[Ruairi Robinson]

David,

I would prefer not to use anamorphic lens, but to still have an image for theatrical distribution.

I was thinking that the 1.85 ratio is a very popular standard, and that 2.39 is may be too wide. Any preference opinion on the two ratios?

What about 2:1? Is that usable as a 35mm format?

Is the anamorphic lens required for a 2.39 film on red? It also seemed like there was enough resoluiton to just crop at 2.39 from the 4k image. Why wouldn't people just do that?

Too wide for what?

 

[Ruairi Robinson]

I´m rendering some footage that is going to finish in 35mm film scope projection. This means the image will be streched 2:1.
Now searching accross the web it seems there is not 2K anamorphic standard image format. People seem to scan anamorphic at 1828 × 1332, which seems a pitty because the loss of quality.

According to my calculations, i should work at 2048x1714 pixels to get a 2.39 projection aspect ratio in the theater. Anyone have better info about this?

However if you use math, you´ll see that a 2048x1714 image size doesn´t have a 1.37 aspect ratio (academy format) and that confuses all even more.

Cinesite have guidelines on their site for scanning and recording specs

http://www.cinesite.co.uk/static/scanning/techdocs/format.pdf

it's listed as 2.35:1 - not 2.39, and the resolution they use is 1828x1556@2:1 pixel aspect ratio for a 2.35:1 ratio unsqueezed. That's the same format I last went out to film in scope...

It'll depend on who you want to do your film outs though, and what film recorder they use...

R.

 

[Miguel "Macgregor" De Olaso]

I called the Lab, they told me they use the official spec 1828 x 1556, which it is 2.35:1 (i though 2.35 had not being used for the last 30 years...).
ALso since arrilaser is capable of 4K printing i don´t understand why labs don´t print anamorphic at 2K and resign to 1.8K (1828px are not 2K).

Yes i know they must leave space for the soundtrack. Ok, leave it, but print 2K px in the anaorphic frame.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

I believe it's because of the fixed physical relationship between the sensor in the scanner and the piece of film that Full Aperture scans are 2048 or 4096 but Academy / standard 1.85 / anamorphic scans are slightly less since they are slightly less wide.