Best LA Labs For 35mm?

[Manfred Lopez]

I am trying to put together a budget for a client who wants to shoot about 8,000 feet of 35mm film. I was wondering if anyone knows of any good labs that would still treat us right and pay attention to quality with such a small run. So far I'm talking to Laser Pacific and thinking of using their Indie DI process. Any other recommendations?

 

[Tim Whitcomb]

Fotokem = Price

Color by Deluxe = Quality

would help if you quantify BEST... i.e price, value, etc.
Timeline

negative processing only? answer print? low contrast DVD print?... release print? also need more specifics... you also need a negative cutter sevice... some do in house, sometimes cheaper to outsource cutting... are you doing a DI for any effects or opticals?

is final distribution 35MM projection? DVD/ both?

 

[Manfred Lopez]

Thanks for the answer. The final output is for DVD / TV, but I have to protect for any eventual theatrical screenings. The DI right now is purely for color correction and design. The objective is to use 35mm only as a capture medium and swiftly leave the optical world and enter and stay in the digital realm... (so I guess the term 'intermediate' wouldn't technically be correct since the footage would never go back to film... at least not immediately).

Anyway, by best I probably meant 'value'... so I guess I'll be calling both Fotokem and Deluxe. My idea is to have the lab develop the footage and transfer it into data (2k). It's this step that has me worried, since I don't know what the current best 'value' methods are. I know scanning prices have come down a lot. But I think telecine quality has also improved a lot in the last couple of years. Laser Pacific swears by their process of using Beta SR as the digital format (Very close to 2k). I have an appointment this week to see their demo screening.

But I was hoping people here could give me additional opinions/pointers on how to handle the journey towards 2k at an affordable price.