Finish in 2k and HD

[Jeremy Walton]

So the project I will be working on I want to finish with a 2k Master. I will have Epic 5k footage and HD footage. When I online in Resolve to all the raw and HD files, my colorist with do his grade then. When finished he can do a 2k master, correct? Is this just a file on a drive? I was looking here...

http://www.dcpinfo.com/

It says it's between $1500-3000 to make a dcm with $150-300 for copies. There seems to be lots of requirements. Is this all handled in Resolve? My colorist just charges me for coloring, not for what I want to finish in. We have only done Hd projects though. I just want to know what I'm talking about before I discuss with him.

I want a 2K master to have. You never know where your feature will end up. I will also need a HDCAM SR and HDCAM. Some festivals require different formats. I read an article about grading the movie Prometheus. They talked about all the grades they had to do with Imax, 2k, HD, then Blue Ray. It sounded like, to me at least, they had to grade each format to make it look right. So if my colorist grades for raw files and finishes a 2k version, will he have to grade another HD version too?

Lastly, just to make sure, finishing a 2k in resolve will resize 5k to 2k, then uprez HD to 2k. Finishing in HD will resize 5k to HD, then leave all HD footage the same? Thanks!

 

[Terry VerHaar]

I am not a DCP expert but you might give a call into Dolby Labs as they do this service and I understand they are competitive in their pricing.

 

[jake blackstone]

So the project I will be working on I want to finish with a 2k Master. I will have Epic 5k footage and HD footage. When I online in Resolve to all the raw and HD files, my colorist with do his grade then. When finished he can do a 2k master, correct? Is this just a file on a drive? I was looking here...

http://www.dcpinfo.com/

It says it's between $1500-3000 to make a dcm with $150-300 for copies. There seems to be lots of requirements. Is this all handled in Resolve? My colorist just charges me for coloring, not for what I want to finish in. We have only done Hd projects though. I just want to know what I'm talking about before I discuss with him.

I want a 2K master to have. You never know where your feature will end up. I will also need a HDCAM SR and HDCAM. Some festivals require different formats. I read an article about grading the movie Prometheus. They talked about all the grades they had to do with Imax, 2k, HD, then Blue Ray. It sounded like, to me at least, they had to grade each format to make it look right. So if my colorist grades for raw files and finishes a 2k version, will he have to grade another HD version too?

Lastly, just to make sure, finishing a 2k in resolve will resize 5k to 2k, then uprez HD to 2k. Finishing in HD will resize 5k to HD, then leave all HD footage the same? Thanks!

Hi Jeremy.
From reading your post it seems, that you're way over your head in technical jargon. You're mixing video deliverables with DCI deliverables with file deliverables, while not asking the important questions about different data ranges, deliverables sizes (not you do not up-res HD to 2K). If you start reading about different deliverable requirements for major movie releases, your head will explode. You don't need to concern yourself with different deliverables for different light levels in a theatre or for deliverable to IMAX.
You really need to have a conversation with your colorist about your delivery requirements. I'm going to over-simplify a process a bit, but your colorist should be able to deliver to you just two versions- one for DCP (Full range, 2k, if you lucky in XYZ, but more common REC-709) and one for video deliverables (legal range, 2k, REC-709). Actually, you can even have only one Full range 2k version, because you can always create Legal range 2k or HD from that for recording to HDCAM SR or HD CAM, but I would recommend your colorist does the transcoding for you properly. In either case, this is the conversation you should have with your colorist. Also, many colorists can offer you to create a DCP for a nominal price. I'm not sure I understand what do you mean about the DCP copies? Are you asking about copies with KDM keys? Do you really need it? I suspect you probably don't need it. And, did I mention, talk to your colorist?

 

[Jeremy Walton]

Thanks for the reply. I just like to know everything about everything. But to simplify it, Resolve can make a 2k full range master, correct? Then my colorist will make a HDCAM SR or HDCAM for film festivals. That's basically all I need to know. I just wanted a 2k master just in case. So when a 2k or 4k movie is played in the theater is it on tape or a file on a hard drive?

 

[Marc Wielage]

I would just have the Resolve colorist make a master in Rec709 color space, and then (after conform and audio laybacks) give the final longplay master to the DCP company and have them apply a LUT going from Rec709 to XYC DCI colorspace for the DCP. Some companies that I know of who do this include:

http://www.fotokem.com/services/digital_mastering_distribution.php

http://simpledcp.com/2011/index.php

http://www.quvis.com/

http://www.indiedcp.com/

http://artisandcp.com/prices/

in addition to http://www.dcpinfo.com/ above.

Once you have the finished Rec709 master, it typically costs about $10 a minute for the DCP, which is roughly $1200 for a 2-hour (120-minute) feature. I would make sure you screen the DCP in a DCI-compliant environment to check color, brightness, sync, and sound before shipping it.