HDCAM SR Master from RED footage prices?

[XiaoSu Han]

We're looking to master our RED shot feature film (93 minutes) to HDCAM SR and strike a couple of HDCAM dupes from it for festival screenings.

How much are we looking at in the NYC area? Anyone got experience with that?

And what's the best way to deliver the color corrected source material? As Prores 4444 ?

Any help would be welcome, cheers

 

[Neil W. Smith]

RED HDCAM-SR master

RED HDCAM-SR master

We're looking to master our RED shot feature film (93 minutes) to HDCAM SR and strike a couple of HDCAM dupes from it for festival screenings.
How much are we looking at in the NYC area? Anyone got experience with that?
And what's the best way to deliver the color corrected source material? As Prores 4444 ?
Any help would be welcome, cheers

Come over to LA ;-) .... we do it all the time .... RED to SR is our preferred workflow .... we're finishing a Sundance movie like that as we speak ... we can do everything you're asking for above for under $2k.

And yes, ProRes4x4 is our codec of choice .... we did a movie for Toronto (GAIA) that was shot on RED and finished in PR4x4 and laid back to SR and the Director and DP loved it. Send us your movie on an eSATA 2TB drive and we'll send you back the three tapes within two working days.

Which calibrated color space did use for your grading?

You might also want to think about a BluRay version .... we did a digital intensive workshop at the DGA a couple of months ago .... we screened all our RED demo material up on their 60 foot screen off a BluRay we burned and it looked bloody fantastic ... used to lug my $130k SR deck over to the DGA building for presentations .... now I take a $15 dollar BluRay and it looks fantastic.

XiaoSu, call me on Monday and we'll get you sorted.

Neil

 

[jake blackstone]

Come over to LA ;-) .... we do it all the time .... RED to SR is our preferred workflow .... we're finishing a Sundance movie like that as we speak ... we can do everything you're asking for above for under $2k.

And yes, ProRes4x4 is our codec of choice .... we did a movie for Toronto (GAIA) that was shot on RED and finished in PR4x4 and laid back to SR and the Director and DP loved it. Send us your movie on an eSATA 2TB drive and we'll send you back the three tapes within two working days.

Which calibrated color space did use for your grading?

You might also want to think about a BluRay version .... we did a digital intensive workshop at the DGA a couple of months ago .... we screened all our RED demo material up on their 60 foot screen off a BluRay we burned and it looked bloody fantastic ... used to lug my $130k SR deck over to the DGA building for presentations .... now I take a $15 dollar BluRay and it looks fantastic.

XiaoSu, call me on Monday and we'll get you sorted.

Neil

We just had finished laying down the short "Successful Alcoholics" for showing at Sundance. After reading technical specs for the delivery, I was pretty surprised to see such limited delivery options offered by the festival. According to Sundance policy, they would only accept the material on 16 and 35mm film or HDCAM 59.94.
"We do not screen HDCAM 24p, 23.98, 25p, HDCAMSR, D5, DCP, Digibeta, DVCAM, Bluray, etc..... HDCAM 1080i/59.94 ONLY!!!!!"
If I remember correctly, even two years ago, Cannes Festival accepted DCP...

 

[Mitch Gross]

We could do this work for you at Abel's Post Services Department here in our NY office. Feel free to give me a call to work out a plan and quote with you.

 

[Neil W. Smith]

Sundance video format ...

Sundance video format ...

We just had finished laying down the short "Successful Alcoholics" for showing at Sundance. After reading technical specs for the delivery, I was pretty surprised to see such limited delivery options offered by the festival. According to Sundance policy, they would only accept the material on 16 and 35mm film or HDCAM 59.94.
"We do not screen HDCAM 24p, 23.98, 25p, HDCAMSR, D5, DCP, Digibeta, DVCAM, Bluray, etc..... HDCAM 1080i/59.94 ONLY!!!!!"
If I remember correctly, even two years ago, Cannes Festival accepted DCP...

Agree totally, Jake .... 59.94 only for Sundance is just pure BS ... we had a great movie in Sundance last year (The Vicious Kind) that was shot on 35mm film (24 fps) which we graded and finished at 23.98 but then had to convert to 59.94 for the Utah mafia ... the Producers and Director raised merry hell with Sundance but no one took any notice .... must be something to do with the crappy digital projectors they rent at minimal costs (actually, probalby at way above normal market costs)..... all the Hollywood "indie" movies are shown on film so maybe the real indies don't matter that much.

Interestingly, 'The Vicious Kind' started out being finished and graded in NY but the filmmakers had a very bad experience with a big post house in NY and then came to us .... they are more than happy with the finished look of their movie and can't understand how we can do it better and cheaper here in LA .... so, shoot film, telecine to HDCAM-SR and come to Hollywood-DI in sunny LA ... we can't do anything about the crazy digital standards at Sundance but we can sure as hell make sure your movie looks great.

Call us and we'll discuss how to make your movie survive the cold of Salt Lake City and the expense of NY.

It's warm and cheap in Los Angeles .... had to take down the soft-top of my Mercedes convertible today ... way to warm! ... enjoy the snow and the expense in the East :-(

Neil

 

[Mark L. Pederson]

We just had finished laying down the short "Successful Alcoholics" for showing at Sundance. After reading technical specs for the delivery, I was pretty surprised to see such limited delivery options offered by the festival. According to Sundance policy, they would only accept the material on 16 and 35mm film or HDCAM 59.94.
"We do not screen HDCAM 24p, 23.98, 25p, HDCAMSR, D5, DCP, Digibeta, DVCAM, Bluray, etc..... HDCAM 1080i/59.94 ONLY!!!!!"
If I remember correctly, even two years ago, Cannes Festival accepted DCP...

And Venice was 100% DCP & film last year.

 

[Neil W. Smith]

Sunny LA for your cheap and great SR finish ...

Sunny LA for your cheap and great SR finish ...

And Venice was 100% DCP & film last year.

Sundance and most of the other established film festivals don't handle DCP yet which is why I also suggested BluRay .... a 2k DCP output will cost you around $20k (here in sunny LA ... not sure about chilly NY prices) but we can grade a RED show and output to SR for under $15k and give you a BluRay for $50 bucks .... don't understand why all these heavy-iron Pablo/Scratch 4k post-houses have to charge so much.

What's your view, Mark?

Neil

 

[Sidney L. Plaut]

east coast vs west.... thats funny

 

[Wolf]

Stupid Sundance screener spec

Stupid Sundance screener spec

...Sundance.... According to Sundance policy, they would only accept the material on 16 and 35mm film or HDCAM 59.94.
"We do not screen HDCAM 24p, 23.98, 25p, HDCAMSR, D5, DCP, Digibeta, DVCAM, Bluray, etc..... HDCAM 1080i/59.94 ONLY!!!!!"
...

That Sundance spec gets worse when you dig into the details. Just check out their outdated color space requirements!!! Sundance's spec seems to be written way back when HDCAM decks that only played 59.94 were much cheaper than 24P decks and many of the films were done interlaced on DV.

And since I had a film at Sundance last year, I know it gets even worse: Many other film festivals SAY that they accept 'Sundance spec' HDCAM screeners. The reality is that when you actually walk your screener into these other festivals' projection booth that is NOT the case! I am talking about several of the major film festivals in the US. Every single festival I attended other than Sundance had the technical capability to screen 23.98. None of them were set up to screen Sundance's outdated color space and some of them had projectors that don't deal well with the 3:2 pulldown being embedded in an HD 59.94 signal. The pulldown issue actually looked really atrocious in some places!

My best advice, if this is for Sundance: Make the necessary two screeners to their spec, then erase those tapes immediately after Sundance and use 23.98 HDCAM screeners with a Standard Rec 709 colors for the other festivals you attend!

I know there was a time when this spec was actually helping indie filmmakers to get their work shown. That time has passed long ago and now it's just a drag...

Hope you get a good festival run!

 

[Neil W. Smith]

Sundance spec ....

Sundance spec ....

And since I had a film at Sundance last year, I know it gets even worse: Many other film festivals SAY that they accept 'Sundance spec' HDCAM screeners. The reality is that when you actually walk your screener into these other festivals' projection booth that is NOT the case! I am talking about several of the major film festivals in the US. Every single festival I attended other than Sundance had the technical capability to screen 23.98. None of them were set up to screen Sundance's outdated color space and some of them had projectors that don't deal well with the 3:2 pulldown being embedded in an HD 59.94 signal. The pulldown issue actually looked really atrocious in some places!

My best advice, if this is for Sundance: Make the necessary two screeners to their spec, then erase those tapes immediately after Sundance and use 23.98 HDCAM screeners with a Standard Rec 709 colors for the other festivals you attend!

Great suggestion and agree with you totally .... have had a go at the Sundance Organizers for a couple of years now .... just don't get why they won't update their submissions specs.

As well as HDCAM, also highly recommend BluRay especially for indies shot on RED .... very cost-effective way to get great looking RED images onto a screen with 5.1 surround sound.

Cheers,
Neil