film festival requirements (SONY HDCAM)

[templedog]

I wanted to submit my movie to a festival but they said it needs to be transfered to SONY HDCAM. I never heard of it before now, I guess its the format to project the picture on the big screen. I looked up some stuff on ebay and they sell for $20,000!!!!! I don't know how I will ever get this on SONY HDCAM tapes for them.....has anyone experienced this before? I don't know what to do now.

[filmboss80]

HDCAM is a very common pro format. What is your source? It is feasible to rent a deck from a pro rental house (if you live in a big enough city to have a pro a/v rental house) and export the timeline of your nonlinear editor into the deck. Or you can send your movie to a video transfer service to dub to HDCAM. Again, it all depends on your source format.

[templedog]

I used a Canan Vixia HF10. Edited the m2ts files in Vegas. I am still editing some, but I guess I can convert it to Blu-ray or DVD. I have no Idea how to go about getting it on there, once I rent one. Any idea how much it would cost to rent one?

I live in Fargo ND. I don't think theres one around here....not sure

[zoobie]

maybe re-read filmboss' post

HDCAM is a very common pro format...

and nothing to do with Blu-ray or DVD

they probably require this to weed out the rif raf

if you're serious, just have it transfered at your local lab

[templedog]

weed out the rif raf by forcing someone to take it more serious I guess. I'll have to do some research on this and make some phone calls around the area I guess. Thanks

How much do you think it would cost? to get it transferred? I'm not sure what kind of store to call? a video rental store? Not many options here in Fargo I reckon.

[zoobie]

try the yellow pages under video, photography, etc

another way they filter entrees is to charge $ i.e. the Sundance Film Festival

tell us about your film...how did you shoot it? handicam? shouldercam?
handheld? tripod? LANC?

you may be spinning your wheels...

PS - you can read all about where you live here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fargo,_North_Dakota

[templedog]

try the yellow pages under video, photography, etc

another way they filter entrees is to charge $ i.e. the Sundance Film Festival

tell us about your film...how did you shoot it? handicam? shouldercam?
handheld? tripod? LANC?

you may be spinning your wheels...

PS - you can read all about where you live here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fargo,_North_Dakota

I shot it handicam with a camcorder (canon hf10). Some shots were on tripod but very few. I would of done more but I don't have a windscreen lens for the shots I would of wanted. I also shot some scenes in a blizzard. Wrapped the camera up in ceramic wrap. I would of loved to have the proprietary waterproof case for underwater shots...but no money. Broke 2 shotgun mics... must just be sensitive or something. 60 bucks each. Got a wireless one for $160, not the best quality but does the job. The movie is about Multiple sclerosis and how handicapping it is to live with. My mother has MS, so she was a great start for it. So far I'm about $1100 for the camera, 2 shotguns 120$, wireless 160$, crappy tripod 20$, camera case 35$, sd memory card 100$. So I'm about $1535 in the red right now and I've been shooting sense April, so I have dedicated a lot of time into this... lol.

might as well spend more money, the way I look at it.

[zoobie]

interesting...
let's hope there are only a few entries
I cannot overemphasize the use of a tripod
there's a deshaker plug-in for use in virtual dub...
should be interesting to see who wins...they not only consider subject matter but also technique...pans, tilts, zooms, angles, lighting, bluescreen, sound, etc...food for thought

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Canon-HF10-First-Impressions-Camcorder-Review-34262.htm

[julitomg]

Woody Allen filmed his 1992 feature lenght film "Husbands and wives" without a tripod, didn´t he?

[templedog]

I hate my tripod. I need one of those fluid ones, spendy though. I don't use it much because I'm out in the woods and on a canoe and weird stuff like that. I guess I should use one for indoor interviews though. Prob gets annoying if the camera is moving on something that basic.

[zoobie]

maybe julitomg could explain to us all why tripods even exist

[stantheman1976]

A tripod doesn't necessarily make a video more interesting. If you're shooting a dedicated scene with the person(s) directly in front of you in one spot then it is absolutely necessary. Sometimes you just have to run-and-gun. As you noted about the qualities judges look for, there are many factors.

For an affordable solution you can look at the Sunpak 7500/7575. They are the same. The 7575 is sold at Circuit City. They are about $80 Then get a Velbon PH-368 head for $40 from B&H Photo. For the money it's a great combo. Even with this budget combo you'll notice a world of difference.

[greymalkin]

if you spent $1100 on a camera you probably shouldn't have too big of a problem spending a couple hundred on a better tripod..but if you really want to be cheap you can do the $14 DIY steadicam :P

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/steadycam/

[zoobie]

people reportedly can get motion sickness from too much camera movement

another benefit of a tripod is when you put video on the internet....compression hates it when the whole frame has to be redrawn vs. just the part that actually moved

otherwise, you're stuck with the youboob amateurs...

I think the whole purpose of a contest is to show how good a movie you can make...skillz

[lordsmurf]

people reportedly can get motion sickness from too much camera movement
another benefit of a tripod is when you put video on the internet....compression hates it when the whole frame has to be redrawn vs. just the part that actually moved
otherwise, you're stuck with the youboob amateurs...
I think the whole purpose of a contest is to show how good a movie you can make...skillz

The second "10.5" movie was this way. I almost wanted to vomit. I did take some Advil about an hour into it.

[templedog]

people reportedly can get motion sickness from too much camera movement

another benefit of a tripod is when you put video on the internet....compression hates it when the whole frame has to be redrawn vs. just the part that actually moved

otherwise, you're stuck with the youboob amateurs...

I think the whole purpose of a contest is to show how good a movie you can make...skillz

lol this is not the way I approach it. To each his own. I do things my way and never play up to any standard. (play up to a norm? (hmmmm....didn't I see this movie before? same camera BS.....) Its always in context anyways no matter how you want to do things. ....right? noob conversation. i'm making run and gun porn.

[dLee]

I work for a film festival and the HDCAM requirement is now very much in the mainstream. It resolves many (if not all) of the problems associated with DVD playback in that setting and places most of the quality / format issues in the hands of the filmmakers.

Some festivals will allow you to submit your film on DVD, but if accepted into the festival your film must be resubmitted in a professional format.

Filmmaking is a somewhat technological exercise, but you would be surprised at how many producers stumble on the last step - making a good, reliable DVD to show.

For example, the last year we accepted DVD's for showing, I ended up having to save / rescue / reauthor 25 films out of the 100 that were accepted.

[edDV]

I work for a film festival and the HDCAM requirement is now very much in the mainstream. It resolves many (if not all) of the problems associated with DVD playback in that setting and places most of the quality / format issues in the hands of the filmmakers.

Some festivals will allow you to submit your film on DVD, but if accepted into the festival your film must be resubmitted in a professional format.

Filmmaking is a somewhat technological exercise, but you would be surprised at how many producers stumble on the last step - making a good, reliable DVD to show.

For example, the last year we accepted DVD's for showing, I ended up having to save / rescue / reauthor 25 films out of the 100 that were accepted.

I guess the festivals divide into those with conversion resources and talent to do it in house and those that push the responsibility to the candidate.

To templedog:

1. I assume the festival is somewhere else than Fargo. Where? DLee and I can help you find a dub house in the host city.
2. Keep the "film" loaded in Vegas until a dub house describes their preference for export format.
3. Does the festival require HDCAM for the initial round? This may be a waste of money if you aren't in the cut.

HDCAM is a tape based format used for broadcast HD movie distribution. The dub house will make it clear what they want from you. Don't assume. Typical is uncompressed SDI (SMPTE-292M) from their computer to the HDCAM deck. They will spec the format they want to load on their computer.

[zoobie]

lol this is not the way I approach it. To each his own. I do things my way and never play up to any standard. (play up to a norm? (hmmmm....didn't I see this movie before? same camera BS.....) Its always in context anyways no matter how you want to do things. ....right? noob conversation. i'm making run and gun porn.

huh?

[Cornucopia]

lol this is not the way I approach it. To each his own. I do things my way and never play up to any standard. (play up to a norm? (hmmmm....didn't I see this movie before? same camera BS.....) Its always in context anyways no matter how you want to do things. ....right? noob conversation. i'm making run and gun porn.

huh?

One can only really know how to push the envelope and how to successfully break the rules if they alrealy understand WHAT the envelope and the rules ARE. Taking that kind of attitude doesn't bode well for your successful inclusion into this or any other film festival. Remember, this may "not be the way you approach it", but it IS the way they approach it, and they're the ones making the decisions.

If you really want to try anyway, there are plenty of dub houses, post houses, production houses, etc in the Midwest and further afield that'll do a transfer--just tell them your situation, your source footage formats, and your budget and they'll let you know if and how they can work with you.

Scott

[templedog]

Its sundance for one. The sent me this email back.

----------------------------

If selected for the festival, our accepted exhibition formats are HDCAM, 35mm and 16mm, detailed as follows:

We accept 35mm film and 16mm film (optical sound only). At this time the only digital projection format we accept is Sony HD-Cam video 1080i/60i (we cannot accept 24p). This is the only video format we accept. Mini-DV, Digi-Beta, and Beta-SP are NOT acceptable. We cannot project DVDs. Films selected to play in the Sundance Film Festival that wish to screen on video must use this specific format:



Sony HD-Cam

1080i/60i

16x9 aspect ratio

mono/stereo/LTRT for audio on tracks 1 and 2 only



Sony HDCam
1080i/59.94i (29.97 fps)

Aspect ratio: native 16x9
equals 1.77 aspect ratio
If you have a 1.85 ratio, it would be slightly letterboxed in the 16x9 frame (black on top and bottom)

-no- anamorphic squeeze on the 16x9, thank you.

Sound:
ALL sound goes on tracks 1 and 2. The deck can only read two channels at a time.
Can be mono, stereo or LTRT stereo. We do not have Dolby E capability in the theaters. Please contact Dolby directly for more E information if necessary.

We can not support Sony HD-SR or 24p at this time.





Best,



Programming Department

Sundance Institute

8530 Wilshire Blvd., 3rd Floor

Beverly Hills, CA 90211

--------------------------------------------------------

[templedog]

To templedog:

1. I assume the festival is somewhere else than Fargo. Where? DLee and I can help you find a dub house in the host city.
2. Keep the "film" loaded in Vegas until a dub house describes their preference for export format.
3. Does the festival require HDCAM for the initial round? This may be a waste of money if you aren't in the cut.

HDCAM is a tape based format used for broadcast HD movie distribution. The dub house will make it clear what they want from you. Don't assume. Typical is uncompressed SDI (SMPTE-292M) from their computer to the HDCAM deck. They will spec the format they want to load on their computer.

The initial round at Sundance doesn't require it. I hope to pass that though. I might be pressed for time if I even did make it through that round. I have no idea how much a transfer would even cost. I'll call some local place tomorrow here in Fargo, not sure if they can help. Someone emailed me with a company thats in hollywood. http://www.point360.com/ but I donno if I want to dick around with them or not. I emailed them, no answer today.

[edDV]

Sundance eh?

If Sundance can't help get a Salt Lake resource I suggest you work the FedEx or set an appointment in Denver while you drive over.

Do the legwork, call the local TV station chief engineers or some of these guys for an HDCAM dub referral. There won't be many choices even in Denver.

http://www.cprgonline.com/guide/colorado-production-resource-guide/645/0/

[templedog]

My film will be about 60 min. I got an email back from a company. $350/h (approximately 2 hours) and plus $150 for the tape. So $850 just for that, plus shipping and what not.... heh. it was http://www.point360.com/

[edDV]

My film will be about 60 min. I got an email back from a company. $350/h (approximately 2 hours) and plus $150 for the tape. So $850 just for that, plus shipping and what not.... heh. it was http://www.point360.com/

Sounds in the ballpark. Shop around and consider buying a blank tape online first. The dub house might not go for it since they count in the margin for tape sales.

These guys want $96.89 ea. qty one for a 64min blank tape.
http://www.malelo.com/recording-media-pro-video-tape-hdcam.html

HDCAM tapes come in camcorder size or player size. Make sure Sundance and the dub house spec what they want before you buy.


Most if not all of the HDCAM studio players will accept the camcorder size tape cassette but never assume. Ask first. Normal camcorder HDCAM cassette is 40min. I leave it as an exercise for you to see if 64min small cassettes are available.

PS: HDCAM decks go for over $40,000 used and need other equipment to run and a trained operator. They will need to attach a computer to dub your file over SDI.


PPS: And I am being serious here.
Park your attitude when you talk to these guys. They don't need your one tape business. Play it as a noob attempting to break Sundance. Gain their support and offer a screen credit and PR release. Hollywood won't care. Denver may support another Midwesterner. If you're a good salesman and they are in a slow period (unlikely in pre- Christmas), you might get a discount.

If you are serious about this film business you need to learn the art of asslick. It is expected. Once you experience the the glamour of Park City, consider the Fargo alternative before you mouth off.


PPPS: probably 95% of the HDCAM decks in Salt Lake City are owned by the Mormon Church (KSL-DT Bonneville Broadcasting, BYU and support orgs.). They operate 24x7 HD international uplinks in over 20 languages. Robert Redford and Sundance have little influence in Salt Lake City. They must import resources into Park City for the event. Get your work done before you come.

If you are in the Mormon community, here is a link of individuals envolved. Sony, et,al know that Utah is a major HD production center and a major customer. If not work through Sundance or get it done yourself.
http://www.ldsfilm.com/bio/bioB.html
http://www.ldsfilm.com/links.html

[templedog]

dang good info there Ed. Hellz yeah, I'm just a dumb noob that's gonna blow the cover off Sundance. When I become famous....I won't forget ya guys

Ill send them an email, and see what format they prefer. This will probably have to be submitted next year. Never thought of how much work actually has to be put into all this, after all the shooting and whatnot.

[filmboss80]

edDV: You are a saint for taking so much time to provide such useful information to the OP. I hope your post is seen by a lot of others who may have misconceptions about taking their video work to bigger venues.

This is a good time to remind burgeoning videomakers to think about planning and budgeting for the endgame way before they start shooting the first frame. Consideration of how the video work will be presented and distributed will help one make the best choices before the shooting starts -- and eliminate surprises after the work is completed.

Good luck to you, templedog. Regardless of the outcome, the Sundance experience ought to be memorable.

[dLee]

This is a good time to remind burgeoning videomakers to think about planning and budgeting for the endgame way before they start shooting the first frame.

The rule of thumb is: you spend 50% of your budget for shooting, 50% for post production and 50% for marketing your film. Doesn't add up? Welcome to the world of the independent producer!

Sundance eh?

Good luck to you, templedog. Regardless of the outcome, the Sundance experience ought to be memorable.

There are dozens and dozens, if not hundreds, of film festivals in the US and many more world wide. I'm fairly sure you can find one that specializes in your type of film. Match your film to the festival so you'll have a chance.

I've met filmmakers that got finishing funds and a distribution deal from one of the majors and couldn't get their film into Sundance.

I guess the festivals divide into those with conversion resources and talent to do it in house and those that push the responsibility to the candidate.

Getting a showable copy of your film is definitely the responsibility of the producer. In my case, it was, "We want these films in the festival and these are the best copies we can get. Make it work."

[templedog]

Have any of you guys been to Sundance? I don't know what to expect if my film gets accepted. Will the theater be dead I wonder?

[Nycmaria]

Hi, Everyone,
I came across this forum trying to learn how I could transfer my FCP files (I have Mac) to HDCAM for film festivals. Luckily, I got into one of the film festivals. However, I need to notify them with the EXHIBITION FORMAT. Deadline to reply is unfortunately, TONIGHT! My first feature ever and I am totally at a lost (please see questions below). Any suggestions, I would be grateful.

Here's a bit of my background and how I shot my footage: Taken me over 10 years. When I started to shoot I used a camcorder (SD) + after, bought a SONY HD DSLR camera. While some are formatted as 16:9 most were recorded in 4:3. I assume I have to get this converted somewhere professionally (HDCAM) but not sure what ASPECT RATIO to use: First time filmmaker, Maria

QUESTIONS:
Choices are as follows:
HDCAM: 1080/59.94i OR 1080/23.98 psf OR 1080/50i OR 1080/25P

Aspect Ratio:
- 16:9
- 16x9 LBX to 2.39
- 16:9 LBX to 1.85
- 16:9 PBX to 1:66
- 16x9 PBX to 4:3