Short Film Update, Part 10
Having seen “Arrangements,” I soon saw the importance of getting the film ready for it’s life on the festival circuit. The first step to this end is preparing a definitive tape master: the other is showing those who actually made the film the need to do so.
Really, nobody needed convincing: the short was shot and edited in 1080 HD. However, the Mill Gallery preview screening was from a standard-def DVD. For the time being, SD is the format most people will see this film– as a screening or general-release DVD.
Just last weekend the editor of “Arrangements” prepared a QuickTime version of the final cut. Since it was in HDV format, the file fit just fine on a standard DVD-R. That’s one of the things I like about HDV: the data stream is comparable to standard-def DVCAM, yet has six times the resolution.
This QuickTime, with a little shoehorning and a streamlined data path, laid back onto an HDV tape just fine. This tape is the definitive submaster of “Arrangements,” with resolution and color space matching the final cut exactly. Unfortunately, the Santa Cruz Film Festival requirement for HD projection called for an HDCAM tape master.
HDCAM is the tape standard for high definition broadcast, an update of the Betacam and Digital Betacam form factor. HDCAM decks are exceedingly expensive: a decent recording deck with a useful suite of features runs about US$75,000. No, we don’t have one of those yet. But a dub house in San Francisco owed my company a favor or two and they got the HDCAM dub done for a nice discount.
On the other end of this process, having an HDV submaster meant I had the ability to screen the film easily and in full resolution on any HD monitor. This brings us back to the preview screening at the Mill Gallery: When I left that first screening I thought of Guy’s Movie Night at my friend Daev’s place in Santa Cruz. Weeks before, as noted here, we watched Live Free or Die Hard there, projected from a top-flight, fine-resolution Panasonic video projector onto a 120” diagonal screen.
A few phone calls and some coordination with Chip and another screening was organized. This one was smaller in audience than the Gallery preview, but all in attendance (who included Chip the director; Faye the producer; Matt the DP; Summer the art director; and Gina Marie the star) got to really see the film for the first time in it’s finest, most artistically true form: 10 feet wide, in insanely detailed 1080i, straight from the HDV submaster.
The subtleties of the production could be easily seen in this screening, elements that due to presentation difficulties were hard to see in the preview screening. The clarity of the image complemented the subtle acting in the longer scenes, and made the short montages more startling and lively. Summer’s art direction also became readily apparent, and the level of detail her department put into it was remarkable. the custom-made text on medicine bottles and written forms were easily read: the prop and furnishing placements were also proportional and realistic.
It was nice to be able to facilitate a screening that immersed the filmmakers so throughly in the world of their creation. If anything, it showcased what is possible with High Definition cinema: the technology now exists to allow independent filmmakers to produce images on par with their high-budget kin.
Next up: The SCFF premiere. This phase could prove quite interesting…
–Skot