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Author
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Topic: Film festival information wanted
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Gunnar Johansson
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 181
From: Gothenburg, Sweden
Registered: Mar 2003
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posted 02-24-2007 10:37 AM
Hi, everybody!
The 30th Gothenburg International Film Festival is now over for this year (although it was the 29th because they skipped the 13th, and it was it's 28th year) and I was assistant technician this year, doing a lot of installations, driving (got my driver's license just a few days before) and over all technical help (oh, and getting diner for busy projectionists). We showed some 350 movies in about 700 screenings total, for 10 days. Now I know there is a lot of people out there doing festivals and special screenings and events and I have some questions that I hope you can help me with.
-What formats do you accept? We have all formats for 35 mm, can do 70 mm, anamorphic DigiBeta and DVcam (and minicam) though no VHS or DVD (unless absolutely necessary like a Turkish print with no subtitles...) Do you specify this beforehand to presumptive screeners?
-What information do you give to film makers? (Like we only run film in 24 fps, and not 25, which seemingly many filmmakers like). Only one version on the "video" and it is to be the final cut and nothing else. Test signal before, and black screen, and what about sound format on "video"? It's bad enough with all different formats that people can put on a 35mm print, but they do even weirder things with sound on "video"...
-How do you inspect and make-up prints? We have a central screening for formats, sound, condition, completeness etc. We also screen the "videos" to see format and where it starts and ends... But prints are made up by the first projectionist, adjusting the note and adding c/o cues or what needs and makes a comment of condition for insurance purposes, and the prints are carried around on 1800m reels until break down by the last projectionist.
-Are you thinking of expanding formats? There is a lot coming, where should the festivals be? Forefront or only tried, tested and true formats?
-What kind of setup do you have? Number of screens, possible formats at each, platter/c/o, central make up/break down. We had 14 screens, with a lot of singles (some regular theatres) one multiplex where we used 4 out of 14 screens, and some temporary installs. We can't do all formats everywhere (which the people booking screenings unfortunately don't always grasp) and some can only do 35mm. No really good digital projectors except for one rented for Draken the premier flag ship theatre.
-General advice? I'm going to be the "chief" technician (or at least the one answering to "the big wigs" next year and I ask if you have any advice from years of experience.
If I think of anything else I'll add it later.
Grateful for all help.
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Scott Norwood
Film God
Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 02-24-2007 02:52 PM
For the film festivals with which I have been involved, there is usually a section on the entry form for "screening format" and "aspect ratio." Many filmmakers get either or both of these wrong or send in multiple formats (I've seen one film arrive in 35mm, Beta SP, and DVD for the same festival). Be sure to keep in close contact with the programmer and print trafficker.
In the US, Beta SP and Digi-Beta (NTSC only) are the most common video formats for festival screenings. Get the DVW-A500 or J30 deck and you can play back both of those (and PAL on the J30) with one player. HDCAM is also used and its popularity is increasing. Be sure to find out frame rate and progressive/interlace before accepting HDCAM. Avoid DVD if possible. It sucks as a presentation format and many home-burnt DVDs aren't authored properly and/or don't play on all players and/or need something special done to them to show them properly (e.g. subtitles turned on). DVCAM is OK if necessary, but the picture quality sucks compared to the other formats. VHS is absolutely unacceptable (this is 2007).
I would love to be able to specify that everything have bars and tone and countdowns, but all tapes seem to be different. You will need to have someone "inspect" the tapes by fast-forwarding through them and checking picture and sound. Also, take notes on starting and ending timecode values. Cue the tapes to just after the 2-pop and most decks will stop a few frames later when the tape is loaded (though DVCAM decks actually put you several frames _before_ the spot where the tape was cued).
If you are showing a shorts program, you might want to combine the shorts onto one tape (assuming that all are video) and make sure that they are all either anamorphic or non-anamorphic.
For film, pretty much everyone takes 35mm and should be able to accept Academy, 1.66, 1.85, and scope at 24fps. Some European films (esp. from Germany) are 25fps and we show them at 24fps (I've never done a festival in a venue with variable speed capability). Some take 16mm. Be sure to specify that all film must have a composite optical track (unless you are equipped for commag or sepmag playback or 16mm DTS or super-35 with SRD track only).
I used to work for a festival that had two changeover houses. I inspected prints ahead of time and they were kept tails out on shipping reels/cores and hand-carried between venues. Inspection reports stayed with the prints. At another festival, in a single platter house (multiplex), we make everything up onto 6000' reels (try to borrow some from other theatres if you don't have a good supply) and make up and break down onto the platters as needed. This place has an automation system, but we only used end-of-show cues; everything else was done manually.
These methods have worked for me. Hope this helps.
One more comment: with video sound, be sure to specify whether or not you can do noise reduction (all Beta SP players can do Dolby C, but I've seen tapes with SR that require an outboard decoder; you can do this easily with a custom format on a CP500) or Dolby E (which requires a DMA-8).
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