submission format: Blue ray? or DCP?
- Thread starter chlsy8
- Start date
'For your consideration' screeners are generally done as low-quality online screeners through Withoutabox, or on DVD. If your film is selected, you provide a screening copy. The higher profile festivals often only accept DCP or 35mm print for screening, some also accept HDCAM.
I would never submit a 'work-in-progress' or 'workprint' to a festival, and have never once heard of them requesting edits for acceptance. Festivals like Sundance receive 10,000-20,000 films per year, if there's one where the edit doesn't work, they'll simply move on to the next one. There are so many amazing films that don't get selected every year - they're not going to spend the time requesting different edits from you, when they can just as easily use another film.
I would never submit a 'work-in-progress' or 'workprint' to a festival, and have never once heard of them requesting edits for acceptance. Festivals like Sundance receive 10,000-20,000 films per year, if there's one where the edit doesn't work, they'll simply move on to the next one. There are so many amazing films that don't get selected every year - they're not going to spend the time requesting different edits from you, when they can just as easily use another film.
DCPs are encoded at the film rate of 24fps rather than the video rate of 23.976fps, I'm not sure it's even possible to make a DCP using the video frame rate. Changing to 24fps if filming/editing has taken place at 23.976fps is likely to cause sync problems with the audio. Plus, all the DCPs destined projects I've worked on were broken down into reels, just like 35mm film, I'm not quite sure why though.
The other consideration is that DCP requires a minimum 3.0 audio mix (L, C, R). The other two most common formats for screening at the major festivals (35mm film and sometimes HDCAM) require at least a 4.0 audio mix (L, C, R, S). By far the most common audio format for the major festivals though is 5.1.
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There is no stereo sound for film and never has been. Stereo format was the previous standard for TV broadcast and is still the standard for music (LP, CD and MP3, etc) distribution. Stereo only works in headphones and small rooms, so it was fine for home use but useless for theatrical release/screening.
The question really shouldn't be "major festivals don't take films with stereo sound?" but why do minor film festivals take films with stereo sound? The answer is cost, most small film festivals don't take place in cinemas but some other space not specifically designed for film screening and it's expensive to hire in and set up a 5.1 system. Of course the selection process (even for major festivals) is carried out on TVs or maybe even computers, so a stereo mix is usually fine for submission, it's only for screening that a multichannel mix is required. A Dolby Digital mix will automatically down mix to stereo on a TV or computer without 5.1 though, so even for submission for selection to the major festivals most entries will have a 5.1 mix.
G
The question really shouldn't be "major festivals don't take films with stereo sound?" but why do minor film festivals take films with stereo sound? The answer is cost, most small film festivals don't take place in cinemas but some other space not specifically designed for film screening and it's expensive to hire in and set up a 5.1 system. Of course the selection process (even for major festivals) is carried out on TVs or maybe even computers, so a stereo mix is usually fine for submission, it's only for screening that a multichannel mix is required. A Dolby Digital mix will automatically down mix to stereo on a TV or computer without 5.1 though, so even for submission for selection to the major festivals most entries will have a 5.1 mix.
G