After doing some reading I think a 3 channel mix (dialogue from centre) is the minimum requirement for DCP. I'll ask more questions and get back here.
I've already told you that 3.0 is the minimum for DCP and the threads I linked to in my last post explain why.
He was pretty good and the final DoP was Oscar nominated (the second one when the first one pulled out). Budget was about 12 grand from recollection.
Whether you like it or not, stereo is not and has never been a film format. To the point that a film with a stereo soundtrack is not considered to be a film by many. For example, the Academy will not accept an Oscar nomination for a "film" with a stereo soundtrack. As an analogy, let's say you design a two wheeled car. There's no problem with that until you try to sell your design to a car manufacturer or to exhibit it at a car show. You can call your two wheeled car whatever you like but as far as the industry is concerned what you have is not a car but a motorbike!
For some reason, extreme low budget indie film makers particularly those here on indietalk seem fixated with, to the point of not even questioning, the use of stereo sound. I'm not really sure why this is, maybe its the influence of no budget youtube videos or that stereo used to be the standard for TV broadcast or maybe it's that the vast majority of consumer and professional audio equipment is aimed at the music market, where stereo has been the de facto standard for more than 40 years. Also, maybe too many are predominantly interested in the visual aspects of film making to consider the audio format question. Whatever the reason, this fixation with stereo for films is completely misplaced, which is not much of a problem when dealing with YouTube or other internet distribution channels or when dealing with the smaller film festivals but it's going to bite you in the ar$e when you start trying to get into the commercial world of film making or even when entering the more major film festivals.
I didn't expect my contribution to this thread to head it in this direction! I've been in the industry for 20 years and work almost exclusively with film/content creators making commercial products. Even though my work was for TV broadcast at the time, the demands of my clients forced me into surround sound in 1998, as the higher budget TV drama world adopted the audio format which had been the standard in the film world since the late 1970's. I find it more than a little weird to be discussing an issue which hasn't been a hot topic for over a decade in the TV world and has never been a hot topic in the film world. BTW, the equivalent hot topic in the film world was in the 1960's and 70's but the hot topic was about how to jump from mono to a multi-channel format (which included a centre speaker). So, I just wanted to know how film makers with little or no budget dealt with the problem of creating a multi-channel mix for distribution, rather than getting embroiled in arguing why stereo is not an acceptable audio format for theatrical exhibition. The solution is simple if you don't believe me, go to IMDb, look in the technical specs section and see if you can find a theatrically released film which has a stereo soundtrack.
G
