I have a fest I am planning to enter. If I get in, it could be shown a theater screen. They require a "Digital Cinema Package", I started doing some reading. It does not sound super difficult to build.
Any pointers, notes or caveats?
Post-Production : Digital Cinema Package by Wayne Hazle
Digital Cinema Package
Other topics in Post-Production:
Check out Trending Discussions
Register / Log In
If it's a whole movie (as opposed to a trailer), I'd have a professional post house do it - that way the sound level is consistent throughout the movie - as well as picture/color levels. Once it's done, they should have a screening room that you can watch the whole thing in at full volume to test it out (and if you see any irregularities, they can fix it then and there). You never know who is in the audience! Yes, it's more money you have to dish out, but after all the work you did, it would be sad it the sound/picture levels are off with a live audience... Just my twi cents :)
P.S. Just in case you still want to do it yourself, the best free DCP maker is DCP-O-MATIC. That's coming from my friend who used to do dailies.
Hi, Wayne. I'm knowledgeable about both DCP-O-MATIC and DCPs, having made hundreds of them while I was employed at the Hamilton Movie Theater as Chief Projectionist and IT Specialist. Each year, we presented three festivals. I was fortunate to work on the Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour, the International Documentary Film Festival Flahertiana - "The Flaherty", as most veterans call it, and the Slater Brothers Entertainment's Hamilton International Film Festival.
I'll point out that if you are going the DIY route make sure that you fully understand the naming convention for the file you create - as a projectionist will use this information to configure the projector and digital cinema processor for the correct output.
If there is a DIY caveat, it is this; unless the film is very short in length you will want to use a powerful computer. In my experience, what took two hours to grind out on our General Manager's business computer in the theater's office where he had DCP-O-MATIC installed, I was able to run through my studio rig in twenty minutes using the same program.
After my time in the booth learning how to make content for digital cinema distribution and playback for my own movie projects, I set up iDCP to make digital cinema packages for filmmakers at an affordable rate.
p.s. I'd be happy to share my experience in an article for the community.
OMG, thank you for such fantastic information James Wunderlich! Yes, I was thinking the same thing! Your response sounds like a great start to a Stage 32 blog post :-D If that's of interest to you, definitely reach out to our Director of Content, Taylor C. Baker: taylor@stage32.com
Thanks! I'll get in touch with Taylor. Should be fun.