Finishing

At the beginning of this book, we talked about how much has changed in the 10 years since we wrote the first edition. Digital filmmaking has indeed become better, cheaper, and easier. In fact, it’s also become more digital.

Thankfully, the film finishing process has finally started to see the benefits of digital technology. Nowadays, postproduction stays digital and file-based until the very last step of the finishing process, whether you are finishing on 35mm film, HDCAM, or a highly compressed QuickTime movie intended to play on smart phones. And digital image quality standards continue to improve. A few years ago, 4K was the terrain of highly specialized CGI animations, today we have cameras that shoot 4K, digital cinema projectors that can display it, and there is talk of 6K on the horizon.

That said, many films that are released theatrically at the time of this writing are still screened as 35mm film prints. And most projects broadcast on television or distributed through video- on-demand services are still delivered on digital videotape. DVDs are still the most popular distribution format for viewing copies of your film and also for individual sales. File-based delivery is still primarily the territory of streaming or downloadable media on the Web.

But what about digital cinema projection? Many films that are projected digitally in theaters are still printed on 35mm film or mastered to HDCAM-SR videotape before they are converted to the DCI format used in file-based digital projection. And if a film is to be screened outside of major U.S. cities, the odds are high that a 35mm film print will be required since many smaller cities and towns do not have theaters with digital projection yet. So even though many big studio films are delivered digitally to certain theaters in major cities, they still need 35mm prints to screen everywhere else.

If this all sounds a bit awkward, it is because we are still in a transitional period, technologically speaking. But digital cinema projection and file-based delivery of feature films to theaters is becoming increasingly more common. DVD may still dominate as the household player of choice, but Blu-ray offers a much higher quality alternative, and it’s pretty safe to assume that both will become obsolete as streaming technologies and cloud storage options improve. In the near future, file-based delivery will be the norm for all types of media.

At the high end of finishing (file-based digital cinema, 35mm film prints, HD digital videotape masters), you’ll need to enlist the help of a postproduction facility, and they will handle some of the harder, technical tasks for you. At the mid to low end of finishing, you’ll have the option of doing it yourself—creating Blu-ray Discs, DVDs, and video for the Web, whether for streaming or to download. Of course, there are postproduction facilities that will be happy to do this work for you as well, if your budget allows.

Navigating the film finishing process is tricky, and there are two questions to answer. What type of masters do you need and how will you go about getting them? These are not simple questions, but in this chapter we’ll do our best to teach you how to answer them.