Film-out
Encyclopedia
Film-out is the process in the computer graphics
, video production
and filmmaking
disciplines of transferring images or animation
from videotape
or digital files to a traditional film print. "Film-out" is a broad term that encompasses the conversion of frame rates, color correction, as well as the actual printing, also called scanning or recording
.
The film-out process is different depending on the regional standard of the master videotape in question – NTSC
, PAL
, or SECAM
– or likewise on the several emerging region-independent formats of high definition
video (HD video); thus each type is covered separately, taking into account regional film-out industries, methods and technical considerations.
and low-budget films are shot on videotape or other digital video
media, instead of film stock
, and completed as digital video. Video production
means substantially lower costs than 16 mm or 35 mm film production on all levels. Until recently, the relatively low cost of video ended when the issue of a theatrical presentation was raised, which required a print for film projection. With the growing presence of digital projection, this is becoming less of a factor.
Film (sound film, at least) has remained unchanged for almost a century and creates the illusion of moving images through the rapid projection of still images, "frames", upon a screen, typically 24 per second. Traditional interlaced SD video has no real frame rate, (though the term "frame" is applied to video, it has a different meaning). Instead, video consists of a very fast succession of horizontal lines that continually cascade down the television screen – streaming top to bottom, before jumping back to the top and then streaming down to the bottom again, repeatedly, almost 60 alternating screen-fulls every second for NTSC, or exactly 50 such screen-fulls per second for PAL and SECAM. Since visual movement in video is infused in this continuous cascade of scans lines, there is no discrete image or real "frame" that can be identified at any one time. Therefore, when transferring video to film, it is necessary to "invent" individual film frames, 24 for every second of elapsed time. The bulk of the work done by a film-out company is this first step, creating film frames out of the stream of interlaced video.
Each company employs its own (often proprietary) technology for turning interlaced video into high-resolution digital video files of 24 discrete images every second, called 24 progressive video or 24p. The technology must filter out all the visually unappealing artifacting that results from the inherent mismatch between video and film movement. Moreover, the conversion process usually requires human intervention at every edit point of a video program, so that each type of scene can be calibrated for maximum visual quality. The use of archival footage in video especially calls for extra attention.
Step two, the "scanning" to film, is the rote part of the process. This is the mechanical step where lasers "print" each of the newly created frames of the 24p video, stored on computer files or HD videotape, onto rolls of 35 mm film.
Most companies that do film-out, do all the stages of the process themselves for a lump sum. The job includes converting interlaced video into 24p and often a color correction session – (calibrating the image for theatrical projection
), before scanning to physical film, (possibly followed by color correction of the film print made from the digital intermediary
) – is offered. At the very least, film-out can be understood as the process of converting interlaced video to 24p and then scanning it to film.
is the most challenging of the formats when it comes to standards conversion and, specifically, converting to film prints. NTSC runs at the approximate rate of 29.97 video "frames" (consisting of two interlaced screen-fulls of scan lines, called fields, per frame) per second. In this way, NTSC resolves actual live action
movement at almost – but not quite – 60 alternating half-resolution images every second. Because of this 29.97 rate, no direct correlation to film frames at 24 frames per second
can be achieved. NTSC is hardest to reconcile with film, thus motivates its own unique processes.
and SECAM
run at 25 interlaced video "frames" per second, which can be slowed down or frame-dropped, then deinterlaced, to correlate "frame" for frame with film running at 24 actual frames per second. PAL and SECAM are less complex and demanding than NTSC for film-out. PAL and SECAM conversions do agitate, though, with the unpleasant choice between slowing down video (and audio pitch, noticeably) by four percent, from 25 to 24 frames per second, in order to maintain a 1:1 frame match, slightly changing the rhythm and "feel" of the program; or maintaining original speed by periodically dropping frames, thereby creating jerkiness and possible loss of vital detail in fast-moving action or precise edits.
digital video can be shot at a variety a frame rates, including 29.97 interlaced (like NTSC) or progressive; or 25 interlaced (like PAL) or progressive; or even 24-progressive (just like film). HD, if shot in 24-progressive, scans nearly perfectly to film without the need of a frame or field conversion process. Other issues remain though, based on the different resolutions, color spaces
, and compression schemes that exist in the high-definition video world.
animation
computer
s create pictures frame by frame. Once the finished product is done, the frames are outputted, normally in a DPX
file. These picture data files can then be put on to film
using a film recorder
for film out. SGI
computers started the high-end CGI-Computer-generated imagery
animation stystems, but with faster computers and the growth of Linux
-based systems, many others are on the market now. Toy Story
, and Tarzan
are two samples of movies which were made in CGI and then film-out. The most CGI work is done in 2K Display resolution
files (about the size of QXGA), but 4K Display resolution
is on the rise. A 2K movie requires a Storage Area Network
storage several terabytes in size to be properly stored and played out.
Computer graphics files are handled the same way but in single frames and may use DPX
, TIFF or other file format
s.
is the last step of Digital intermediate
work flow. DPX
files that were scanned on a Motion picture film scanner
are stored on a Storage area network
-SAN. The scanned DPX footage is edited and composited-FX
on workstation
s, then mastered back on film. Film restoration is also done this way.
are almost gone. Digital camera
s can now shoot all the images needed, storing them as files (e.g. JPEG, DPX
or another format
) that are readily edited prior to use. Once the final copy
is approved, it can be filmed out for publishing
. Digital stills are not the only way to get pictures used in the graphic design and print industries. Film scanners
and computer graphics programs
are also common sources for graphic design and print industries.
, which can then be recorded out to fine-grain film intermediate with a laser film printer. The first major live-action film to use this process entirely was O Brother Where Art Thou, done by Kodak's Cinesite division in Hollywood in the spring of 2000. Prior to this, the video master was transferred from tape to film through one of several methods: CRT recorder, laser film printer, Kinescope
, or electron beam recorder (EBR). Theater performances have been preserved with Kinescope for many years – the 1964 New York production of Hamlet
with Richard Burton
, for example, was shot on video and printed as a film that was released in movie theater
s using this process. Fernando Arrabal
was the first to use the technique of video-to-film for aesthetic purposes, for the 1971 film Viva la muerte, which used heavily color-adjusted video footage only for the fantasy sequences. Experimental filmmaker Scott Bartlett
also utilized video footage and effects for portions of his 1972 film OffOn
, by filming such with a 16 mm film camera off of a video monitor.
Technicolor
also experimented in the early 1970s with using video gear & videotape to make feaure-length motion pictures with, by transferring the videotape to film for final release and distribution. Films made with this process were the 1973 film Why, the 1971 film The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler, and the most famous film using this process, Frank Zappa
's 1971 film 200 Motels
, which was originally shot on 2 inch Quadruplex videotape
, and then transferred to film by Technicolor, being the first independent film originally to be shot on videotape and distributed theatrically in 35 mm.
Also, countless educational, medical, industrial, and promotional videotapes produced from the late 1950s up to the mid-1980s were also transferred to film stock (usually 16 mm film) for widespread distribution, using either an EBR or CRT recorder. This was done due to VCRs and VTRs then not being commonplace in most schools, hospitals, boardrooms, and other institutional settings, due to their high cost and the multitudes of proprietary (and incompatible) open-reel, cartridge, & cassette videotape formats in the early years of industrial-market videotape recorders starting in the mid-to-late 1960s. But 16 mm projectors were widely available at the time in such settings, making distribution of such video productions on 16 mm film more practical. This was the case until the mid-1980s, when the VCR became affordable enough (and much more standardized in the form of VHS
and Betamax
) to be adopted in such institutional settings on a widespread basis.
Digital video
equipment has made this approach easier; theatrical-release documentaries and features originated on video are now being produced this way. High Definition
video became popular in the early 2000s by pioneering filmmakers like George Lucas
and Robert Rodriguez
, who used HD video cameras (such as the Sony
HDW-F900) to capture images for popular movies like Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones and Spy Kids 2, respectively, both released in 2002.
Independent film
makers, especially those participating in the Dogme movement of filmmaking, have also shot their films on MiniDV videotape, to be transferred to 35 mm film stock for theatrical release. Some examples of independent movies being shot on videotape are Lone Scherfig
's Italian For Beginners
(a Dogme film), Steven Soderbergh
's Full Frontal
(which was shot on PAL
-standard MiniDV gear in the normally NTSC
-prevalent US, due to its higher resolution of 625 lines and frame rate of 25 frame/s (as opposed to NTSC's 525 line resolution and 30 frame/s frame rate), more closely matching film's 24 frame/s), and Mike Figgis
' Timecode
.
Arrilaser
film recorder
s are also used for film-out.
Computer graphics
Computer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....
, video production
Video production
Video production is videography, the process of capturing moving images on electronic media even streaming media. The term includes methods of production and post-production...
and filmmaking
Filmmaking
Filmmaking is the process of making a film, from an initial story, idea, or commission, through scriptwriting, casting, shooting, directing, editing, and screening the finished product before an audience that may result in a theatrical release or television program...
disciplines of transferring images or animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
from videotape
Videotape
A videotape is a recording of images and sounds on to magnetic tape as opposed to film stock or random access digital media. Videotapes are also used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram...
or digital files to a traditional film print. "Film-out" is a broad term that encompasses the conversion of frame rates, color correction, as well as the actual printing, also called scanning or recording
Film recorder
A Film Recorder is a graphical output device for transferring digital images to photographic film.All film recorders typically work in the same manner. The image is fed from a host computer as a raster stream over a digital interface...
.
The film-out process is different depending on the regional standard of the master videotape in question – NTSC
NTSC
NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...
, PAL
PAL
PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
, or SECAM
SECAM
SECAM, also written SÉCAM , is an analog color television system first used in France....
– or likewise on the several emerging region-independent formats of high definition
High-definition video
High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels or 1,920×1,080 pixels...
video (HD video); thus each type is covered separately, taking into account regional film-out industries, methods and technical considerations.
Film-out of live action video
Many modern documentariesDocumentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
and low-budget films are shot on videotape or other digital video
Digital video
Digital video is a type of digital recording system that works by using a digital rather than an analog video signal.The terms camera, video camera, and camcorder are used interchangeably in this article.- History :...
media, instead of film stock
Film stock
Film stock is photographic film on which filmmaking of motion pictures are shot and reproduced. The equivalent in television production is video tape.-1889–1899:...
, and completed as digital video. Video production
Video production
Video production is videography, the process of capturing moving images on electronic media even streaming media. The term includes methods of production and post-production...
means substantially lower costs than 16 mm or 35 mm film production on all levels. Until recently, the relatively low cost of video ended when the issue of a theatrical presentation was raised, which required a print for film projection. With the growing presence of digital projection, this is becoming less of a factor.
Standard definition (SD) video
Film-out of standard-definition video – or any source that has an incompatible frame rate – is the up-conversion of video media to film for theatrical viewing. The video-to-film conversion process consists of two major steps: first, the conversion of video into film frames which are then stored on a computer or on HD videotape, and secondly, the printing of these digital film frames onto physical 35 mm film. To understand these two steps, it is important to understand how video and film differ.Film (sound film, at least) has remained unchanged for almost a century and creates the illusion of moving images through the rapid projection of still images, "frames", upon a screen, typically 24 per second. Traditional interlaced SD video has no real frame rate, (though the term "frame" is applied to video, it has a different meaning). Instead, video consists of a very fast succession of horizontal lines that continually cascade down the television screen – streaming top to bottom, before jumping back to the top and then streaming down to the bottom again, repeatedly, almost 60 alternating screen-fulls every second for NTSC, or exactly 50 such screen-fulls per second for PAL and SECAM. Since visual movement in video is infused in this continuous cascade of scans lines, there is no discrete image or real "frame" that can be identified at any one time. Therefore, when transferring video to film, it is necessary to "invent" individual film frames, 24 for every second of elapsed time. The bulk of the work done by a film-out company is this first step, creating film frames out of the stream of interlaced video.
Each company employs its own (often proprietary) technology for turning interlaced video into high-resolution digital video files of 24 discrete images every second, called 24 progressive video or 24p. The technology must filter out all the visually unappealing artifacting that results from the inherent mismatch between video and film movement. Moreover, the conversion process usually requires human intervention at every edit point of a video program, so that each type of scene can be calibrated for maximum visual quality. The use of archival footage in video especially calls for extra attention.
Step two, the "scanning" to film, is the rote part of the process. This is the mechanical step where lasers "print" each of the newly created frames of the 24p video, stored on computer files or HD videotape, onto rolls of 35 mm film.
Most companies that do film-out, do all the stages of the process themselves for a lump sum. The job includes converting interlaced video into 24p and often a color correction session – (calibrating the image for theatrical projection
Color grading
Color grading or colour painting, is the process of altering and enhancing the color of a motion picture, video image, or still image either electronically, photo-chemically or digitally. The photo-chemical process is also referred to as color timing and is typically performed at a photographic...
), before scanning to physical film, (possibly followed by color correction of the film print made from the digital intermediary
Digital intermediate
Digital intermediate is a motion picture finishing process which classically involves digitizing a motion picture and manipulating the color and other image characteristics. It often replaces or augments the photochemical timing process and is usually the final creative adjustment to a movie...
) – is offered. At the very least, film-out can be understood as the process of converting interlaced video to 24p and then scanning it to film.
NTSC video
NTSCNTSC
NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...
is the most challenging of the formats when it comes to standards conversion and, specifically, converting to film prints. NTSC runs at the approximate rate of 29.97 video "frames" (consisting of two interlaced screen-fulls of scan lines, called fields, per frame) per second. In this way, NTSC resolves actual live action
Live action
In filmmaking, video production, and other media, the term live action refers to cinematography, videography not produced using animation...
movement at almost – but not quite – 60 alternating half-resolution images every second. Because of this 29.97 rate, no direct correlation to film frames at 24 frames per second
Frame rate
Frame rate is the frequency at which an imaging device produces unique consecutive images called frames. The term applies equally well to computer graphics, video cameras, film cameras, and motion capture systems...
can be achieved. NTSC is hardest to reconcile with film, thus motivates its own unique processes.
PAL and SECAM video
PALPAL
PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
and SECAM
SECAM
SECAM, also written SÉCAM , is an analog color television system first used in France....
run at 25 interlaced video "frames" per second, which can be slowed down or frame-dropped, then deinterlaced, to correlate "frame" for frame with film running at 24 actual frames per second. PAL and SECAM are less complex and demanding than NTSC for film-out. PAL and SECAM conversions do agitate, though, with the unpleasant choice between slowing down video (and audio pitch, noticeably) by four percent, from 25 to 24 frames per second, in order to maintain a 1:1 frame match, slightly changing the rhythm and "feel" of the program; or maintaining original speed by periodically dropping frames, thereby creating jerkiness and possible loss of vital detail in fast-moving action or precise edits.
High definition (HD) digital video
High definitionHigh-definition video
High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels or 1,920×1,080 pixels...
digital video can be shot at a variety a frame rates, including 29.97 interlaced (like NTSC) or progressive; or 25 interlaced (like PAL) or progressive; or even 24-progressive (just like film). HD, if shot in 24-progressive, scans nearly perfectly to film without the need of a frame or field conversion process. Other issues remain though, based on the different resolutions, color spaces
Color space
A color model is an abstract mathematical model describing the way colors can be represented as tuples of numbers, typically as three or four values or color components...
, and compression schemes that exist in the high-definition video world.
Film-out of computer graphics and animation
Artists working with CGI-Computer-generated imageryComputer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
s create pictures frame by frame. Once the finished product is done, the frames are outputted, normally in a DPX
DPX
Digital Picture Exchange is a common file format for digital intermediate and visual effects work and is an ANSI/SMPTE standard...
file. These picture data files can then be put on to film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
using a film recorder
Film recorder
A Film Recorder is a graphical output device for transferring digital images to photographic film.All film recorders typically work in the same manner. The image is fed from a host computer as a raster stream over a digital interface...
for film out. SGI
Silicon Graphics
Silicon Graphics, Inc. was a manufacturer of high-performance computing solutions, including computer hardware and software, founded in 1981 by Jim Clark...
computers started the high-end CGI-Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
animation stystems, but with faster computers and the growth of Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
-based systems, many others are on the market now. Toy Story
Toy Story
Toy Story is a 1995 American computer-animated film released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is Pixar's first feature film as well as the first ever feature film to be made entirely with CGI. The film was directed by John Lasseter and featuring the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen...
, and Tarzan
Tarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
are two samples of movies which were made in CGI and then film-out. The most CGI work is done in 2K Display resolution
Display resolution
The display resolution of a digital television or display device is the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed. It can be an ambiguous term especially as the displayed resolution is controlled by all different factors in cathode ray tube , flat panel or projection...
files (about the size of QXGA), but 4K Display resolution
Display resolution
The display resolution of a digital television or display device is the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed. It can be an ambiguous term especially as the displayed resolution is controlled by all different factors in cathode ray tube , flat panel or projection...
is on the rise. A 2K movie requires a Storage Area Network
Storage area network
A storage area network is a dedicated network that provides access to consolidated, block level data storage. SANs are primarily used to make storage devices, such as disk arrays, tape libraries, and optical jukeboxes, accessible to servers so that the devices appear like locally attached devices...
storage several terabytes in size to be properly stored and played out.
Computer graphics files are handled the same way but in single frames and may use DPX
DPX
Digital Picture Exchange is a common file format for digital intermediate and visual effects work and is an ANSI/SMPTE standard...
, TIFF or other file format
File format
A file format is a particular way that information is encoded for storage in a computer file.Since a disk drive, or indeed any computer storage, can store only bits, the computer must have some way of converting information to 0s and 1s and vice-versa. There are different kinds of formats for...
s.
Film-out of Digital intermediate
Film-out-recordingFilm recorder
A Film Recorder is a graphical output device for transferring digital images to photographic film.All film recorders typically work in the same manner. The image is fed from a host computer as a raster stream over a digital interface...
is the last step of Digital intermediate
Digital intermediate
Digital intermediate is a motion picture finishing process which classically involves digitizing a motion picture and manipulating the color and other image characteristics. It often replaces or augments the photochemical timing process and is usually the final creative adjustment to a movie...
work flow. DPX
DPX
Digital Picture Exchange is a common file format for digital intermediate and visual effects work and is an ANSI/SMPTE standard...
files that were scanned on a Motion picture film scanner
Motion picture film scanner
A motion picture film scanner is a device used in digital filmmaking to scan original film for storage as high-resolution digital intermediate files.A film scanner scans original film stock: negative or positive print or reversal/IP...
are stored on a Storage area network
Storage area network
A storage area network is a dedicated network that provides access to consolidated, block level data storage. SANs are primarily used to make storage devices, such as disk arrays, tape libraries, and optical jukeboxes, accessible to servers so that the devices appear like locally attached devices...
-SAN. The scanned DPX footage is edited and composited-FX
Special effect
The illusions used in the film, television, theatre, or entertainment industries to simulate the imagined events in a story are traditionally called special effects ....
on workstation
Workstation
A workstation is a high-end microcomputer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by one person at a time, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems...
s, then mastered back on film. Film restoration is also done this way.
Film-out of images for the graphic design and print industries
The days of newspapers and magazines shooting 35mm filmFilm
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
are almost gone. Digital camera
Digital camera
A digital camera is a camera that takes video or still photographs, or both, digitally by recording images via an electronic image sensor. It is the main device used in the field of digital photography...
s can now shoot all the images needed, storing them as files (e.g. JPEG, DPX
DPX
Digital Picture Exchange is a common file format for digital intermediate and visual effects work and is an ANSI/SMPTE standard...
or another format
Image file formats
Image file formats are standardized means of organizing and storing digital images. Image files are composed of either pixels, vector data, or a combination of the two. Whatever the format, the files are rasterized to pixels when displayed on most graphic displays...
) that are readily edited prior to use. Once the final copy
Copy (written)
Copy refers to written material, in contrast to photographs or other elements of layout, in a large number of contexts, including magazines, advertising, and book publishing....
is approved, it can be filmed out for publishing
Publishing
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...
. Digital stills are not the only way to get pictures used in the graphic design and print industries. Film scanners
Motion picture film scanner
A motion picture film scanner is a device used in digital filmmaking to scan original film for storage as high-resolution digital intermediate files.A film scanner scans original film stock: negative or positive print or reversal/IP...
and computer graphics programs
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
are also common sources for graphic design and print industries.
Types of Film Out Devices
- CRTCathode ray tubeThe cathode ray tube is a vacuum tube containing an electron gun and a fluorescent screen used to view images. It has a means to accelerate and deflect the electron beam onto the fluorescent screen to create the images. The image may represent electrical waveforms , pictures , radar targets and...
recorder. Camera and a special TV display- KinescopeKinescopeKinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor...
– early type
- Kinescope
- Electronic Video RecordingElectronic Video RecordingElectronic Video Recording, or EVR, was a film-based video recording format developed by Hungarian-born engineer Peter Carl Goldmark at CBS Laboratories in the 1960s....
or EVR – early type - EBR Electron Beam Film Recorder 16 mm by 3M
- Laser film recorder, like Kodak's high-end Lightning II recorder and ArriArri-History:Arri was founded in Munich, Germany as Arnold & Richter Cine Technik in 1917, named after founders August Arnold and Robert Richter. They produce professional motion picture equipment, digital and film cameras and cinematic lighting equipment...
's ArrilaserArrilaserThe Arrilaser is a digital film recorder made by Arri which writes digital movie files onto film after compositing and audio mastering on the computer. Files are sent to the device via a fast gigabit Ethernet connection. The Arrilaser uses three solid-state lasers as a light source, and...
. - DLP Film recorder, like Cinevation's real-time CinevatorCinevatorCinevator is a series of real time film recorder/printers produced by the Norwegian company Cinevation. Cinevation AS is based in Drammen, Norway. The Cinevator is currently available in three versions:...
.
History
Lately it has become possible to transfer video images, including films scanned at high resolution, back to film stocks by making a digital intermediateDigital intermediate
Digital intermediate is a motion picture finishing process which classically involves digitizing a motion picture and manipulating the color and other image characteristics. It often replaces or augments the photochemical timing process and is usually the final creative adjustment to a movie...
, which can then be recorded out to fine-grain film intermediate with a laser film printer. The first major live-action film to use this process entirely was O Brother Where Art Thou, done by Kodak's Cinesite division in Hollywood in the spring of 2000. Prior to this, the video master was transferred from tape to film through one of several methods: CRT recorder, laser film printer, Kinescope
Kinescope
Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor...
, or electron beam recorder (EBR). Theater performances have been preserved with Kinescope for many years – the 1964 New York production of Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
with Richard Burton
Richard Burton
Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...
, for example, was shot on video and printed as a film that was released in movie theater
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
s using this process. Fernando Arrabal
Fernando Arrabal
Fernando Arrabal Terán is a Spanish playwright, screenwriter, film director, novelist and poet. He settled in France in 1955, he describes himself as “desterrado,” or “half-expatriate, half-exiled.”...
was the first to use the technique of video-to-film for aesthetic purposes, for the 1971 film Viva la muerte, which used heavily color-adjusted video footage only for the fantasy sequences. Experimental filmmaker Scott Bartlett
Scott Bartlett
Scott Bartlett was one of the premiere abstract experimental filmmakers of the late 1960s and the 1970s. His acclaimed work, such as his intense abstract 16mm movie Moon 1969, is greatly admired by many filmmakers, including Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas...
also utilized video footage and effects for portions of his 1972 film OffOn
OffOn
OffOn is an experimental film created by Scott Bartlett made in 1967 and released in 1972 . It is most notable for being one of the first examples in which film and video technologies were combined...
, by filming such with a 16 mm film camera off of a video monitor.
Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
also experimented in the early 1970s with using video gear & videotape to make feaure-length motion pictures with, by transferring the videotape to film for final release and distribution. Films made with this process were the 1973 film Why, the 1971 film The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler, and the most famous film using this process, Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
's 1971 film 200 Motels
200 Motels
200 Motels is a 1971 American-British musical surrealist film cowritten and directed by Frank Zappa and Tony Palmer and starring The Mothers of Invention, Theodore Bikel and Ringo Starr. The film covers a loose storyline about The Mothers of Invention going crazy in the small town Centerville...
, which was originally shot on 2 inch Quadruplex videotape
2 inch Quadruplex videotape
2-inch quadruplex videotape was the first practical and commercially successful analog recording videotape format. It was developed and released for the broadcast television industry in 1956 by Ampex, an American company based in Redwood City, California...
, and then transferred to film by Technicolor, being the first independent film originally to be shot on videotape and distributed theatrically in 35 mm.
Also, countless educational, medical, industrial, and promotional videotapes produced from the late 1950s up to the mid-1980s were also transferred to film stock (usually 16 mm film) for widespread distribution, using either an EBR or CRT recorder. This was done due to VCRs and VTRs then not being commonplace in most schools, hospitals, boardrooms, and other institutional settings, due to their high cost and the multitudes of proprietary (and incompatible) open-reel, cartridge, & cassette videotape formats in the early years of industrial-market videotape recorders starting in the mid-to-late 1960s. But 16 mm projectors were widely available at the time in such settings, making distribution of such video productions on 16 mm film more practical. This was the case until the mid-1980s, when the VCR became affordable enough (and much more standardized in the form of VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
and Betamax
Betamax
Betamax was a consumer-level analog videocassette magnetic tape recording format developed by Sony, released on May 10, 1975. The cassettes contain -wide videotape in a design similar to the earlier, professional wide, U-matic format...
) to be adopted in such institutional settings on a widespread basis.
Digital video
Digital video
Digital video is a type of digital recording system that works by using a digital rather than an analog video signal.The terms camera, video camera, and camcorder are used interchangeably in this article.- History :...
equipment has made this approach easier; theatrical-release documentaries and features originated on video are now being produced this way. High Definition
High-definition video
High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels or 1,920×1,080 pixels...
video became popular in the early 2000s by pioneering filmmakers like George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
and Robert Rodriguez
Robert Rodriguez
Robert Anthony Rodríguez is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, editor and musician. He shoots and produces many of his films in his native Texas and Mexico. He has directed such films as Desperado, From Dusk till Dawn, The Faculty, Spy Kids, Sin City, Planet...
, who used HD video cameras (such as the Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
HDW-F900) to capture images for popular movies like Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones and Spy Kids 2, respectively, both released in 2002.
Independent film
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
makers, especially those participating in the Dogme movement of filmmaking, have also shot their films on MiniDV videotape, to be transferred to 35 mm film stock for theatrical release. Some examples of independent movies being shot on videotape are Lone Scherfig
Lone Scherfig
Lone Scherfig is a Danish film director. She graduated in 1984, and began her career as a director with "A Birthday Trip". She is part of the Dogme 95 film movement, which espouses a form of cinéma vérité She made her mark with the Dogme95-film, Italian for Beginners , a romantic comedy which...
's Italian For Beginners
Italian for Beginners
Italian for Beginners is a 2000 Danish romantic comedy film written and directed by Lone Scherfig. The film stars Anders W. Berthelsen, Lars Kaalund and Peter Gantzler. The film was made by the austere principles of the Dogme 95 movement, including the use of hand held video cameras and natural...
(a Dogme film), Steven Soderbergh
Steven Soderbergh
Steven Andrew Soderbergh is an American film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, and an Academy Award-winning film director. He is best known for directing commercial Hollywood films like Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and the remake of Ocean's Eleven, but he has also directed smaller less...
's Full Frontal
Full Frontal
Full Frontal may refer to:* Full Frontal , an Australian sketch comedy series which debuted in 1993* Full Frontal , a 2001 film by Kyle Schickner* Full Frontal , a 2002 film by Steven Soderbergh...
(which was shot on PAL
PAL
PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
-standard MiniDV gear in the normally NTSC
NTSC
NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...
-prevalent US, due to its higher resolution of 625 lines and frame rate of 25 frame/s (as opposed to NTSC's 525 line resolution and 30 frame/s frame rate), more closely matching film's 24 frame/s), and Mike Figgis
Mike Figgis
Michael "Mike" Figgis is an English film director, writer, and composer.-Personal life:Figgis was born in Carlisle, England and grew up in Africa. Figgis for several years had a relationship with the actress Saffron Burrows and cast her in several films...
' Timecode
Timecode (film)
Timecode is a 2000 American experimental film directed by Mike Figgis.The film is constructed from four continuous 90-minute takes that were filmed simultaneously by four cameramen; the screen is divided into quarters and the four shots are shown simultaneously...
.
Arrilaser
Arrilaser
The Arrilaser is a digital film recorder made by Arri which writes digital movie files onto film after compositing and audio mastering on the computer. Files are sent to the device via a fast gigabit Ethernet connection. The Arrilaser uses three solid-state lasers as a light source, and...
film recorder
Film recorder
A Film Recorder is a graphical output device for transferring digital images to photographic film.All film recorders typically work in the same manner. The image is fed from a host computer as a raster stream over a digital interface...
s are also used for film-out.
See also
- 3D LUT3D LUTIn the film industry, 3D LUTs are used to calculate preview colors for a monitor or digital projector of how an image will be reproduced on the final film print. A 3D LUT is a 3D lattice of output color values. Each axis is one of the 3 input color components and the input color thus defines a...
- digital intermediateDigital intermediateDigital intermediate is a motion picture finishing process which classically involves digitizing a motion picture and manipulating the color and other image characteristics. It often replaces or augments the photochemical timing process and is usually the final creative adjustment to a movie...
- Film recorderFilm recorderA Film Recorder is a graphical output device for transferring digital images to photographic film.All film recorders typically work in the same manner. The image is fed from a host computer as a raster stream over a digital interface...
- Film scannerFilm scannerA film scanner is a device made for scanning photographic film directly into a computer without the use of any intermediate printmaking. It provides several benefits over using a flatbed scanner to scan in a print of any size: the photographer has direct control over cropping and aspect ratio from...
- Hard disk recorderHard disk recorderA hard disk recorder is a type of direct to disk recording system that uses a high-capacity hard disk to record digital audio or digital video. Hard disk recording systems represent an alternative to more traditional reel-to-reel tape or cassette multitrack systems, and provide editing...
- post production
- Tape-outTape-outIn electronics design, tape-out or tapeout is the final result of the design cycle for integrated circuits or printed circuit boards, the point at which the artwork for the photomask of a circuit is sent for manufacture....
- TelecineTelecineTelecine is transferring motion picture film into video and is performed in a color suite. The term is also used to refer to the equipment used in the post-production process....
- Virtual telecineVirtual telecineA virtual telecine is a piece of video equipment that can play back data files in real time. The colorist-video operator controls the virtual telecine like a normal telecine, although without controls like focus and framing. The data files can be from a Spirit DataCine, motion picture film scanner...