Best format to submit a short film

[PoconoPCDoctor]

I making a short film with my HV20 to be submitted to the Tropfest/Tribeca Film Festival. (http://www.tribecafilmfestival.org/t365-tropfest-feature.html)

On the form they ask for what Digital Video Aspect Ration will the film be in.

The choices are

1. 16:9 (Full-frame)
2. 16:9 (4:3 pillar-boxed)
3. Letterboxed

My question (I've never had a HD video camera or any video camera for that matter - so please forgive me if this is simple).

What aspect ratio should I shoot in?

Is one better or preferred over another?

Also, I have to submit a HDCAM (Sony 1080/59.94i) of my film. What is this?

Again, sorry for the noobie questions. I'll try to find out on my own as well.

PS - the deadline for my submission is 8/10/2007, so quick responses will be much appreciated.

Jim Lyons
http://poconopcdoctor.com

[deanodirector]

I'm not so sure myself but i'd go with 16:9 full frame and HDCAM is a professional video format. Sori i can't help so much but just seach for them in www.wikipedia.com

[Erik Bien]

Hi Jim,

I'd agree with deano; 16:9 full frame. You should be able to find a post house (or an obliging friend at a tv station) who can dub your HDV tape to HDCAM, but even the freakin' tapes (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?shs=hdcam+tape&ci=0&sb=ps&pn=1&sq=desc&InitialSearch=yes&O=product.jsp&A=search&Q=*&bhs=t) are expensive!

[nate108]

best format for competitions:
what ever the competition requires

for your HDCAM 1080/59.94i requirment you will have to pay a dub house or post production company to
transfer your footage.

what it is:
HDCAM is a sony HD tape format
1080/59.94i is a HD interlaced compression with NTSC/30 frames per sec. + drop frame
for televison broadcast.

for this you should shoot 16:9 and have an NTSC HV20 camera

best format in general:
is whatever you natively shot at
as this will give the best results.

best prefered format:
16:9 25p , 1080/50i :> (pal rules)

[PoconoPCDoctor]

"I have a bad feeling about this..."

Star Wars....Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and CGI characters...

Okey dokey. I might have to re-shoot everything so far, since I just was shooting in whatever the default OOB setting is.

Unless it happens to be 16:9, that is. C'est la HV20! :hv20-smilie02:

The HD-CAM requirement is only if they select my film for exhibition at the festival. I'll have 5 days to get it dubbed.




best format for competitions:
what ever the competition requires

for your HDCAM 1080/59.94i requirment you will have to pay a dub house or post production company to
transfer your footage.

what it is:
HDCAM is a sony HD tape format
1080/59.94i is a HD interlaced compression with NTSC/30 frames per sec. + drop frame
for televison broadcast.

for this you should shoot 16:9 and have an NTSC HV20 camera

best format in general:
is whatever you natively shot at
as this will give the best results.

best prefered format:
16:9 25p , 1080/50i :> (pal rules)

[PoconoPCDoctor]

Hi Jim,

I'd agree with deano; 16:9 full frame. You should be able to find a post house (or an obliging friend at a tv station) who can dub your HDV tape to HDCAM, but even the freakin' tapes (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?shs=hdcam+tape&ci=0&sb=ps&pn=1&sq=desc&InitialSearch=yes&O=product.jsp&A=search&Q=*&bhs=t) are expensive!

Thanks for that suggestion!

Actually, I used to work for World News Tonight in NYC and there might still be some people working there who should be able to dub it for me. They once did a "Ken Burns" video of all my still wedding pictures - with an Ikegami broadcast quality camera. It was cool. I guess I'll have to buy the tape though. Thanks again!:hv20-smilie70:

[HCoremark]

If you've just been in the default setting then that is 16:9.

[SenorKaffee]

Yep, you are lucky. Default setting for an NTSC HV20 is 1080/60i, which will be very easy (from a technical standpoint) to convert to HDCAM.

Best ask for friends what source they need from you - it´s unlikely that you will submit HDV source without fades and color correction and so on. ;)

[PoconoPCDoctor]

If you've just been in the default setting then that is 16:9.

BTW - I made the deadline and submitted my film.

I did a major re-edit on the day the film was due.

Clips were still importing as letterboxed. I realized I did not select the 16:9 import option when I created the project. I did this, then re-imported all the clips again to the new project.

They looked better. I tried to clean up the sound a bit, and edited the film a little differently in the 16:9 version.

The film was limited to 7 minutes - including credits), and I had exactly 5 seconds left for credits. I made a slide in Powerpoint with all the credits I could fit, and used that.

I might put a another credits roll on the film - this will put it past the 7 minute limit, but then it does not have to comply with the rules anymore. That way I can credit everyone who was in the film or assisted me with location shooting, permission to use music and stills, etc.

I have an idea for another film. This stuff is addictive! :hv20-smilie81: