FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS CONCERNING FILMLOOK®What is FILMLOOK®? FILMLOOK® is a patented, broadcast quality real-time, digital process that gives video originated productions the look and texture of a film to tape telecine transfer, but without the end cost and processing of actual film. The FILMLOOK® process has been honored with an Engineering Achievement Award from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. It is currently being used for all major television networks, studios and production companies. It has also been used for movies, television, and home video release, comedy, documentaries, commercials, concerts, and music videos. What Variables are offered?FILMLOOK® offers 24 or30 simulated film framesper second, as well as scene-to-scene adjustments in contrast levels, gamma, simulated film grain, and flicker. How do I Shoot for FILMLOOK®?Use a broadcast or high quality digital format (Digital Betacam, Betacam SP, DVCPro25, DVCAM, or mini DV). Hi8 or SVHS are not acceptable. Video should be from a high quality 3 CCD camcorder, such as a Digital Betacam, Betacam SP, DV, DVCPro or DVCAM. If possible consult with, or hire a Director of Photography who has a background in film and video and is familiar with broadcast video cameras. Use high quality lighting instruments. You may use Tungsten, HMI, bounce panels, Kino Flo® or sunlight just as you would with a film project. Gels may be used to balance color temperature or effects. We encourage the use of optical filters (Promist, diffusion, gradients, polarizers, ND, netting behind the lens) to soften the image, control exposure, or alter depth of field. NEVER USE THE ELECTRONIC HIGH SPEED SHUTTER. Keep the camera in the normal 1/60th of a second. NEVER USE "MOVIE" MODE, or "Frame" Mode or any progressive scan feature on the camera. Keep the camera in its normal NTSC 60 field interlace capture mode. The "Clear Scan" feature found on some Sony cameras is acceptable for shooting computer monitors when necessary. If you are shooting in the 24P mode, please consult with us. Watch for unintentional overexposures, do not crush blacks, and watch for specular reflections (hot spots). Keep detail enhancement in the camera under control. We recommend using traditional film camera movement such as dolly/crane shots, Steadycam®, pans, tilts, and zooms. Consult the American Cinematographer handbook regarding rates of panning and camera movement versus focal length for minimizing "strobe" or "judder". How do I Post for FILMLOOK®?We accept Digital Betacam, Betacam SP, DVCPro 25, DVCAM, or mini DV masters. They can be fully edited, ready-for air-masters or camera original selects. Please provide an edit decision list (EDL) CMX 3600 formatted, "A" mode on either a floppy, or CD-ROM. On edited masters, try to maintain all cuts on field 1 or all on field 2. Record VCR's must be set in the 4-field mode to ensure consistent color framing and NTSC broadcast compatibility. AVID, Media 100, Final Cut Pro or other nonlinear edited video is fine: however, it must be rendered at 60 fields per second uncompressed at the highest resolution possible and with carefully controlled video and black levels going into and out of the NLE. NLE systems tend to clip video that is too hot and crush shadow detail if black levels are too low. Do not include digital effects such as flips, spins, or page turns. If possible send us the selects for processing (A or B rolls) prior to using these effects. Avoid using CG or graphic images that move, crawl, or fly on or off screen. Please consult with us about any such effects prior to postproduction. Frame-rendered computer graphic animation (standalone or composites with live action) are compatible with our system for 30 fps simulation only. Static main titles and graphics over live action (such as "lower 1/3 rd " titles) are acceptable. Avoid field-rendered computer graphic images or titles that move. White or colored titles on a title roll over black will simply be bypassed by FILMLOOK ®. Any stationary computer generated image or composited matte effects may be acceptable, but gray scale and color of the effects may be altered slightly along with the video, please call us for more information. Cuts, fades, dissolves, posterized, pixilated effects, smoke/oil transitions and soft-edged wipes are acceptable for processing. Slow motion or speed-ups (ramps) will not be motion processed by FILMLOOK ®. Stepping or strobbing video will also not be processed. Closed captioning should be done after the FILMLOOK ® process. FILMLOOK ® is a full bandwidth, real time, uncompressed, broadcast quality NTSC film simulation. There are no plans to build a PAL version of our FILMLOOK ® processor. If you are planning on color correction or any editing after FILMLOOK ®, please consult with us. Audio and time code are not affected by FILMLOOK ®, neither is the running time of the program being processed. The audio can be sweetened either before or after the process. A FILMLOOK ® master can be successfully converted to PAL, provided that the conversion is done with the latest and best converter available. Please call us if you are going to distribute in PAL. A FILMLOOK ® transfer can be duplicated, cloned, dubbed, broadcast, shown on a video projection system or flat panel display just like any other NTSC originated program. A FILMLOOK ® transfer cannot be transferred or output to actual film negative. If you have any questions about shooting or posting for FILMLOOK® processing that are not answered here, please consult with us. ©2005 FILMLOOK Inc. All Rights Reserved. FILMLOOK ® is a registered trademark of FILMLOOK Inc. |