H.264 for film festival

Hi. My film has been lucky enough to have been accepted into a film festival and the festival director would like an HD h.264 version for the screening. I have to send it so I made a 720p version because a 1080 version would be almost 8gigs and a 720 version would only be 1.5gb(he said 720 would be fine). My question is, going under the h.264 in export, I chose HDTV 720p 24fps since that seemed to be the highest quality choice under the h.264s.My main question is, do you think this is the right one to choose? His email said as long as the data rate is under 15mbps, looking at it, it's data rate is 5972kbps, so I think I'm cool, although I'm now questioning whether this is actually too low. In the end, I'd just like to know if this was the right choice to make in terms of export. Sorry for the question, I'm just a little nervous because it's all on me for whether the film shows correctly at the festival.

I have to send it so I made a 720p version because a 1080 version would be almost 8gigs and a 720 version would only be 1.5gb(he said 720 would be fine).
Do you not have a delivery method for an 8GB 1080 file?
If you do, I would send 1080 even if he says 720 is fine.
He did not specify a file size limit, correct?
His email said as long as the data rate is under 15mbps, looking at it, it's data rate is 5972kbps...
I would max out the bitrate to the level he specified.

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Do I need FC/e for Film Festival Submission?

Or could I get by with iMovie, say 11, 09, or my old HD?
Will I be able to submit a sufficiently high def version using iMovie 11? Or will the degradation be too much, supposing that I edit in iMovie, then burn to DVD with iDVD.
The film will be about 7 minutes and shot with Panasonic GH1 and a Go Pro in HD. There may be slow motion and a mix of ambient sound, voice, and music.
It'll be entirely shot outdoors under somewhat nasty conditions. Meaning no lights, usually no tripod.
The reason I mention these latter points is that perhaps the quality of what I bring back (shaky, low light) might be the limiting factor and not the image degradation.
I have made many iMovies for YouTube, but would like to go bigger, so to speak, in quality of video, not necessarily length.
Would I benefit from going to Final Cut Express? Or stick with iMovie?

Yes, Banff Mtn Film Festival:
Here's what they ask (don't actually understand all the requirements, yet)
TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
For purposes of pre-selection, judging and festival screening, all
entries should meet the following criteria:
a) Entries MUST be accompanied by one polyboxed DVD-R NTSC
(Region 1 coded), which will be used for adjudication purposes.
b) Entries must also include a tape copy of the master. In order of
preference, videotape formats must be:
HD-D5 HDTV
DVC Pro
HDCam HDTV
HDV
Digital Betacam (525)
DVCam (525)
Betacam SP NTSC
MiniDV NTSC
Digital Betacam 625 and Betacam SP PAL/SECAM will
not be accepted. Due to reproduction issues, MiniDV
format is LEAST preferred.
c) Film entries must be 35mm or 16mm with OPTICAL or
MAGNETIC sound (no double band).
d) Production attributes should conform to typical broadcast
standards and include:
• 90 seconds of leader which include black, SMPTE colour bars
and black with either 0 dbvu (analogue) or –20dbFS (digital)
audio tone reference signals.
• Please remove commercial blacks and include a production
slate prior to the program start.
• 7.5 IRE Pedestal Black (preferred for NTSC).
• Maximum 105% IRE peak whites.
• Program start commences on the time-code hour.
• Program tail of two minutes of black.
• Digital content should be submitted with 48K audio and have
peak whites that do not exceed 105% IRE.

Best way to export a 720p project to a 1080 file for film festival

I have a 4 year long project, in FCP7, with a 720/24 timeline. Most footage was shot 720, though some later was shot 1080... the film is complete, and now has been accepted into film festivals. (YAY!) Now I need to create a 1080/24 Pro Res file for a festival screener.
What is the BEST way to create that file?
Right now FCP 7 is chugging away in the background as I tried Export->QuickTime Movie and selected the desired codec, and checked recompress all frames and make movie self contained.
Is this the best way?
And, I need to FedEx this out tonight... :-)
Thanks in advance for your help...
kevin
Portland Maine

>Right now FCP 7 is chugging away in the background as I tried Export->QuickTime Movie and selected the desired codec, and checked recompress all frames and make movie self contained.
No. Don't recompress...that adds a layer of compression. Simply export a QT movie...self contained, using the sequence settings. And then use Compressor to resize it to 1080.

Any chance of success using iMovie for Film Festival Submission?

Say with iMovie, say 11, 09, or my old HD?
Or do I need Final Cut, say Express?
Will I be able to submit a sufficiently high def version using iMovie 11? Or will the degradation be too much, supposing that I edit in iMovie, then burn to DVD with iDVD.
The film will be about 7 minutes and shot with Panasonic GH1 and a Go Pro in HD. There may be slow motion and a mix of ambient sound, voice, and music.
It'll be entirely shot outdoors under somewhat nasty conditions. Meaning no lights, usually no tripod.
The reason I mention these latter points is that perhaps the quality of what I bring back (shaky, low light) might be the limiting factor and not the image degradation.
I have made many iMovies for YouTube, but would like to go bigger, so to speak, in quality of video, not necessarily length.
Would I benefit from going to Final Cut Express? Or could I stick with iMovie?
Anybody out there ever use iMovie for something like Banff Mtn Film Festival?

Yes, Banff Mtn Film Festival:
Here's what they ask (don't actually understand all the requirements, yet)
TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
For purposes of pre-selection, judging and festival screening, all
entries should meet the following criteria:
a) Entries MUST be accompanied by one polyboxed DVD-R NTSC
(Region 1 coded), which will be used for adjudication purposes.
b) Entries must also include a tape copy of the master. In order of
preference, videotape formats must be:
HD-D5 HDTV
DVC Pro
HDCam HDTV
HDV
Digital Betacam (525)
DVCam (525)
Betacam SP NTSC
MiniDV NTSC
Digital Betacam 625 and Betacam SP PAL/SECAM will
not be accepted. Due to reproduction issues, MiniDV
format is LEAST preferred.
c) Film entries must be 35mm or 16mm with OPTICAL or
MAGNETIC sound (no double band).
d) Production attributes should conform to typical broadcast
standards and include:
• 90 seconds of leader which include black, SMPTE colour bars
and black with either 0 dbvu (analogue) or –20dbFS (digital)
audio tone reference signals.
• Please remove commercial blacks and include a production
slate prior to the program start.
• 7.5 IRE Pedestal Black (preferred for NTSC).
• Maximum 105% IRE peak whites.
• Program start commences on the time-code hour.
• Program tail of two minutes of black.
• Digital content should be submitted with 48K audio and have
peak whites that do not exceed 105% IRE.

DVD for Film Festival Screening & Blu-Ray Question

Hey Everyone,
I just wanted to double check something.
I have been making DVD's with DVD Studio Pro for a short film shot on HDV -- 23.98 and they look great. I chose the "Best Quality" output, etc. etc. This project is going to be screening in a small film festival and they are going to project off of a DVD. I did a test screening in a theater classroom on a big screen and it looked fine.
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Also, I plan on getting a Blu-Ray burner in the future. I hear Lacie is the way to go? Any other suggestions, and/or links to other burners highly recommended. Also, do you need Toast to burn Blu-Ray?
Thanks for your input!
- Eric

You might be able to play a true HD file from your computer, you don't need the BD. But you must test the display output from your card to the projector in advance to know you've got what it takes to connect the two and if the projector is even capable of showing 1080. Most are not.
It is highly unlikely a festival will require BD submissions, too much hassle for them and for the participants.
bogiesan
Message was edited by: David Bogie Chq-1

Bruning to proper format for film festival

I am finally ready to submit my documetnary to the Berlin International Film Festival. Below are the specs they require.
Can I do this easily in FC Studio 2?
Would the DVD be easier then the ProRES?
My timeline is 59.94 FPS and they require 29.97. Does that automaticall happen during the DVD production?
I appreciate your help.

OK, thanks, ProRes it is.
So to convert my project, I can export right in FC Studio. Export> Quicktime movie conversion> Quicktime movie> Options> Apple ProRes422?
This is being sent to Germany so the specs have to be correct for the hard drive.
If I want to send it to other festivals, who accept only DVD, how would I export to DVD from FC Studio 2?

Problems in DVD Studio for Film Festival Short Film

I'm trying to package my short film for a DVD to send to film festivals. I sent it to Compressor from FCP and used the HDDVD settings to compress it to H.264. Then I opened it in DVD Studio Pro and burnt a disc, but the disc will not play on stand alone DVD players and when it plays on my computer, the picture is very "jumpy." What do I need to change? If I need to go back to Compressor and re-compress, what settings do I need to use? I want to have the highest possible quality. The footage is 1080p (natively H.264 and transcoded to Apple ProRes 422). Thanks!

SD DVD is a highly compressed format designed to cram a lot of material onto a disk.
Compressing material to look as good as it can in the m2v (mpeg2) codec is a little of a dark art.
Start with one of the standard presets in Compressor for DVDs and experiment. If your material is less than 1 hour, you might get away with bumping up the bitrate to 7. I find Constant Bit Rate (CBR) usually gives me better results with short pieces. Variable Bit Rate (VBR) compression comes into play when you are trying to fit longer pieces (over an hour) with lots of action into a 4.7GB disk.
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x

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The camera, what's in front of the camera, and who's behind the camera
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If you're selected, you'll have time to figure out whatever they need to show.
Just make sure to keep your master edit (and back it up!).
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Once a Week Online Film Festival Call for Entries

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http://www.onceaweekfilmfest.weebly.com
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you're welcome. is true..
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And the answer was..." when people stop watching them "
simple.

H.264 for Blu-Ray Encoding Time

Hi All,
I have exported a Pro-Res 1080p 2 hour film from FCPX and just dropped it into compressor. I have then dragged the default H.264 for Blu-Ray settings on my video and it looks like it will take way over three hours. I have a friend running Media Encoder and with the same file on his laptop it does it in 40min and it's a slower spec . I am running Compressor 4.1.3 and the latest MAC OS operating system. I have enabled additional instanced checked and the number 1 in the drop down (there are no other numbers)
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Thanks

Sounds about right to me for a rMBP.
Russ

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What format can i use on my apple tv for films

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Running a dv film festival on keynote

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I wouldn't trust Keynote to not stutter once in a while on your video. The better way to do a film festival would be to have several machines all running through a video mixer capable of keying out certain colors. Use one machine to run Keynote (for regular slides), one machine to cue videos from (running QT Pro for full screen ability or some other video cuing app) and then possibly yet another machine that's running your lower thirds (though you could make those in Keynote and use the mixer to key out a background color of your choice, leaving only the lower third over the video).
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The HV20 can look amazing if you know how to use it, but out of the box you cannot have manual focus AND manual iris at the same time. One or the other. If you are an automatic user, this may not make a difference, but if you like to have master control of your footage, DVX all the way.

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I am looking for a DSLR for filming purposes. I have been recently watching reviews and video footages to see which is the best for me. Obviously a 5d mark II or III would be the best choice but unfrtunately I cannot afford it.
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Solved!
Go to Solution.

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A previous poster mentioned the Panasonic GH3, and that is a great camera for video, but the product line is not as broad or deep as Canon's. I think your decision to say with the Canon product line is good. Good luck in your shooting!

H.264 for film festival

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