CineForm on the Big Screen
 

I have two words for anyone interested in shooting in HD with an eye towards potential theatrical distribution: CineForm and Fotokem.

We just concluded a successful screening of the locked cut (finally) of our 55 minute documentary TREASURES OF THE COPPER SCROLL at the Beverly Hills Hi Def Film Festival.

The TREASURES project used HD footage acquired initially using a trusty old Sony HDW 700, later switching to the Sony CineAlta and a smattering of other formats including BetaCam SP, miniDV--even a little bit of ancient S-VHS.

I cut the whole thing on a Boxx workstation, employing Premiere Pro and, of course CineForm Prospect. I set the project up in 1920x1080, 29.97 interlaced. Even though I shot all the HD footage interlaced, I rendered the final version into three 20 minute avi 'reels' with the output set for progressive. I then shipped those avi files on an external hard drive to FotoKem in Los Angeles where Mike Brodersen printed them out to HDcam tape at a very reasonable cost (it was actually cheaper than renting an HDCam deck).

The festival screening took place at the charming old Wilshire Fine Arts, a former movie palace that opened in 1937 but was completely renovated in 1993 then later re-tooled for Digital presentations with a new 14' by 33' screen.

Until the Beverly Hills venue, screenings of TREASURES had been limited to DVD presentations. Thanks to CineForm and Fotokem we watched an awesome presentation in a wonderful theatrical setting. The sweeping widescreen images we shot in the Middle East were pristine and rich with detail. Yes, I love CineForm but am also a new fan of FotoKem.

Jim, congratulations on a great success! I wish I were able to see it. Will it be playing for a while?

BTW, for others needing a service to get their outputs to HDCam, or film for that matter, Fotokem does a great job. We've been working with them for over two years. In fact recently we've been involved in an Imax project in which the source footage is making its way to Fotokem as 4K CineForm files which are then recorded to 65mm Imax print film. I haven't seen the output of this yet as the project is still in progress.

David,
TREASURES, like all of the entries in the festival, only screened once. Thanks again.