Recommended length of silence prior to beginning of a film? at DVinfo.net

Emre Safak · December 12th, 2005, 11:12 AM

How much dead space should I insert at the beginning of the film before introducting important visuals or dialog?

Rick Steele · December 12th, 2005, 12:38 PM

Do you mean at the very beginning (first play?) or say, between each chapter.

Personally, I find 5 seconds to be tolerable.

- Rick

Kevin Shaw · December 12th, 2005, 01:07 PM

I put one second of black to make sure the DVD player has time to get in gear before it receives any real content, and that seems to work fine. Much longer than that I'd be wondering what I was waiting for if I was trying to watch something.

Emre Safak · December 12th, 2005, 05:18 PM

Right at the beginning. What about material intended for theatrical distribution? Time to let people get seated etc.

Kevin Red · December 12th, 2005, 06:42 PM

Put in one of those old school count-downs.

Tom Wills · December 12th, 2005, 07:11 PM

Any projectionist who isn't a complete idiot won't start the projection until people are seated and the lights are dimmed. I'd say, 5 seconds is a good idea. 10 if you truly want to be safe. Just make sure that it feels natural to watch that black before the film. Sit in a dark room and hit play and stare at the TV. You'll know if it's too much generally.

Dylan Pank · December 13th, 2005, 04:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emre Safak

Right at the beginning. What about material intended for theatrical distribution? Time to let people get seated etc.

Whaa?? these days there's at least 15-20 minutes of trailers and commercials at the start of movies, in the Europe at least, even in Art house cinemas.

How much time do people need to sit down?

I'd say 2 seconds is enough. That's not counting the Academy leader (which has a 2-pop and two seconds of black anyway)

December 12th, 2005, 11:12 AM	#1
Emre Safak Trustee Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brookline, MA Posts: 1,447	Recommended length of silence prior to beginning of a film? How much dead space should I insert at the beginning of the film before introducting important visuals or dialog?

December 12th, 2005, 06:42 PM	#5
Kevin Red Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 103	Put in one of those old school count-downs. __________________ AMD Athalon 2800 (2.08ghz) running Windows XP sp2 1GB of RAM Vegas 6.0 NLE 300+ GB hard drive space running SATA RAID 0 With an NVIDEA Geforce FX 5600XT http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/search.php?searchid=149990

December 12th, 2005, 12:38 PM	#2
Rick Steele Major Player Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Denver, Colorado USA Posts: 654	Do you mean at the very beginning (first play?) or say, between each chapter. Personally, I find 5 seconds to be tolerable. - Rick

December 12th, 2005, 01:07 PM	#3
Kevin Shaw Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 2,488	I put one second of black to make sure the DVD player has time to get in gear before it receives any real content, and that seems to work fine. Much longer than that I'd be wondering what I was waiting for if I was trying to watch something.

December 12th, 2005, 05:18 PM	#4
Emre Safak Trustee Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brookline, MA Posts: 1,447	Right at the beginning. What about material intended for theatrical distribution? Time to let people get seated etc.

December 12th, 2005, 07:11 PM	#6
Tom Wills Major Player Join Date: May 2005 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 326	Any projectionist who isn't a complete idiot won't start the projection until people are seated and the lights are dimmed. I'd say, 5 seconds is a good idea. 10 if you truly want to be safe. Just make sure that it feels natural to watch that black before the film. Sit in a dark room and hit play and stare at the TV. You'll know if it's too much generally.