Showing Documentary @ Theater
by Casey Turner
on
Oct 20, 2009 at 4:07:46 am
Hello...
I'm showing a documentary I've made, at a local theater this week, and I'm running into a problem.
The theater has asked for it on DVD, which I thought wouldn't be a problem, until I watched my final edit, off a DVD, played on a projector, and my graphics looked real bad. Up until today, I've been monitoring on a TV, and this was my first time to watch through the projector.
I'm guessing this has something to do with either resolution of the projector or the progressive/interlaced issue... because when I watch my DVD on my TV it looks amazing...but either way I want my project to look it's best on the big screen.
So I'm looking for some advice as to the best way to show it in the theater.
My project is DV, 720x480.
These are the options I'm thinking about...
1) Export to tape, and bring in the deck and play off that. Only problem is I only have a miniDV deck and my documentary is over 2 hours long.
2) Export to Quicktime: I could export progressive using H.264, and play it off my laptop. I'm nervous about this option because of playback issues, and I'm wondering if the quality will be any better than DVD.
3) Just play the DVD, and get over the fuzzy graphics... everything else looks great in mp2, just the graphics are fuzzy.
Re: Showing Documentary @ Theater by Jake Williams on Oct 20, 2009 at 4:43:41 pm
Hi Casey,
If your overall picture quality looks good in h264 and solves your graphics issue then it would make sense to play it from your laptop if not then just use the DVD. It really depends on how much you are losing by deinterlacing everything. Fuzzy graphics with great picture quality is better than sharp graphics and crappy picture.
Re: Showing Documentary @ Theater by David Roth Weiss on Oct 20, 2009 at 5:41:34 pm
The issue you're seeing is caused by DV compression, which operates in 4:1:1 color space. 4:1:1 color space is fine for moving video, but it really chews up text and graphics, because it discards vast numbers of pixels and essentially "guesstimates" the colors of the nearest remaining pixels.
The solution is to render using a 4:2:2 codec such as DVCPro50, 8-bit uncompressed, or Pro Res 422 before creating your MPEG2 for your DVD.
If you are using Final Cut Pro, you simply go to Sequence>>Settings and change the compressor to one of the above codecs, then re-render the sequence. Next, export a self contained QT movie at current settings, which you then use with Compressor and DVDSP to create your DVD. If you're not using FCP, I would suggest you go to the forum for for the NLE you do use and ask there. Keep in mind, this is not as simple as just exporting to a 4:2:2 codec, you have to render using that codec first, then export a file in that codec.
With regard to interlaced vs deinterlaced video, you need to keep in mind that there are two types of projectors, those that emulate computer screens (business projectors) and those that emulate TVs. Theaters will almost always have the latter variety, which are very capable of projecting high quality interlaced video.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW's Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
Re: Showing Documentary @ Theater by Casey Turner on Oct 20, 2009 at 9:47:26 pm
David, thanks for this info... just a few questions.
Does the 4.2.2 color space change any of my footage? Or is that what I'm editing in with DV? Sounds like a stupid question, but I'm wondering if that makes sense...
Also I tried a test sequence in FCP with the 8bit uncompressed, and it says I have 4 days to render! I have a G5 with Dual 1.8's and I think 4 days is a little long don't you :) My documentary is over 2 hours, and there is some chroma key, lots of color correction, and a mix of graphics.
Which of these three would you go with if you didn't have 4 days to render?
Re: Showing Documentary @ Theater by Casey Turner on Oct 20, 2009 at 9:41:27 pm
Ok, you guys rock with the advice!
I took my DVD to the Theater today for a "test" run on their projection system. It played beautifully and I was amazed. Graphics looked steller and event the colors and overall frame rate looked better than on my TV at home.
I'm thinking this issue was either due to the resolution on the projector I was testing with the other day, or the de-interlacing thing.
I think I'm going to export a H.264 version for the future and play off the laptop if I have to.
And I'm going to try rendering it at a lower compression rate like you guys suggested just to see how that looks on DVD. I'm also going to try using more compression markers around the graphics and see if that help in Compressor.
