Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Digital films and light cues??

This is topic Digital films and light cues?? in forum Digital Cinema Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Louis Belloisy (Member # 3836) on 07-28-2008, 12:27 PM:

Hi All,
I have a question, how do you work light cues with digital films?

I assume the movies are on a hard drive and I was wondering what provision is made for the light cues.

Louis

Posted by Galen Murphy-Fahlgren (Member # 4535) on 07-28-2008, 12:40 PM:

On my system, each playlist has cues associated with it, and you just input the time after the start that you want things to happen.
This is done after the digital "print" is on your server, and via the server's computer.

Posted by Louis Belloisy (Member # 3836) on 07-28-2008, 01:13 PM:

Thanks Galen.

[Smile]

Lou

Posted by Phil Blake (Member # 2012) on 07-29-2008, 01:50 AM:

My digital server is connected to the automation as a mini disc player I have panalogic automation. As previously mentioned cues are inserted into the playlist and inserted at the credit start point on the file. Each cue triggers a "next Event" on the automation.

Posted by Tristan Lane (Member # 1169) on 07-30-2008, 03:35 PM:

To elaborate on the control aspect:

Most d-cinema servers have the ability to control other devices connected to the network via serial commands over Ethernet. An example of this would be a Dolby or Doremi player being connected to a Christie projector. The player can communicate over ethernet to the Touch Panel Controller on the projector and control specific functions of the projector. A pennywise automation can also communicate to the TPC via a serial to ethernet adapter and send similar commands for projector operation.

In a situation where closed-contacts are used to control lighting or masking, an external device is usually used. Dolby uses an NA10 that communicates via ethernet to the showplayer. The NA10 has dry contact relays. Doremi has a General Purpose input/output connector that provides closed contact pulses that can control relays, or is commonly used to pulse a pennywise automation to the next step in a program. The pennywise is used to control lights and masking.

Posted by Alban Birch (Member # 4121) on 08-03-2008, 08:05 AM:

Hi
How about adding the time when the credits start to the "Film Info & Trailer Attachments" forum?

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 08-03-2008, 08:25 AM:

quote: Galen Murphy-Fahlgren
and you just input the time after the start that you want things to happen.

So how do you know at what time you want things to happen? Can you preview the film on the server and fast forward to near the end of the movie so you can see where the credits start and then say, here, at this frame (or running time) I want the houselights at 50% setting? In other words, how do you mark the points where you want the cue to be placed?

Posted by Alban Birch (Member # 4121) on 08-03-2008, 08:54 AM:

I usually switch on the lights manually on the first run and take note of the remainig time on the server then I modify my playlist with ther appropriate cue.

Posted by Ron Curran (Member # 3631) on 08-03-2008, 08:19 PM:

Yes Frank, we can preview the file on the server and pull down a menu that lets us drop a cue on an exact point. That cue is picked up by the automation which does the rest.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 08-03-2008, 09:18 PM:

quote: Frank Angel
So how do you know at what time you want things to happen

The Doremi servers use a graphical time line based metaphor to show the trailers and feature along a bar. You can insert cues at specific points on that time line, such as bringing house lights down all the way before the start of the feature.

To me, the interface doesn't look much different that what you would see if you farted around in Adobe/Macromedia Flash.

Posted by Tristan Lane (Member # 1169) on 08-04-2008, 02:23 AM:

quote: Bobby Henderson
To me, the interface doesn't look much different that what you would see if you farted around in Adobe/Macromedia Flash.

Both the native Doremi GUI and the AccessIT GUI have a very generic linux look to them. I don't think any of the software developers put much effort into appearance of the interface.

Dolby's interface on the other hand, has a much more polished look.

Frank, for any cues placed within the showlist, an offset can be applied. Usually a theater receives a summary sheet along with a hard drive that specifies when the end credits begin. All that's needed is to place the cue at that time.

Posted by Galen Murphy-Fahlgren (Member # 4535) on 08-04-2008, 11:57 AM:

Frank, we are still playing our first digital "print", so my experience is limited, but we received a summary sheet that had the times for the feature, and you just do a little math with trailer times, and there it is. The studio's runtime information is exactly accurate, compared to wherever my company gets its runtimes, which are estimates at best.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 08-04-2008, 12:45 PM:

I like the idea of looking at a fast forward preview of the film so that you can drop cues in where necessary. For example, just yesterday I ran LIFE IS TO WHISTLE where the credits crawl on top of the final scene; then about a minute later, the scene faded to black while the rest of the crawl continued. When the crawl ended, the music continued for another 2 minutes. I wouldn't want to bring up my "credit" lights cue until the image went to black. The summary sheet might only give me the time of the start of the credit crawl and the end of the last frame. I wanted to close the dowser after the crawl and bring up my lights then, not when the last frame actually ran out, and naturally let the sound play until the very last frame.

It's good that you can actually see what's going on in the film and drop in your own cues rather than relying on times someone else thinks you should use to put in your cues.

Posted by Mike Renlund (Member # 4675) on 08-05-2008, 03:01 PM:

Dolby Show Manager (the gui that lets you build the shows) has the ability to "jump" to any point in the time code. If the distributor doesn't provide the credit cue time code, or if you want to check the distributors work, you jump around to find the spot that you need to put it.

Very simple and easy.