Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Individual Digital Trailers

This is topic Individual Digital Trailers in forum Digital Cinema Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 11-11-2011, 02:56 PM:

Has anybody had any luck with getting just a few digital trailers?

We only need about 1 or 2 per month (average). Not worth the expense of subscribing to a "Trail Mix" but it would be nice to have trailers for the upcoming shows.

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 11-11-2011, 03:22 PM:

Is there a theatre nearby you can borrow a trail mix from? I haven't seen anything from the studios about distributing trailers outside of the trail mixes, aside from the occasional thumb drive chasing the trail mix.

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 11-11-2011, 03:35 PM:

Thanks, Justin. I'll see if that approach works out.

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 11-11-2011, 05:05 PM:

In germany, most trailers are available as downloads from either distributor portals or servicecompanys. Some distributors send emails with download links to registered email adresses.

Trailers typically have 2-4GBytes. These take a while to load, but it works at least for those with broadband. On the other hand, there is no such thing as the trailmix HD shipping over here. Some distributors send trailers on DVD-Rs, rarely USB-Sticks.

Theres also some private exchange, either over filesharing sites or by sending DVD-R to collegues.

Recently, a satellite service started here which transmits trailers automatically to contracted cinemas, and creates playlists incl. advertizing, trailers and mainfeature. Free service, seems to work well. Also transmits KDMs for features. A dedicated simple server is running 24/7 to receive all data without manual intervention, then assembles the playlists and sends them to the screen server.

- Carsten

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 11-11-2011, 05:50 PM:

Thanks, Carsten. Interesting approach.

I wonder if the distributors would "buy" my fake European accent..? [Wink]

Posted by Adam Fraser (Member # 1074) on 11-11-2011, 09:41 PM:

How much does a Trail Mix subscription cost?

Posted by Steven J Hart (Member # 2340) on 11-11-2011, 11:37 PM:

We haven't been billed for Trail Mix since we switched to Digital projection in September. Trailers were always free on 35 mm (except for shipping). I never suspected we would be charged for them now. Are others being charged a subscription fee?

Posted by Elise Brandt (Member # 5552) on 11-12-2011, 12:46 AM:

How about walking into another cinema with a few thumb drives and asking if you could have a browse into their trailers [Big Grin]

copy the ones you want on your stick and take 'em home.

Here in Finland we get all the trailers on thumb drives from the distributors, usually one trailer per drive. Collect the drives in a cardboard box and sent the lot back every once in a while [Big Grin]

it's nuts.

Posted by Kris Verhanneman (Member # 5562) on 11-12-2011, 02:45 AM:

At our theatre (France) 99.5% of the trailers arrive by satellite.
There is only 1 that provides us sometimes the trailers on DVD.

The usb drives haven't been used for long (I guess most of them never returned).

For Manny: if you have a collegue that plays your trailes let him post them on a rapidshare / megaupload / ... server. Or add a pc that he can copie them on directly (by internet).

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 11-12-2011, 09:44 AM:

Manny - some of the service companies do offer trailers in english language and the registration does not contain any reference to a specific location. Might change once their transmission capabilities are challenged. So, I guess you would not have a problem to register on most of them. That wouldn't get you going for all trailers, and it could also sometimes be to late when the movies are not released day'n-date. Also, these trailers have no official MPAA rating, but only the rating by their local country organizations.
But it would be worth a try if you are on a decent broadband line.

- Carsten

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-12-2011, 11:58 PM:

@Steven - Trail Mix and the Deluxe trailer drive are free, and so is the shipping (in the US at least)/.

I can't see why anyone who is digital wouldn't subscribe. All the shipping is automatic - the most you have to do is paste on a label and give the case to the UPS guy.

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 11-13-2011, 07:14 PM:

I was told it's $40/month

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-13-2011, 08:20 PM:

Maybe someone was confusing the trailer service with regular film shipping -- which does run about $40.

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 11-13-2011, 11:58 PM:

Manny you run a college venue don't you? Just a wild guess but maybe they only offer free service to commercial theatres.

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 01-28-2012, 07:41 PM:

Technicolor didn't ask about the kind of theatre.

Anyway, after investigating various methods of DCP creation, I don't think I want trailers to become a huge distraction for me.

So... I'm looking at the Western Digital WD TV products. Any thoughts? Love it? Hate it?

Lemme know!

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 01-31-2012, 12:56 PM:

I wouldn't say I hate them, but I don't find them particularly suited for the job.
No automation features.
If you are the only person operating them and find your way for a decent presentation without showing too many OSD artifacts, etc. - no problem. They do not play every file from the internet, but you can check that out beforehand.

- Carsten

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 01-31-2012, 06:15 PM:

Yes, it's too bad about the lack of automation. But I think if we start and end the playlist with a file that's just "digital black" we can avoid showing the OSD. (That is, start on the first clip of digital black and wait until the OSD clears before opening the douser, and close douser during the final clip of digital black.)

Volume adjustments could be an issue but, in our case, I doubt if we would run more than 2-3 trailers before a show. Wherever possible, I would strive to find one level that works for all. Might involve compromise.

(Or get a student intern to edit the whole pre-show together and match levels!)

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 02-01-2012, 07:56 AM:

Is there any reason not to just order trailers on 35mm, even if the actual feature is presented from a DCP?

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 02-01-2012, 09:49 AM:

Yes, there seems to be an issue with getting trailers on film. Definitely for the repertory stuff, but also for the contemporary "art house" titles as well.

Posted by Scott Jentsch (Member # 1681) on 02-23-2012, 10:41 AM:

If we lived in a rational world, a network of interested theaters could be set up in a peer to peer environment so that trailers could be shared torrent-style, with a central clearing house as the seed and master library of what's available.

Unfortunately, the world we do live in can't get past the irrational fear of P2P and torrents, and their connection to piracy.

This is a situation that the torrent protocol was created for, and could be used successfully, if only cooler heads could prevail.

Somehow, mailing around physical media just makes more sense in 2012...

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 02-23-2012, 11:08 AM:

Send me some trailers, Scott.

You know you want to!

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 08-29-2012, 04:51 PM:

^^ I just love that guy so much!

I'm probably going to get one of these WD TV products this week.

There's an NTSC model and a PAL model. Obviously, I'm getting the NTSC model. But I have a question:

Will the NTSC model play PAL videos (and output as NTSC) or does input have to match output with these?

Posted by Jim Henk (Member # 3628) on 08-29-2012, 06:06 PM:

quote: Scott Jentsch
Unfortunately, the world we do live in can't get past the irrational fear of P2P and torrents, and their connection to piracy.

That always breaks me up. Fear of piracy of (basically) commercials for their products. In that rational world, wouldn't they want their commercials to be spread as far and wide as they could humanly get them? I know that any other kind of business would.

"Hi, I'm from Joes's Shoe Shop, and the spot I had run on late night TV last night is going viral. Now everybody is seeing my commercial. Who can I sue?"

Wow.

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 08-29-2012, 07:03 PM:

quote: Scott Jentsch
Somehow, mailing around physical media just makes more sense in 2012..

With the consumption caps that some (most?) ISP's are putting on their customers' accounts, it wouldn't take too many trailer downloads to put you over your monthly limit. And then what?

I'm pretty happy here because Sask Tel doesn't cap their wireline accounts, though they do cap the wireless accounts. But most of the ISP's in other provinces apparently have very low caps.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-29-2012, 07:06 PM:

The trail mix drives are getting out of hand with their specialty content for certain chains. It wouldn't be so bad if the files were clearly marked but they use stupid little two-letter abbreviations like "BD" or "XD" rather than an actual chain name. Makes it harder than it should be to train a new person how to create a playlist.

I used to just ingest everything on the trailer drives but since half the content now is chain-specific crap, I go down the list and cherry-pick what I want.

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 08-29-2012, 07:11 PM:

quote: Manny Knowles
Will the NTSC model play PAL videos (and output as NTSC) or does input have to match output with these?

I think this would matter only if you use the analog video output.

For the HDMI that you would wire to a digital projector, the menu offers all possible framerates, from 23,97 up to 60p. You can even set it to adjust the output framerate to the current files framerate automatically.

With digital files, there is no 'NTSC' or 'PAL' - just the different framerates.

- Carsten

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 08-29-2012, 07:13 PM:

Thanks, Carsten -- I'll probably be able to try this out sometime next week -- let's see what happens...

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 08-29-2012, 07:55 PM:

quote: Mike Blakesley
The trail mix drives are getting out of hand with their specialty content for certain chains. It wouldn't be so bad if the files were clearly marked but they use stupid little two-letter abbreviations like "BD" or "XD" rather than an actual chain name. Makes it harder than it should be to train a new person how to create a playlist.

I used to just ingest everything on the trailer drives but since half the content now is chain-specific crap, I go down the list and cherry-pick what I want.

That needed to be repeated.

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 08-29-2012, 10:17 PM:

I don't get that here (much), but I do have to sort out "EN" from "FR" and "QFC" on both of the trailer drives.

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 09-03-2012, 05:44 PM:

Not going with the WD product -- decided to go the "editorial" method and just output from NLE to tape.

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 09-03-2012, 06:02 PM:

Why? And what do you mean with 'tape'?

I find it hard to believe that you don't get official trailers for download in the US. In Europe, most trailers are available on some dedicated sites. Studios send download links per Email to any cinema interested. Yes, some cinemas may not have broadband, they also receive DVDs or Thumbdrives. It saves them so much money compared to 35mm trailers.

- Carsten

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 09-03-2012, 07:49 PM:

We show international/art-house and repertory, so 35mm and DCP trailers are hard to come by -- I don't know what the problem is but it's rare to get an honest to goodness trailer for any of that stuff -- We do finally get the Technicolor Trail Mix drives -- but nothing -- and I mean nothing -- on them apply to us -- so that's not much help.

Tape = HDCam.

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 09-04-2012, 03:11 AM:

Got that earlier, Manny. I was referring to you not going the internet downloadable trailers->WDTV way?

- Carsten

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 09-04-2012, 07:42 AM:

oh -- lately we've been getting ProRes -- I don't think WDTV handles that -- so I tried outputting via a Mac Mini, and the results have been very good -- plus, we are more comfortable with professional tape formats when it comes to shows -- much more stable format

for trailers, i'll just buy a batch of 6min tapes