Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Vintage snipe/policy DCP conversions

This is topic Vintage snipe/policy DCP conversions in forum Digital Cinema Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Chip Ordway (Member # 4498) on 08-26-2014, 07:58 AM:

So this October begins the first season where I have to deal with DCP for some of our classic movie series. We're striving to keep film as much as we can, but with the obvious brick-walls like Warner's, I'll be DCP'ing it on some of our features for the first time.

Searches under "Snipes", "Intermission", etc, turned up nothing that answered the following questions, so here we go:

--Is there any company (Filmack, etc.) providing their vintage stuff in decently transferred DCP files?

--Are there labs/edit houses that can transfer my own vintage stuff to digital so I can basically make my own?

--Any online repositories besides Cinetize for the purpose of downloading files?

Chip Ordway
Palace Theatre, Albany NY

Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 08-26-2014, 09:42 AM:

Filmack does indeed have many of their vintage intermission clips converted to DCP, however they are a bit pricey. With 35mm, some of their intermission clips were relatively price competitive, but with digital it's gotten somewhat expensive - and rightly so. 35mm prints would wear out over time and you eventually had to replace them and buy another copy. Digital doesn't wear out, so in essence it's a 1 time sale for them, therefore the increase price is probably justified.

We use "Screen Attractions Digital Filmworks" for our intermission clips, policy trailers, national anthem, etc. They are very easy to work with, and will customize just about anything.

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 08-26-2014, 11:18 AM:

If you got a spare $30K lying around somewhere and have a little patience, you could get you one of these. [Wink]

Otherwise, if you can live with somewhat mediocre quality (and they're vintage, so shouldn't they look a bit mediocre anyway? [Smile]

), you could also just take a camera capable of shooting at FullHD and 24fps (several "standard issue" DSLRs can do that for example) and record it right off the screen. You could get the analog audio separately directly from your sound processor. Mix it all together with software like Final Cut or Adobe Premiere and convert it to a DCP.

Please notice, there is a quite heated discussion about copyright. Even copying those vintage snipes might be copyright infringement. Especially the use of "recording equipment" inside a theater is a debated subject [Wink]

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-26-2014, 11:46 AM:

Barry - I looked at the Screen Attractions website and it looks like they're developing a new site, but their Facebook page shows a lot of the old "vintage" clips as being available from them, which is cool! They have almost zero activity on that page however -- joined in 2010 but have no posts except the one about the vintage clips. So hopefully the website will be online soon.

There is one series called "Cinemotion" which is the Preview of Coming Attractions header that we used to use when I started to work at the Roxy! So I would really like to restore that to our screen, at least some of the time.

We've been using a bunch of the Cinetize clips (from back when they were free) and I'm getting bored with them. They look nice, but the music on them leaves a lot to be desired. Also they are too soft (volumewise).

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-26-2014, 02:35 PM:

I just got an email from Tim Reed with the catalog from Screen Attractions. This is awful. I was in $avings mode! [Smile]

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 08-26-2014, 02:43 PM:

Tim's animation work for Screen Attractions is top-notch, both in 35mm and D-cinema. [thumbsup]

I have only dealt with Filmack and Cinema Concepts for 35mm snipes, and have been happy with their service. Not sure what those companies have in DCP form.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 08-26-2014, 07:32 PM:

quote: Mike Blakesley
There is one series called "Cinemotion" which is the Preview of Coming Attractions header that we used to use when I started to work at the Roxy! So I would really like to restore that to our screen, at least some of the time.

Is that the series of multicircled color snipes that was capped with the 30 second snipe, being, "Our Feature Presentation", which that snipe contained the music of Keith Mansfield, entitled, "Funky Fanfare?"

If so, they're splattered on You Tube.

-Monte

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 08-26-2014, 07:39 PM:

Monte--no, the ones that you are referring to are "Astro Daters" from National Screen Service.

Posted by Connor Wilson (Member # 6088) on 08-26-2014, 08:12 PM:

Alamo Drafthouse shows a bunch of old snipes in the DCP format, at least the one in Ashburn does.

NSS "Astro" Feature Presentation is absolutely beautiful in DCP, with all the scratches, pops, wobbles, and other imperfections retained. Colors really strike out on the Sony 515 units.

Alamo also introduced a new vintage Coming Soon and Feature Presentation snipes. The Coming Soon one seems to be slightly pillarboxed in the scope version. The Feature Presentation one was hugely obnoxious, so much that they only used it once before Guardians of the Galaxy.

Also, what is the synth music that backs Alamo's "No Talking Zone" policy? It's very old school and I'd like to know the name.

Posted by Michael Kurtzke (Member # 7512) on 08-28-2014, 05:17 PM:

Connor,

The "Quiet Zone" synth riff is a mystery to us all!
But, here is a YouTube link to the audio file I pulled from the DCP.

http://youtu.be/zA8XM0E-1YI

As for the other bumpers, we got the "Astro" one off the GRINDHOUSE Blu-Ray. I'm a Tarantino fan and I think it looks great!

The "Comming Soon" and the Black & Red "Feature Presentation" bumpers are supplied by corporate.

The "Comming Soon" is pillar boxed slightly because it's actually the Flat file that I use for both Flat and Scope. The Scope version is 16x9 Pillar Boxed within the scope window and doesn't look that great.

For anyone else curious about the "Astro" DCP's, here's a link to the snipe that I pulled off a Blu-Ray.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cpcp7xnttjf66c4/AABxoTu1fDkFqEiXm6NnNMgfa?dl=0

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 08-29-2014, 08:03 PM:

The bumpers like "prevues of coming attractions" used on the Grindhouse release are just a little bit too ghetto in my opinion, at least to use it in front of a somewhat serious movie. Tarantino must have buried them in his backyard for a few years before including them [Wink]

Posted by Peter Richards (Member # 7579) on 10-27-2014, 09:24 PM:

Helge Bernhardt in Beacon NY has a collection of vintage snipes etc. in DCP format @ 2K and 4K, he also specialises in digitising them from 35mm and could definitely do yours for you. He does amazing work.
His email is helge at optonline dot net

Obviously replace the "at" with @ and the "dot net" with .net [Smile]

I had him do all of ours and the quality was amazing and the price excellent. Highly recommended.
He can also do restoration work on them if required.

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 10-28-2014, 10:24 PM:

quote: Michael Kurtzke
For anyone else curious about the "Astro" DCP's, here's a link to the snipe that I pulled off a Blu-Ray.

Hey Michael, have you actually played those files? My ingest comes up with a discrepancy in the file sizes error.

>>Last message File size 1455 is incorrect (should be 1420) file: /media/usb0/Feature Presentation [Scope]/08e99a04-ec6a-444f-9302-79ababe74b16_cpl.xml Ingest errors detected!<<

Posted by Allan Barnes (Member # 5178) on 11-04-2014, 09:09 PM:

DITTO

MICHEAL - I DOWNLOADED OK BUT DCP WON'T WORK

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-04-2014, 10:47 PM:

I downloaded them here and there was some sort of error message when I ingested them, but the scope version plays fine. I haven't tried the flat version.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-02-2014, 12:40 PM:

I tried the email address in Peter Richards' note above and got an error message (unknown recipient). I would really like to get a couple of old 35mm snipes converted, if it's possible. If anyone here knows the correct address for Helge, or any other place I could have that done, please respond here or PM me.

Posted by Peter Richards (Member # 7579) on 12-30-2014, 05:15 PM:

I got Helge's address wrong in a previous post, and the forum will no longer let me edit it unfortunately.

His correct email is helge at hvc.rr dot com

Obviously replace the "at" with @ and the "dot com" with .com [Smile]