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Topic: Will cyan become the rule for trailers,commercials?

Don E. Nelson
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 138
From: Brentwood, CA, USA
Registered: Nov 2001

posted 09-20-2004 02:49 PM

Will the Film / Advertising studios convert all their 35mm trailers and 35mm commercials also to cyan audio tracks and if so, roughly when? What about all the other program material shot on 35mm film for 35mm playback, as listed below, will they also convert...eventually or be forced to, in order to save the planet, or is this part of the digital conspiracy to get rid of film.

1. 35mm music videos and record company promo films
2. 35mm cartoons, anime,animation festival films, etc.
3. 35mm short subjects and short science documentaries
4. 35 Theater (Regal/Cinemark)promos, THX/Dolby/DTS logos
5. 35mm NFL-Films sports/olympic footage

How about larger format films, Imax, Maxivision, etc?

I am assuming 35mm dailies, will not convert to cyan?
...John P., Just wanted to see if you were still awake!

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John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 09-20-2004 03:29 PM

So far, Disney, MGM, and Miramax have announced definite conversion plans. Ted Costas has said a few additional distributors may announce conversion at ShowEast, heard from his contacts at Dolby Distribution Services. Once the vast majority of theatres have red readers, trailers and ads will convert.

Large format (70mm) films and film dailies do NOT use optical analog soundtracks, as they mostly use separate synced soundtracks.

It's likely some labs will continue to offer silver applicated tracks for limited releases, especially when an old sound negative that had been XM optimized for dye+silver needs to be reprinted. With a large re-release, I suspect new sound negatives will be made, and optimized for cyan dye track.

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Daryl C. W. O'Shea
Film God

Posts: 3977
From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from)
Registered: Jun 2002

posted 09-20-2004 03:54 PM

quote: John Pytlak
Once the vast majority of theatres have red readers, trailers and ads will convert.

I thought that was why features were being rolled out in cyan... the vast majority of theatres have converted.

I think it's more like, once the vast majority of studios have converted trailers and ads will convert.

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John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 09-20-2004 04:00 PM

As with most technology, it's often a "chicken or the egg?" question introducing a new format.

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Ken Lackner
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1907
From: Atlanta, GA, USA
Registered: Sep 2001

posted 09-21-2004 05:42 PM

quote: John Pytlak
It's likely some labs will continue to offer silver applicated tracks for limited releases, especially when an old sound negative that had been XM optimized for dye+silver needs to be reprinted.

What does "XM optimized" mean?

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Gordon McLeod
Film God

Posts: 9532
From: Toronto Ontario Canada
Registered: Jun 99

posted 09-21-2004 09:34 PM

"What does "XM optimized" mean?"
Crossmodulation distortion test

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John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 09-21-2004 09:37 PM

quote: Gordon McLeod was the last to post
What does "XM optimized" mean?

Optimized for cross-modulation distortion:

http://www.kodak.com/US/plugins/acrobat/en/motion/support/h44/h44.pdf

quote:

Cross-Modulation Distortion Testing 345K (20 page publication)
The cross-modulation test serves recording engineers very much as the light meter serves photographers. That is, it helps them determine the proper light exposure to be used when producing a photographic image.

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Dominic Case
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 131
From: Sydney NSW Australia
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 09-23-2004 12:16 AM

quote: John Pytlak
It's likely some labs will continue to offer silver applicated tracks for limited releases

It's more likely that some labs will be obliged to offer silver applicated tracks when printing for certain territories. Although "most" theatres in the USA, Europe, Australia and some other parts of the world are mostly red, information is not so clear elsewhere, and I think we can expect silver applicated tracks for a little longer. This will feed back to US release orders if the distributor plans to send second-hand prints to the "outer reaches of the universe".

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