Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Feature Info and Trailer Attachment Database

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Topic: Feature Info and Trailer Attachment Database

Brian Tristam Williams
Film Handler

Posts: 93
From: Johannesburg, South Africa
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 03-15-2008 09:26 PM

We're about to replace our 8-year-old website at Nu Metro, and part of the project has got to be getting a decent film database going, to reduce redundancy and replace so much paper.

What has this got to do with you? Well, I often come and look at this forum for data that might help us figure out if the print we're about to get is going to be anamorphic or have SDDS, etc. So I made a list (and checked it twice) about two years ago. But now it's time to move beyond a simple list and formally define the data, so I can include it in my database. I've looked through many titles, and this is the relevant data I've come up with:

Lens format - can only be flat or anamorphic, right?
SR audio - can only be on or off, yes or no.
SRD audio - ditto
DTS audio - ditto
SDDS audio - ditto
Lab - Don't know how many labs y'all have, so this will be plain text, eg. Tech Hollywood
Depot - plain text, eg. TES
House (studio?) - plain text, eg. Universal
Attached 1 - trailer attached to main feature. Will not be entered here, but will link to another film in the database, cos it's a trailer of another film.
Attached 2 - trailer attached to Attached 1
Attached 3
Attached 4 - do you ever get more than 4 attached?
Additional notes - miscellaneous stuff that you guys write, like, "Reel 2 less than half - about 1/3. Fade at end of reel 4, fade at begin reel 5. Complete fade at tail of reel 8. No fade in on head of reel 9." (Superman Returns)
Film Year

Anyone care to shatter my illusion by making this even more complicated than I care to handle? [Big Grin]

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Jeffry L. Johnson
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 809
From: Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 03-16-2008 11:42 AM

quote: Brian Tristam Williams
Lens format - can only be flat or anamorphic, right?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspect_ratio_(image)

007 Physical Description Fixed Field (Motion Picture) web page

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Brian Tristam Williams
Film Handler

Posts: 93
From: Johannesburg, South Africa
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 03-16-2008 06:02 PM

Dude, I know exactly what an aspect ratio is and that there are lots of them - I'm not a moron [Roll Eyes]

- but the query was on lens format - we have over 220 screens, and there are only ever two lens formats to choose from. At least I hope so!

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 03-16-2008 09:08 PM

Probably 99% of times there is only one attachement, a trailer. The only time there is more than one is in the case of, for example Disney/Pixar films which might come with a short + a trailer. Then occasionally there are combo trailers which can either be two movies promoted in one trailer, or two distinct trailers (each with their own "green tag") that are supplied on one strip of film.

You might want to separate that category into "attached trailers" and "other attachements" to cover shorts.

Is this database going to cover old movies as well as recent ones? If so, you'll need more than those two "lens formats." For example, you could run a 1.33:1 film with a standard flat lens but you'd cut off the top and bottom of the picture.

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Scott Norwood
Film God

Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99

posted 03-16-2008 10:12 PM

Sound can be any of several formats. At the very minimum, you have the following optical sound formats on 35mm:

- silent
- mono (01)
- Dolby A mono (02)
- Dolby A no surround (03)
- Dolby A with surround (04)
- Dolby SR (05)
- Dolby SR mono (Woody Allen)

Tracks can be variable-area or variable-density and, on color prints, can be silver, high-magenta, or cyan. B&W silver prints should be noted as such.

There are also mag prints, 70mm prints, 16mm prints, and other options as well.

Also, consider that prints may have DTS timecode, but no disks.

The presence of subtitles should also be noted, as well as whether the subtitles are printed or laser-burned.

For changeover houses, it is useful to know the type of cues (lab, scratched, grease-pencil, other, none) and spacing (168 or 172 frames between cues, 18 or 24 frames from last cue to end of reel).

For picture format, you have at least the following options for 35mm:

- 1.33 silent (several different possible aperture sizes)
- 1.17 Movietone
- 1.37 Academy
- 1.66 European non-anamorphic widescreen
- 1.75 non-anamorphic widescreen
- 1.85 American non-anamorphic widescreen
- 2.35 early anamorphic
- 2.40 (2.39) current anamorphic
- 2.55 mag only anamorphic (no optical track)

For silents, the frame rate (or rates) should be noted as well.

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