Filming Out

At this point the DI is ready to be filmed out. Before we discuss these methods, which apply to most theaters in the US, it is worth mentioning again that at this stage of the game you have other options for delivery. From the Quantel you can quickly run off HDCAM SR copies or BluRay disks which can be used for special / investor screenings. Many film festivals will allow you to submit in HDCAM, HDCAM SR or D5, all of which can be created from the DI. You can also create a Digital Cinema Package for digital theaters. This is not as simple as creating a tape or BluRay, as it involves a ton of rendering to create the encrypted / JPEG2000 compressed files. Once the package is created, hard drives can be sent to the theaters where they are played back via a "digital handshake" with certified projectors. As another copyright protection the files will often expire after a certain time period and need to be renewed.
I can tell you though that the digital images look pretty darn good, at least in the theatre I watched the movie in.

In terms of the film out for the rest of the theaters, the DI edit system will export each reel out in a particular file format. That large file is then written, frame by frame, to a reel of film by a laser, for example the ARRILASER. This is a time consuming process but when it is all said and done you have your negative master for each reel. At this point we are going from the digital realm back to the analogue realm.