{"id":11562,"date":"2016-05-27T10:37:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-27T08:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ismaelmartin.com\/what-copies-do-i-need-for-festival-screenings\/"},"modified":"2016-05-27T10:37:00","modified_gmt":"2016-05-27T08:37:00","slug":"what-copies-do-i-need-for-festival-screenings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ismaelmartin.com\/en\/what-copies-do-i-need-for-festival-screenings\/","title":{"rendered":"What copies do I need for festival screenings?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It has been a while since I last discussed video formats for screenings. After a few years of changes, everything seems much clearer now, but what do we really need to screen a film, whether a short or feature film, at festivals?<\/strong><\/p>\n

First of all, we need to have a video file in QuickTime, .mov, with a medium bitrate, between 15,000 and 20,000<\/strong>, since a higher bitrate can cause playback issues, with skips and freezes. We must be careful with these files; I have been at some screenings with videos so heavy and with such a high bitrate that they could not be played. <\/p>\n

This video file must be encoded in .h264<\/strong> and with a Full HD, 1080p<\/strong> resolution. This format is the most widely used for screenings, and it is preferable that the audio be stereo. We should aim to have an “all-terrain” video that sounds and looks good in any theater. <\/p>\n

As for subtitles, the ideal is to have several options: a clean video without subtitles, the files in .srt<\/strong>, and the<\/b> versions with embedded subtitles<\/strong>, one for each language<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In addition to this video, we need to have a copy in DCP, the Digital Cinema Package<\/strong>, which is the standard format for cinema screenings. Making a DCP is not too expensive; there are many companies that do it very well, and more and more festivals are using it. I always recommend having a DCP from the beginning of distribution, reviewed in a theater and functioning correctly. <\/p>\n

This DCP is much better if it has the subtitles included, not embedded, and as many dialogue lists as we can have.<\/p>\n

We should also have an Apple ProRes file<\/strong> (although I am not a strong advocate of this format for screenings, as I discussed in this post<\/a>) with and without subtitles, and a Blu-ray disc<\/strong>. Both formats are used very little, but there are a few festivals that do require them, and it does not cost much to have them ready.<\/p>\n

To summarize, most screenings are covered with these files:<\/div>\n