The projection landscape in New Zealand is changing!

We've assembled below some things about working with digital projection that we learnt distributing Hook, Line and Sinker. Hopefully these can help paint a picture of what's involved and avoid a few pitfalls. Please contact us if you learn anything you want us to add so it can be shared with the community.

At the very time we were preparing the distribution of our film, we found that many cinemas were installing digital projection. This was a boon because we could not have afforded 35mm prints. We could buy another hard drive and duplicate the files instead of striking another print, and once a cinema has ingested the files, it doesn't need the drive any more and can onsend it to another cinema. Cinemas in NZ are replacing their 35mm projectors with either DCP (D-cinema) or more commonly an MPEG-2 HD projection (e-cinema), while smaller cinemas such as film societies may screen off DVD.

In NZ most arthouse and provincial theatre do not have DCP capability. It costs around $100K to install so the uptake by smaller cinemas hasn't been great. We released digitally in 44 cinemas and only a handful had DCP. The rest had some system of MPEG-2 projection, while some have both. Anything that can show 3D will have DCP capability.  A few cinemas can only take DCP files (e.g. the Embassy and Roxy in Wellington, NBS Westport), but most want either MPEG-2, or both MPEG-2 and DCP since they may not have DCP projection on all of their screens and it gives them the choice of what screen to show a film on. You will need to supply both trailer and the full film on whatever format is required.

As tempting as it may be for cost reasons, we would not recommend using USB sticks to distribute your files. We found external USB hard drives to be more reliable. Generally cinemas will onsend drives to another cinema (or back to you) once they have ingested the file, however a few are not so well organized, and we did have one drive crushed to pieces by the courier company, so it pays to have spare drives up your sleeve.

DCP

Most DCP players in NZ threatres appear to be Doremi playback machines. Doremi sells software to make DCP files and it does work. There are two versions, the expensive fast processing one and the cheaper slow one. The free downloadable 14-second trial version uses the fast processing version. The slow version takes about 40 hours to create a feature length file but it is a lot cheaper to buy the software and do it yourself (if you have the computer to handle it) than go to a third-party provider. Unfortunately the only way to view the results is to use a playback machine which means going into a DCP-equipped cinema to check. It took us three attempts before we got a result acceptable to screen at the Embassy in Wellington. So it pays to have a good relationship with your local cinema. Bear in mind too that they need time (approximately real time) to ingest the file before playback.

We found it necessary to grade the picture differently for a DCP than for MPEG-2, DVD and DigiBeta (required for our airlines deal). Most notably black levels needed to be very different. To avoid very noisy blacks we had to crush the blacks well below TV safe levels. It was guess work and the only way to check is to view the film in a cinema. We were however working from a 720p source which had gone through a couple of processes in the form of Quick Time movies, which may have tinkered with black levels. Those coming from a higher spec source may not encounter this issue.

We chose not to use a KDM (encryption key that restricts playback of the DCP) as the complication of using it outweighed the perceived risk. We are not aware of any repercussions arising from not having used a KDM (e.g. our film surfacing on PirateBay). Not using a KDM gave us complete flexibility when duplicating the file and sending to cinemas rather than having to create a unique version for each depending on their screening dates.

Prices can vary wildly so we recommend shopping around (unless you choose to do it yourself as described above). After receiving an eye-watering quote from a local post-production facility we initially looked overseas before settling on HoneyCom to make our MPEG-2 and DCP files. Being within driving distance of our provider was invaluable given the necessity of adjusting the file.

MPEG-2 (e-cinema)

MPEG-2 files are a lot cheaper and easier to make than DCP files. New Zealand (like India) has an extensive network of digital cinemas using MPEG-2. Despite the lack of unified standards and/or operating specs, it has resulted in a burgeoning of boutique and arthouse cinemas up and down the country which can only be a good thing especially for the independent filmmaker.

MPEG-2 is already an old format and though capable of projecting HD is not as high a spec as BluRay. It is however the closest thing  out there to an adopted standard. There are a number of different MPEG-2 (e-cinema) systems in use around the country and there can be differing results, so get your files to the cinemas in plenty of time to be tested.

Most cinemas prefer 720p not 1080 MPEG-2 files.  Using 1080p or 1080i is asking for trouble as many systems don't have the computer grunt to handle these big files and the film may freeze or playback unevenly. Stick to 720p, and even if shot on 1080, we recommend converting to 720 when making the MPEG-2 file or at least give cinemas a choice of file.

MPEG-2 files should be encoded at 15Mbps, programme stream, MPEG encoded audio (which is 2.0 stereo Dolby Pro Logic ). MPEG-2 files will take 5.1 surround audio however it is not what they were designed for but rather a 'hack' that someone has managed to add on at a later date. It works but is not as reliable as stereo file. We sent all cinemas two files, a 2.0 stereo and a 5.1 mix. We found that if there was an issue with a file not playing correctly or at all, is was usually with the 5.1 while the 2.0 stereo played fine. Some 5.1 surround systems are so badly installed that you really are better off with 2.0 stereo even if the 5.1 file works.

Conclusion

It's possible cinemas may be forced to toe the line and convert to DCP or be starved of films. Many won't be able to afford the installation cost and will  forced to close or run fewer screens.  The current renaissance of independent cinemas  (many in small provincial towns) offering a huge range of films to their audience every week maybe shortlived. So we should make the most of it while it lasts!