DV Filmmaking

Striking a Film Print

Even though an increasing number of exhibition venues will screen video, there are still situations that call for film. Many theaters don’t have video projection systems, so depending on where you’re screening, you may need to strike a film print to show your work to a theatrical audience. Once you cut together the final edited version of your project, how you get the material from your computer onto a reel of film depends in part on whether you originally shot film or video.

When your source material is video

If your original footage was shot on video, regardless of the video format, you can bring the final product to a post facility for a tape-to-film transfer. During the tape-to-film transfer, the staff of the post house conforms the frame rate and aspect ratio of the video master to match the frame rate and aspect ratio of a film print (for more information on frame rate and aspect ratio, see “Choosing a shooting format” in Chapter 2). Depending on the type of video in the source footage, this process can range from straightforward to very complex.

Various forms of HD video use the same 24 frames per second speed of a film print, and a 16x9 aspect ratio that fits nicely in a frame of 35 mm film. In these cases, striking the print is relatively easy, because the frame rate and aspect ratio are compatible from the start. If the frame rate and aspect ratio of the video source don’t match those of a film print, the post staff needs to conform the material to ...