.MOV file for film festivals - IndieTalk

justinisfilming · 09-08-2012, 06:43 PM

Hey beautiful people!

So you guys know how some festivals want a .MOV file as an exhibition format? Well do they want it sent on a DVD? Online? Should it be HD? SD? Help!!

Jsthompson79 · 09-08-2012, 06:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by justinisfilming

Hey beautiful people!

So you guys know how some festivals want a .MOV file as an exhibition format? Well do they want it sent on a DVD? Online? Should it be HD? SD? Help!!

From what I have seen most are wanting you to submit the films in Apple ProRes 422 HQ. You will most likely want to send that on DVD as the file will be pretty large. And it will be in HD. ProRes 422 HQ makes the film into a .MOV but it is a large file not fit for online viewing through Youtube, Vimeo. For online viewing you're going to want to stick with H264.

mlesemann · 09-08-2012, 08:22 PM

For submissions, most want a DVD that is playable on a set top DVD player.
Some (an increasing number) will also take a blu ray.

None that I have seen will take a simple .mov file.

Dreadylocks · 09-09-2012, 11:45 AM

He's not talking about submission format, but exhibition. I would guess that sending it on a DVD would be fine. But to be sure, just email the fest. In my experience, the folks who work at fests are very nice and communicative. They just want to put on a good fest and are happy to answer questions.

justinisfilming · 09-09-2012, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dreadylocks

He's not talking about submission format, but exhibition. I would guess that sending it on a DVD would be fine. But to be sure, just email the fest. In my experience, the folks who work at fests are very nice and communicative. They just want to put on a good fest and are happy to answer questions.

Yup she's right. I'm talking about exhibition (how they project the film in the actual fest).

I've actually emailed quite a few but none of them have responded yet.

Do you think it's because I've not submitted yet? But I mean before I submit I wanna make sure that I can provide the necessary exhibition format so I think they should be replying right?

justinisfilming · 09-09-2012, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jsthompson79

From what I have seen most are wanting you to submit the films in Apple ProRes 422 HQ. You will most likely want to send that on DVD as the file will be pretty large. And it will be in HD. ProRes 422 HQ makes the film into a .MOV but it is a large file not fit for online viewing through Youtube, Vimeo. For online viewing you're going to want to stick with H264.

Are they strict with what bit rates, specific settings etc to use? 'Cause I know if I don't have the right settings then I'm screwed.

Am I the only one that think that they should have those in their site?!

PaulGriffith · 09-09-2012, 01:44 PM

Most likely they aren't that strict. No need to worry yourself yet, submit your movie and IF accepted go from there. If I worked at a festival and we get tons of submissions and people kept asking questions they probably wouldn't need the answers to, I might ignore them too.

Plus, every festival is different. MOV is a wrapper. They might want H.264 or they might want ProRes or maybe (probably not) uncompressed. Some may want you to FTP it, others send a Data disk or hard drive. Again, if you get picked they'll probably be much more communicative.

Ziggy · 09-09-2012, 07:03 PM

You should contact the festival to make sure. The festival we're playing in october asked for a DCP, I thought I could also just send a .mov file but it's different. I assumes that was just some digital copy but, you know, assumption... DCP is a new format used by some theatres. here's a link to info http://www.dcpinfo.com

FrankLad · 09-09-2012, 11:04 PM

Many who accept MOV for exhibition will specify "ProRes" in their description, but will likely accept H.264. (Windows folks can't - that I know of - export to ProRes, so we're limited to MOV/H.264.) I recently had one of my music videos play at a festival which asked for ProRes. Sent the file (1920x1080@24p H.264/MOV) on a data DVD and had zero problems.

Like Paul said, send them whichever submission/screener copy they prefer (DVD is common. Some accept BD or online screener.) and then worry about the final exhibition copy when they accept your entry.

Hope it goes well for you!

justinisfilming · 09-09-2012, 11:37 PM

I think I'm just making sure that I can provide them the necessary exhibition format when I get accepted. Because if I can't, then I pretty much just wasted the entry fee.

Anyway, I guess as long as they accept an .MOV file then I shouldn't really be afraid because whatever specifics they might want the file to be, that will be easy to produce. It's not like putting my movie to HDCAM or printing it to film or something...

Thanks guys!

justinisfilming · 09-10-2012, 10:48 PM

Just found out that I can't render out Apple Pro Res without FCP. I guess I'm going to the H264 route then? Or is there any other codec I should use? Maybe Avid DnxHD?

I know I should ask fests but right now I'm just curious.

AudioPostExpert · 09-11-2012, 08:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ziggy

You should contact the festival to make sure. The festival we're playing in october asked for a DCP, I thought I could also just send a .mov file but it's different. I assumes that was just some digital copy but, you know, assumption... DCP is a new format used by some theatres. here's a link to info http://www.dcpinfo.com

DCP is the format required for Digital Cinema and is becoming more and more common at the larger film festivals. A word of warning though, Stereo sound is not a film audio format and as such is not supported by DCP!

It's not just the video format/codec you have to worry about with film festivals but the audio format too. If you want more info about stereo and film festival audio formats please read this thread: A stereo Warning!!

G