Min resolution for theater screens / for documentaries

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beanolar

Please advise - what's the minimum acceptable effective resolution to show on a standard movie theater screen?

Are there other factors to consider (sensor size)?

I have a Canon Vixia HFS200, which has 6 megapixels effective resolution (1/2.6" CMOS sensor). How bad will that look on a big screen? Am I totally out of the game for film festivals?

I will be shooting a doc in dangerous conditions, so I need a cheapish camera that I wont feel too bad about losing, yet will have acceptable resolution.

Any advice / pointers to other sites / etc would be appreciated. Thanks! Laura
 
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These days, you should be shooting at least 1080p in most situations. It's to cheap not to. 720p is ok for a few scenes here and there if you need to overcrank.

A lot of theater releases are 2K, which is just a wee bit bigger than 1080p.

There's 1080p footage mixed in a lot of theater release stuff too. A shot here and there, some background plates, etc. Jon Favreau was complaining about one of the stock footage helicopter over city establishing shots they used because it was 1080p and didn't hold up to the rest of the film in the Iron Man 2 commentary. I was watching on Blu-ray in 1080p and couldn't tell the difference, not sure if anyone really could on the big screen either unless they were looking for it.
 
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How are you planning to record audio? That's probably more important than the resolution of your camera.

The vixia shoots 1080p, as good as any other consumer HD camera. The "6 megapixels effective resolution" applies only to stills, not video. The weaknesses of a camera like that in comparison to a high end digital cinema camera have less to do with the resolution and more to do with quality of lenses, compression format, color depth, dynamic range, image control, etc.

It's absolutely fine for the kind of project you're describing. For the most part, the only way you'll get your documentary into festivals is if you have a compelling subject and can tell the story well. Assuming that's the case the audience won't be too concerned about the format or resolution, if it's not the case then it won't matter what camera you have or what resolution it shoots.

That said, you want to get the best quality possible given your equipment and filming conditions, and an experienced shooter will generally produce much better images with the camera you've got than someone who doesn't know what they are doing. I'm just assuming from the nature of your question that you are not particularly experienced with the camera, so I would say rather than worrying about whether the camera is good enough you should put some time in learning how to get the best out of it before starting production on your actual project - if you can do that then the camera itself should be fine for your project.
 
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Something else to consider is that general audiences are not particularly well attuned to absolute image quality, but will be aware of relative quality changes. Well shot standard def DV looks great on a big screen, right up until you cut to a shot of nice HD - as soon as you go back to DV it will look soft in comparison. Whatever format and resolution you use is fine, but I would be aware of staying consistent within a film so that you aren't inviting the audience to think about the resolution.
 
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Thanks!!

Wow thanks so much for all your input. I'm really glad to hear that my camera wont kill it for me ;) I do have compelling subjects, so hopefully they dont get robbed and I can make a great film!

Thanks!
Laura
 
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