From: Donald Harrison (email suppressed)
Date: Thu Jul 23 2009 - 22:08:06 PDT
Hi Brook-
From our viewpoint we have no love for DVDs and will switch over our
process as soon as we've lined up mega-server space (ours or a
partner's) and we're confident that our full screening system is ready
for it. We anticipate this process happening for us within the next 2
- 4 years. In the meantime, we still accept 16mm submissions and have
actually received one for this year already (our call for submissions
opened 3 weeks ago - http://www.aafilmfest.org/festival/submissions/).
We have found online viewing useful so far with several curatorial
situations, which do not demand such a complex screening process.
On the exhibition front, we're pleased with the results of going
tapeless 2 years ago for all non 16mm or 35mm work. We're running from
high speed hard drives through Final Cut Pro into a Kona 3 system
connected via SDI to the Michigan Theater's Christie DS+8K projectors.
We're seeing videos projected in a quality beyond what we've ever
achieved through tape based systems. Most of these Quicktime data
files are still getting sent on DVD or hard drives (we transfer from
tape if necessary), but we may be ready for FTP of exhibition files as
soon as next year. For those interested, our Tech Director, Tom Bray,
posted a detailed summary of our digital exhibition specifications on
our website here: http://www.aafilmfest.org/video_tech/
Best regards,
-Donald
_______________
Donald Harrison
Executive Director
Ann Arbor Film Festival
office: 734.995.5356
www.aafilmfest.org
The 48th Ann Arbor Film Festival | March 23 - 28th, 2010
On Jul 23, 2009, at 12:48 AM, Brook Hinton wrote:
> Howdy Frameworkers.
>
> I'm thinking about this whole question of online viewing vs. dvds for
> submissions, not so much for festivals who will obviously determine
> what works for their process, but curators, venues, etc.
>
> Here's my particular bias, and I wonder where others stand on this
> now:
>
> First, I hate dvds. Hate them. Sometimes, though not usually, more
> than VHS. Even for previewing work that is video to begin with. So
> much that I prefer seeing other people's work in some other way
> whenever possible, and that I am loathe to send them out myself. But
> until recently I was reconciled to this plastic disposable glitchy
> unreliable motion destroying landfill fodder as a necessary evil.
>
> In the last few months, I have come to feel that - with the exception
> of work that is dependent on an interlaced display for whatever reason
> - a well encoded h.264 standard def file at a DSL data rate is so
> close to (and at higher rates better than) "dvd quality" that it seems
> just silly to automatically send out screeners on DVDs, the majority
> of which will be thrown away. h.264 is now viewable on 90% of
> computers since it is supported by both flash and quicktime. And
> frankly, unless I'm watching a piece of interlace-dependent video art
> or have access to a very high quality large calibrated broadcast
> monitor, I find most laptop screens - while technically lacking - more
> conducive to a cinematic viewing experience.
>
> I have a couple of curatorial projects coming up and I know I'm going
> to strongly encourage that people who can set up previews of their
> work for me to see online rather than sending screeners. My "cinema
> brain" is now activated pretty strongly when clicking on a file on a
> computer - far more than it ever was inserting a tape or a dvd (though
> still not nearly as much as it is in a dark room full of strangers
> with good projection).
>
> How are others feeling about this nowadays? And again, I'm talking
> about non-festival submissions - I understand the difficulty in
> insisting on online submissions in any open call situation or where
> there is no access to broadband.
>
>
> _______________________________________________________
> Brook Hinton
> film/video/audio art
> www.brookhinton.com
> studio vlog/blog: www.brookhinton.com/temporalab
>
>
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
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__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.