Adding multiple festival laurels every month
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DirectorMan
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Sun Mar 23, 2025 5:58 am
Adding multiple festival laurels every month
Hi, so a film I made is doing 'well' on the festival circuit and every other month has a new festival invitation - which means that I have to add a new festival laurel to my existing DCP every month. I am making DCP from my ProRes422 master. What is the correct way to do this without having to export a new ProRes422 every single time and then making a dcp - every single time !! Much thanks in advance.
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IoannisSyrogiannis
- Posts: 241
- Joined: Mon Nov 13, 2017 8:40 pm
Re: Adding multiple festival laurels every month
The answer, if I understand correctly, has the answer.
You
(A) make a VF (version file), which you change every single time, that includes the OV (original version) of the DCP and adds (or changes) the first seconds of the DCP.
So if "M" is your movie, that you keep, and "L" is your laurels, you make VF that has
L1-M and then
L2-M and so on, but you keep the original "M".
Or, after you make the OV the first time,
(B) you keep the project files (and the original ProRes) and -on the same project- you only change edit that part. If all the files are there, DCP-o-matic is not encoding again the frames it encoded, it just copies them.
So, you do export a full DCP every single time, but you do that faster, because you only encode the first few seconds.
The most common practice, adding that boring stuff and funding organizations, distribution, etc., etc. is adding to the original DCP those shorts as reels (like creating a VF with them) but exporting (not encoding) the full DCP (OV instead of VF). That helps the distribution, on occasion.
It's up to you to decide whether you will want to distribute an OV and a VF ("M" and "Ln") and trust that the receiving cinema will ingest (load) both of them, instead of playing just the OV, or deliver only one package.
You
(A) make a VF (version file), which you change every single time, that includes the OV (original version) of the DCP and adds (or changes) the first seconds of the DCP.
So if "M" is your movie, that you keep, and "L" is your laurels, you make VF that has
L1-M and then
L2-M and so on, but you keep the original "M".
Or, after you make the OV the first time,
(B) you keep the project files (and the original ProRes) and -on the same project- you only change edit that part. If all the files are there, DCP-o-matic is not encoding again the frames it encoded, it just copies them.
So, you do export a full DCP every single time, but you do that faster, because you only encode the first few seconds.
The most common practice, adding that boring stuff and funding organizations, distribution, etc., etc. is adding to the original DCP those shorts as reels (like creating a VF with them) but exporting (not encoding) the full DCP (OV instead of VF). That helps the distribution, on occasion.
It's up to you to decide whether you will want to distribute an OV and a VF ("M" and "Ln") and trust that the receiving cinema will ingest (load) both of them, instead of playing just the OV, or deliver only one package.
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DirectorMan
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Sun Mar 23, 2025 5:58 am
Re: Adding multiple festival laurels every month
Thank you so much for the detailed response. Given the circumstances, the best options seems to be this:
'The most common practice, adding that boring stuff and funding organizations, distribution, etc., etc. is adding to the original DCP those shorts as reels (like creating a VF with them) but exporting (not encoding) the full DCP (OV instead of VF).'
Do you mind detailing this method a little more?
'The most common practice, adding that boring stuff and funding organizations, distribution, etc., etc. is adding to the original DCP those shorts as reels (like creating a VF with them) but exporting (not encoding) the full DCP (OV instead of VF).'
Do you mind detailing this method a little more?
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Carsten
- Posts: 2905
- Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2014 9:11 pm
- Location: Germany
Re: Adding multiple festival laurels every month
Create the laurels as separate short clips and add them to your OV project within DCP-o-matic as you need them (heading or trailing the movie).
Then just create a new OV. This will take more space, as every new festival version contains all the video and audio. But is easier to handle at the festival. When you do this in your existing original OV project, the movies' video and audio will be reused during OV creation and will not be newly encoded, just copied and re-verified. So it is faster than a full conversion.
The OV/VF version is also doable, but may cause issues at the festival. As you probably do not want to encrypt your DCPs (festivals hate this), you can not control which version - OV or VF, is actually played at the festival. This method also has a slightly higher possibility of causing technical issues.
Then just create a new OV. This will take more space, as every new festival version contains all the video and audio. But is easier to handle at the festival. When you do this in your existing original OV project, the movies' video and audio will be reused during OV creation and will not be newly encoded, just copied and re-verified. So it is faster than a full conversion.
The OV/VF version is also doable, but may cause issues at the festival. As you probably do not want to encrypt your DCPs (festivals hate this), you can not control which version - OV or VF, is actually played at the festival. This method also has a slightly higher possibility of causing technical issues.
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cvila
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Tue Jul 16, 2024 11:54 am
Re: Adding multiple festival laurels every month
Hi, just Another opinion, because I do this kind of stuff all the time.
I'm going to explain starting from scratch.
As mentioned, the strategy is to work with "reels". In this case the first reel are the laurels and/or logos that are subject to future changes, and the second reel is the movie itself (obviously without the laurels/logos, or only with the logos that are definitive).
Export each reel separately as Prores, as usual. Then create the DCP, making sure the option of "reels by content" is checked.
You will end up with an OV which plays as intended at this time.
When you need to update the laurels, you can either
a)make a VF as mentioned, replacing the first reel. You need to distribute both OV and newest VF to the projectionist, give instructions and hope he plays back the VF and not the OV.
b) make a new OV
I almost always make a new OV DCP because it's the only way to ensure the correct version is played back.Export the updated first reel as ProRes. In this case you have to make a new DOM project (not use the existing project that has the ProRes assets) and load your DCP to use as the basis. Then your assets are already in jpeg2000 format and the creation will be much faster. (like a copy) Only the first reel, which is only a few seconds long, needs to be reencoded.
Hope this helps
I'm going to explain starting from scratch.
As mentioned, the strategy is to work with "reels". In this case the first reel are the laurels and/or logos that are subject to future changes, and the second reel is the movie itself (obviously without the laurels/logos, or only with the logos that are definitive).
Export each reel separately as Prores, as usual. Then create the DCP, making sure the option of "reels by content" is checked.
You will end up with an OV which plays as intended at this time.
When you need to update the laurels, you can either
a)make a VF as mentioned, replacing the first reel. You need to distribute both OV and newest VF to the projectionist, give instructions and hope he plays back the VF and not the OV.
b) make a new OV
I almost always make a new OV DCP because it's the only way to ensure the correct version is played back.Export the updated first reel as ProRes. In this case you have to make a new DOM project (not use the existing project that has the ProRes assets) and load your DCP to use as the basis. Then your assets are already in jpeg2000 format and the creation will be much faster. (like a copy) Only the first reel, which is only a few seconds long, needs to be reencoded.
Hope this helps