Converting vegas project to theatre format?

theceo wrote on 1/27/2005, 11:16 AM

How would one go about outputting a Vegas project to a format that could then be formated to a theatrical format? Right now I export to MPEG2 files to then demux into VOB files for DVD authoring.

If I want to get my work into a theatre format would a wide screen DVD be all I need to send to a house to make a theatrical format?

Also, what do they use in theatres today? Is it digital or film?

It seems all the talk about Vegas is how to export to files for DVD authoring. Which is MPEG2 or MPEG4. So what is the procedure if anyone knows to get a Vegas project into a format a theatre post production company can use to make a real film media for theatres.

If you know please share.

Thanks

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Barry_Green wrote on 1/27/2005, 8:02 PM

Back to the original question: depending on the lab you use, you can output straight 24P DV and they can transfer from there. DVFilm did a transfer of some footage for us, right from a 24PA DV tape.

$25,000 for a 90-minute feature is really cheap, some places charge upwards of $800/minute.

For a 100-theater release, you wouldn't make 100 prints. You'd make maybe five, and open in five theaters, have a two-week run, then take those same five prints to a new city for showing in the next five theaters, and on and on.

As far as the DIY vs. having a distributor do it, I totally agree that if you can get the product out there yourself, doing it yourself will be *far* more profitable for almost any project. I'm self-distributing the DVX Book/DVD, and I know people who have book deals with publishers and have their book on the shelves at Barnes & Noble, Borders, etc... I'm doing maybe 1/50th the volume they are, but made about the same amount of actual pocketed cash that they have. Some of their books have been out for 5+ years, whereas mine has only been out for a couple of months.

If you're talking about movie distribution, and you can get a deal like the guys who did Blair Witch or Open Water, obviously you'll never be able to self-distribute and turn $200 million at the box office. But for a small project that would likely end up in the hands of a small direct-to-video distributor, you've got to understand that the most (THE MOST) you'll likely ever see from them is maybe $10,000... if a penny. You can probably do that well distributing it yourself, if you really work it.