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10/19/2006
The Secrets of Transferring Film to Digital Video
As a professional video editor, there are many “tricks of the trade” that I don’t readily share with the general public. This isn’t because of my inherent selfish desires, but more out of necessity for survival. One trick I’ve kept up my sleeve for years now is how to transfer film to your computer on an extremely low budget without sacrificing quality. I’ve have decided to share my knowledge now not because I’ve mended my selfish ways or found a way to survive without money, but simply because the film-transfer industry is a dying industry. It’s dying because the average person isn’t recording to film anymore. And a professional movie maker who still uses this media would use a professional transfer agency. This doesn’t work for the average home movie owner because, unless you’re a soon-to-be discovered celebrity, your old home movies won’t be making the money to justify such transfer methods.
And so, to keep this as simple as possible, here’s what you need. The best place to start is with a variable speed film projector. I picked mine up on eBay for $64.30. It’s a Kodak Ektasound Moviedeck 285. Although it has some grand features like the built-in movie screen for portable viewing capabilities, the real reason I wanted this projector was because it could play standard 8mm and Super 8mm film at 18 frames per second or 24 frames per second and every speed in-between. It has a variable knob that allows the user to manually adjust the speed of the film within that range.
The second item I sought out was a digital video camera that allowed me to adjust the shutter speed. Specifically to 1/60 frames per second. This was very important to me because as most people who have ever tried to film their T.V., computer monitor, or their projected film have discovered, the end result is a video that is not consistent in contrast. Sometimes it produces rapid lines across the screen. Sometimes it produces a picture that fades in and out so that the picture isn’t desirable for viewing. This is caused by conflicts in shutter speed of the medium you’re trying to record, and your recording device. A common seen example of this is the “car wheels that roll backwards” effect. The rotation of the car wheels don’t mathematically fit within the frames being recorded by the camera. This causes the wheels to appear to have the wrong direction of rotation. It can be very distracting.
Once those two items have been obtained, the processes can be very simple. I’ve used mirrored boxes and other such transferring devices only to find that the best picture I’ve been able to capture is one that’s projected on a bright white sheet of cardstock paper. I have multiple projection screens of different luminosity, but still the bright white cardstock works the best. I project a picture about seven to nine inches high in a room that is dimly lit. You want a projected picture vibrant enough to display the full range of colors and contrast, but not so dark as to scare your camera into overly correcting it’s exposure. Of course, if your video camera has manual exposure capabilities, then you can experiment with different projection settings.
Placing my camera on a tripod next to the projector, I can film the projected image with no skewing of picture. I set my projector at approximately 20 frames per second, and my camera’s shutter speed at 1/60 frames per second: a mathematically comfortable frame rate with no left over frames. This completely eliminates all contrast distortion and gives me a clear stable picture. Be sure to use your camera’s auto focus before you turn on the film. Your goal is to be perfectly focused on your screen. Auto focus on a projected image is unstable. Once you’ve focused perfectly on the cardstock, switch to manual focus for best results. If your camera has a mic input jack, many sound projectors have sound output jacks, and with a very inexpensive trip to radio shack, you will get all the connectors you need to get a direct sound source from the film.
The better camera you use the better picture you will be able to capture. I’ve had the most success with the Sony HDV series of cameras and have used both the FX1 and the less expensive HC3. Both of these cameras capture a picture almost identical to the projected image, which is your ultimate goal. But even with far less expensive cameras, I’ve been able to capture a stable picture that was quite usable once I got it into a good non-linear editing system. Many digital video editing software programs have the ability to use color correction, to enhance the picture further. Adobe Premiere Pro has two great video effects called “Auto Color” and “Auto Contrast” which work amazingly.
If you’re not sure which route to go for film to digital video transfer, at least take the time to get your old film out of the hot garage and into your air conditioned house. Nothing ruins film faster that warm climates. Even without a projector, you can tell if your film is fading simply by the smell. If it has a vinegar odor, that’s a bad sign. And the stronger the odor, the worse the condition of the film. Now is the time to preserve your home movies before time steals away those irreplaceable moments of your family’s lives. Feel free to call Guy Graphics for help in finding the right digital video camera or video editing computer and software to meet all your video needs. As for the projector, hopefully your garage has what you want. If not, happy eBaying.
Brent Seavers
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