Film Technical Specifications

EDITING GUIDELINES, before you export

• File contains no use of alpha channel transparencies meant for the final export 
• Files contain no extra footage before or after the edited timeline (colour bars, black etc).
• Final output must be assembled from lossless source material. This means the footage you are editing with is NOT compressed. H264 encodings are compressed! MP3 encodings are compressed!
• Your film file size will be larger, possibly in the range of 2-10 gigabytes, depending on how long your film is. All those gigabytes ensures your film will look its best!

• GOOD IMAGE SEQUENCES options are: DPX, PNG, TIFF, and EXR image sequences. 
• GOOD VIDEO options are: Apple ProRes and DNxHR codecs (these are compressed, but are visually lossless). Both Apple Prores and DNxHR have many "flavours" that offer different data rates and file sizes. 
• GOOD AUDIO options are WAV, AIFF
  
• BAD IMAGE SEQUENCE and VIDEO options that are never to be used: JPEG sequences and H264 mp4's. These will introduce visual artefacts into your work, and are actually harder for your computer to work with because the files have to be uncompressed while you are editing them.
• BAD AUDIO options are MP3, AAC, and MP4, which are compressed.
  

AUDIO LEVEL GUIDELINES

Are your sound levels correct according to our audio level guidelines? Are there any sound quality issues? Review these guidelines and make adjustments accordingly. Apply the volume adjustments necessary to each clip in each category. Refer to the dB level guidelines in this document.

• AVERAGE levels range between -10 dbfs (loud) to -20 (quiet) dbfs

• LOUDEST PEAK (sound) no higher than -2 dbfs. This volume is only for momentary sounds, as it is quite loud.

• DIALOGUE averages between -16 dbfs to -24 dbfs, with the average being -18 dbfs, the lowest being -20 dbfs, and momentary peaks no higher than -10 dbfs (yelling, shouting)

• MUSIC averages between -18db to -22 dbfs. When music is playing at the same time as dialogue, aim for –3db to -9db below your dialogue audio levels as an average goal.

• SOUND EFFECTS range between -10 dbfs to -20 dbfs. There may be occasional spikes up to -8 dbfs. Momentary, loud sound effects (explosions, gunshots) might peak upwards around -3 dbfs to -2 dbfs.

These settings leave 2-6 dB of “headroom” in your mix, allowing some breathing room. This way your mix doesn’t sound clipped or harshly levelled off to a given threshold. If you mix beyond these standards, a technician will reduce your overall audio level, which could detrimentally alter the sound of your final output.

FILE SUBMISSION RESPONSIBILITIES

• Students are responsible for ensuring that submissions are error free in all aspects of picture, sound, and synchronization. This means watching your final file all the way through before submission.
• Final outputs for department screenings and archives will be created, tested and managed by the technicians or faculty using the student's final file submissions.

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EXPORT GUIDELINES

File Naming

Codec and Compression

Third Year films are being submitted as H264 Codecs (not Quicktime), which automatically applies H264 compression and audio.

Use these PREMIERE SETTINGS

• Preset: 1080 High Quality HD
• Format: H264 Codec

• Frame size: Full HD (1920 x 1080)
• Frame rate: 24.0 fps
  
• Pixel Aspect Ratio: 1.0, Square Pixels
• Field order: Progressive (NOT interlaced)

Audio

• Audio Format: AAC
• Sample rate: 48000 kHz
• Channels: Stereo
• Bitrate [kbps]: 320

(in Premiere's own export interface, you'll see this under the preview window.

These are the export settings in Premiere's own export interface.

Naming Conventions

• Full films be must be labeled “last-name_first-initial_film_Film_Title.mov” 
• doe_j_film_My_Movie.mov
• Trailers be must be labeled “last-name_first-initial_trailer.mov” 
• doe_j_trailer_My_Movie.mov
• Two shots (shots from your film for the Film and Animation Publicity Trailer) must cut together in one file and be labeled “last-name_first-initial_2shots.mov”
• doe_j_2shots.mov
• Posters must be named 'lastname_firstinitial_Poster_FilmTitle.pdf 
• doe_j_poster_My_Movie.pdf
  • Photoshop and raster-based image files are saved as .TIF, no layers.
  • Illustrator and vector art files are saved as .PDF
• Film Stills must be named 'lastname_firstinitial_Still_FilmTitle_#.png 
• doe_j_Still_FilmTitle_1.png , doe_j_Still_FilmTitle_2.png etc
• Director Photos must be labelled "Lastname_FirstInitial_DirPhoto_Full_.jpg" and another with Crop instead of Full 
• doe_j_DirPhoto_Full.jpg and doe_j_DirPhoto_Crop.jpg

If you have already submitted a file, but need to update it with a corrected or newer version:

• DO NOT delete or replace ANY already submitted file(s).
• Instead, submit the updated version with a numerical suffix:
•  j_doe_film_My_Movie_v2.mov
• Technicians will use the newest file version available submitted in a reasonable time frame.