How do you change a digital film into a 35mm film reel?

Question

Is there a place I could send it to or something?

Answer 1

Yes there are places you can send it to. Two such places are http://www.dvfilm.com or you can go to http://www.dfrfx.com/ and see what they offer.

About the Vinyl comment, I don't think that applies unless you're still stuck in the 1800's. The last Superman film was shot digital then converted to film. So was Clint Eastwood's "Letters from Iwo Jima" and "Zodiac" as well. In fact with HD technology many filmmakers are opting for digital filmmaking.


If you're just looking for a higher quality version of your film you can try Red Giant's plugin called Instant HD. http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/instanthd.html

There are also tricks for un-prezzing your film. Check out the tutorial from Pine Lake Films: http://pinelakefilms.com/tutorials.html

However, how you shot your digital film is important. Did you shoot 24p? Did you use a 3CCD camcorder like Panasonic's DVX or Canon's XL-2? If not, if you used a camcorder that cost under a few grand it might not be worth transfering to film because the quality loss will be so aparent. Meaning, you'll have a poor resolution film.

Remember film is 24 frames per second that's why shooting in 24p mode is so important. There are plenty places you can send your samples of your footage to so they can test how the conversion works.


Here's some of the FAQ's from DV Film:

Prices?

For short films, about $350/minute for 35mm; sound, negatives, and print all included. $250/minute for 16mm. A feature-length transfer to 35mm can be as low as $20,000 (75 min) or $13,000 for 16mm (75 min).

What is the quality like?

Excellent. If the source material is high-quality digital video, such as 16:9 DVCAM, it looks as good or better than 16mm enlarged to 35mm, except that there is no 16mm graininess. The average viewer cannot tell that the transfer originated on tape.

Answer 2

Hey it IS like converting a cd to vinyl. I don't think it can be done. At least not very cheaply. Film is processed with light and shade. You can copy 35 to 35 because it's all identical. But something digital is basically just a computer file and code. You would have to have something to transfer this into light and shade first and then to 35 and that seems a little far fetched to me. I'm no expert by any means though and could be very wrong. :-) Go ask Jeeves...lol

Answer 3

That's like converting a CD to vinyl - it doesn't make sense!!!

You could always take a photo of the image using a film camera