[Frameworks] Advice with screening format for festival. Help!

[Scott Dorsey]

> Dear Frameworkers,
> I have an 8-minute 16mm film scheduled to be screened in a few weeks in 
> Europe and had I hoped to send it in film form.
> The original was shot in 7266 Tri-X reversal on three 100' rolls and the 
> festival selected it from a low quality transfer, where I cut the three 
> rolls together digitally.
> 
> It only needs 2 splices, 4 with leader: should I try to splice the 
> original with tape or cement splices (will a festival take tape splices 
> and should they be both sides?)?

You should take the camera original, and splice it as it needs to be 
spliced with cement splices, or you should get some black leader and A-B
roll it.

You don't need a workprint to conform to because you know where the cuts
need to be.  

> Or would I be better off to send the rolls out to be scanned in 2K, cut 
> it together digitally, and send digital media files (how big is big 
> enough to look like film?).
> I only have three weeks before it must ship.

Do not, do not, do not send your camera original out.  Do not project
your camera original.  Once you have cut the original, you can
get a good print struck from it, or you can get a good video transfer
done, and you give one of these two to the festival.

My inclination about presentation is to make it as hard as possible for
the festival to mess things up.  It's hard to mess up a 35mm presentation.
There are more ways to mess up a 16mm presentation.  There are millions
of ways to mess up a digital presentation.

If you decide to do a digital transfer, it is MUCH harder to screw up a
presentation from a 2K DCP file than from most other formats.  

If you send a Blu-Ray or DVD they will almost certainly find a way to screw
it up (although being in B&W helps matters).

Your main problem is that you have such a crazy short deadline, you need to
be on the phone to labs right now!
--scott