I’ve always wondered this, because any answer seems insane to me.
After a long day of filming a movie, where is the footage stored? Is it just on some computer? And then when everything has been filmed, edited, etc. is the whole finished movie just on some single hard drive?? I’m sure they have it in multiple places, but it seems crazy that all of the footage of a marvel movie or something similar has to be saved somewhere so simple. In short, I guess I’m asking where movies exist in their final form before they’re available to the public.
And as a secondary question, how is the finished film distributed? How does it go from being a finished project to being in movie theaters? Does the theater receive some sort of electronic “file” that then is stored on a computer system within the theater? It seems like the process would have to be more complex than a fancy email, but I have no idea.
In: Technology
The files that make up a “finished film” are put into a DCP (digital cinema package). This contains the video file(s) (jpg2000 encoded mxf). Audio files for various sound mix setups (5.1, 7.1, atmos), and metadata files like timed text (subtitles). All the files follow a strict folder structure, colorspace requirements, and file format.
Modern films often have up to 100 different dcps, each with different cuts of the film or foreign language audio. For example, some markets might require all nudity to be blurred or cut entirely. There are also many stories of films that the Chinese government required changes to, plot and/or character, in order to be released in China.
Where does dcp come from? A standards organisation called SMPTE organized and published the standards. They have also released a new standard meant to replace DCP called IMF which extends to broadcast/streaming as well and has already been adopted by Netflix and Amazon prime. How does smpte influence the studios? It is made up of technical decision makers from all of the studios.
Source: I used to make dcp and imf packages for the film industry.
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