Apple M8728Z/A User Manual - Page 155

About Interpositives Because the original footage is negative, the whole film must be printed from negative images in order to result in a normal, positive film image. This means you want your opticals to be negative when they are spliced into your original camera negative. The optical lab typically uses a low-contrast film print (of the relevant parts of the original camera negative) called an interpositive as the raw source footage from which to assemble the opticals. After the opticals are assembled from the interpositive, they are printed as optical negatives that can be spliced into the original camera negative. Usually, before the final interpositive is created, one or more trial prints are made with the guidance of a color specialist to find the proper combination of exposure and color balance. Note: In some cases, when opticals need a very stable image (as with images behind text), a registration interpositive is required. Registration interpositive printing minimizes unwanted lateral film motion in the optical printer gate. The optical lab will tell you when a registration interpositive is needed. Contact Printing vs. Optical Printing Choosing between contact printing and optical printing depends on several factors. The good news is you can have some effects created one way and others another way. Here are factors you may want to weigh: • Saving original footage: Contact printing requires the original camera negative to be cut and spliced. Optical printing essentially results in a new negative being made, so the original footage can be used again elsewhere. • Previewing: If your transitions are printed on a contact printer, you don't have the option of seeing the finished transitions before the negative is cut, but if they are printed optically, you do. After they are printed, transitions and motion effects may not appear exactly as they did within your digital editing system. If you want to know exactly how a transition is going to appear in the finished film, have it made optically before finalizing the cut. Then, transfer the optical to video. You can edit the transferred optical into your digital program to see how it will look. • Cost: If you have standard-length transitions and there are a lot of them, it will probably cost less to have them printed on a contact printer. Although optical printing has the advantage of resulting in a new negative being made that you can edit into your digital program to see how it looks and include in your cut list, the optical's negative must first be transferred to video at an additional cost. It's a good idea to compare quotes for having your transitions printed in different ways. Chapter 9 Editing with Final Cut Pro 155