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Movie Film Transferred to Digital Video

Transferring film to video requires highly specialized equipment and processes. 

The series of videos below will describe, demonstrate, and compare our systems and services so you can make an informed choice.

You can view additional samples of our work that don't appear on our portfolio page by clicking here.

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Here is a side by side comparison of our film transfer service with another. The other system may be an old Elmo system or other 1-CCD consumer camcorder rig that falls short in terms of color saturation and proper range of exposure. I see this kind of transfer all the time (and worse!) on people's VHS tapes to put on DVD. I'm happy to transfer those to DVD for the short term, but I feel strongly enough about this as a detriment to their family history that I routinely credit the VHS transfer cost toward a professional re-transfer of their film. Everyone who's taken me up on that has been glad they did!

 

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A few thoughts about adding music. Everyone's taste is different, so it's best that you provide your own music, preferably on audio CDs. Long instrumental pieces are a safe bet in most cases. With a bit more planning though, usually by previewing a Reference DVD*, you can mix and match sound and picture to your heart's content.
*A Reference DVD is a "rough cut", or initial copy for previewing purposes so that editing, additions, or other changes can be made for the finished product.

 

The Process

Every job is customized to follow the most cost-effective means of transforming your movies from film on reels into the ideal finished product of your choosing.

The Express service (below) takes a shortcut that generally does not compromise the quality of the transfer, but does restrict or eliminate many of the post-production possibilities that make the Archival service so valuable.

Express Service

Choose this if you just want a good, professional transfer of film that is not important enough to justify any non-
essential expenses.

The Process

  1. Preparation: Cleaning, inspection, and repairs as needed.Optional consolidation of small reels to large.

  2. Transfer film direct to the DVD-ready MPEG-2 File format.

  3. Compiling and optional basic editing and re-arranging of segments.          
     
  4. Optional menu creation with identifying titles and thumbnails.             
     
  5. Create master DVD; burn additional DVDs from the master file.

  6. Typeset and print title information on all DVDs and load into cases.
  

Archival Service

Choose this if you value your film as important history to be optimally preserved and presented, with further options to improve, edit, and enhance the finished product.

The Process

Same as the Express Service, except that step 2 transfers the film to the less-compressed, edit-friendly AVI format, before outputting & encoding to MPEG-2 and continuing on to DVD.  The AVI format enables the following processes to occur in the order as follows:

1. Precise and extensive editing and re-arranging of material.

2. Fix, by re-doing & editing, any technical    
problems in the transfer.

3. Color Correction not only corrects the color problems of various film stocks having been used for both indoor and outdoor lighting conditions, but also corrects for and optimizes the saturation, brightness, and contrast of the film images to the new specifications of digital video.

4. Add Text Information such as names, places, and dates anywhere throughout the presentation.

5. A simple narration track can be a fun way to incorporate stories or personal reflections, and is also the most effective way to provide important background and factual information.

6. Music, of your choosing, can be a nice way to personalize, enhance, and liven up the silent film images.  When chosen and mixed carefully with the pictures, it can completely transform the viewing experience.

7. Still images can be made from any frame of film.  These images can become unique additions to your photo albums, and are most often used as the label design to print on the DVD, or as the basis for a slide show that makes for a nice bonus at the end to re-cap the film presentation.