Film Festival Levels?

[danijel]

Have you seen this sticky?
Standard mixing levels for movie theater, DVD, broadcast TV, commercials etc
If this is going to be shown from a 35mm film copy or DCP, look under 'Movie Theater'. If it's going to play off of an HDCAM, then things may not be that clear. Depending on the section of the festival, you might want to do it at broadcast levels.

For your other questions, they're a little too broad. Search the forum for 'mixing dialog', 'roomtone' etc (there are hundreds of threads) and if you have any specific questions that might not be already answered, shoot them

[Lackatee]

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I took a look at that sticky, didn't see anything about film festivals. And like I said, I am super green to post work, so I am unfamiliar with the gear used and have no idea what format it would be played in. Hence the reason for my post here. All I know, is that I'm getting an OMF file with the materials.

I guess I'll just wing it. I wasn't really looking for specific settings on stuff. Those aren't going to do me any good. Just some rough, in the usual ballpark, type of settings that you might typically start with on certain sources. That's all. But I get it, no one is going to come out and give some generalized settings on gearslutz in front of all their buddies.

I guess I'll dig through the forum some more and try and find what I'm looking for.

Thanks for the help.

[JSt0rm]

reverse your left and right so when they do it everything will be correct

[JoeMilner]

The info about DVD levels applies to mixing for your festival submission DVD, and the info about levels for movie theater screenings applies to the mix that would play at the festival itself, should your friend's film get accepted.

The way that you calibrate your monitors is the first and most-important step. Even the most-experienced mixer would deliver a bad mix if the monitoring environment was not properly calibrated in the very specific way that's described in the sticky.

Sure, you can "wing it" if you want to, but there's a pretty good chance you'll screw up the mix for your friend's film, and that wouldn't be good for either of you.

Good luck!

[danijel]

Originally Posted by Lackatee

But I get it, no one is going to come out and give some generalized settings on gearslutz in front of all their buddies.

No, you'll find a lot of talk about settings here on gearslutz, there's no secrets about that. I think you can event find some mixing templates around the Internet.... I can send you my current template if you work in Nuendo. But you'll be disappointed, as all the plugins I use are in their default state, just sitting there doing nothing. No compression, no HP/LP - all those things are adjusted for each line of dialog using automation. For TV work, which has to be done quicker, most people will have some compression and LP/HP activated from the get go.

[danijel]

Originally Posted by JSt0rm

reverse your left and right so when they do it everything will be correct