The steps used for Scanned Movie Film workflow are:

1. Shoot movie film in a movie film type camera.

2. Have movie film processed at a film lab, you do not need to make a workprint since you would scan the camera original film that was shot.

3. Have the movie film scanned at a professional film scanning service, or build a DIY movie film scanner and scan the film yourself at home. My program DANCINES.EXE (tm) can be used to automate a DIY movie film scanner, see its documentation file in DANCINES.ZIP (tm) and the other documentation HTML pages at this Web site for more information about building a DIY movie film scanner. See also SECTION: 3.85.0.0.

4. When you have your movie film scanned you should have un-compressed 16bit 48bpp TIF frame images files made of each movie film frame. If you scan your own film in a DIY movie film scanner you may need to convert the RAW mode frame image files into TIF frame files for use with DANCAD87.EXE (tm) to do the color correction, resize, sound mixing, and shot sequence editing. The third party Freeware program DCRAW.EXE (tm) can be used to convert various RAW digital camera filetypes into 16bit 48bpp TIF frames. My program DCRAWBAT (tm) can be used to make a *.BAT batch file to process sets of frames and rename them for use with DANCAD87.EXE (tm).

5. If you have not already run DANCAD87.EXE (tm) and made a project directory folder structure with the Files Utilities Kinema Structure command, that gives you folders to put the TIF frames into, usually the I01 resolution level folder in each shot folder in the project structure, do so.

6. Copy and rename if needed, the TIF frame files into the project folder structure that DANCAD87.EXE (tm) uses to hold the image and audio frames used in the making of a motion picture project. It is best if you can output the TIF frames directly into the I01 or I02 level folders of the project structure folders if you can to avoid having to copy or move the large frame files since moving image files around can take months of time given the large number of frame files involved. It is very important that you have the clap-board slate or beep/flash frame as frame numbered zero for each shot in order to sync up the WAV files for each shot by having the WAV file trimmed so that the first thing in the WAV file is the slate board clap or Beep/Flash sync mark. If you do not make frame zero the slate board clap frame you will need to adjust the pull up/pull down of the audio tracks to compensate, which can get confusing and adds unnecessary work later. Since other programs do not support my Divided filetype you would use the Long or Padded file name type to name your TIF frames for use with DANCAD87.EXE (tm), like 00000000.TIF, 00000001.TIF, 00000002.TIF and so on, DANCAD87.EXE (tm) only reads 8+3 filenames (1 to 8 filename characters plus 1 to 3 file extension characters) so do not use long filenames, for the Padded filename type to be read the numbered filename must be padded from its start with leading zeros. The Padded filename type is preferred to the Long filename type since under Windows (tm) the filenames with leading zeros sort in order in the Windows (tm) folder directory. The reason Divided filename type should be used for filenames used "internal" to my system is that Padded type slows down after about 512 files are in a single folder, and Padded type is limited to about 65535 total files in a folder, to make a two hour movie you need 2*60*60*24=172800 total frame files, that is to get two hour playback the Divided filename type saves the frames into 172800/500=346 folders so as not to over run the about 512 file per folder limit for sync playback speed. There is an option (press [~] key from the CAD main menu) to save 1000 files per folder for longer running time projects, but the playback may not be a smooth unless you read the files from a solid state harddrive, maybe.

7. Use DANCAD87.EXE (tm) to make the "proxy" low resolution frame files that are small enough to view in playback at sync speed. To make the "proxy" frames you select the shot you want to make the "proxy" frames for, press the [Space] bar, select [I] for insert from the menu that comes up, and answer the prompts. The default video resolution for the "proxy" low resolution sync playback frames is set from the main menu by pressing [~] to bring up a special menu. What resolution you should make the playback frames at depends on the speed of the computer, type of harddrives, OS used, and other factors. You can do some tests to see what the maximum resolution is that your editing computer can work at without dropping frames by making the playback frames for one shot then use the [P] for pick command in the same menu you get by pressing [Spacebar] from the Edit list. During playback in [P]ick press [W] to turn on the dropped frame readout, it should say 0 most of the time unless you are using too high resolution frames for playback. The default playback "proxy" frame size is 320x200x4bits monochrome since that should playback on most systems. The resolution 640x350x4 monochrome looks better for editing, you can adjust the CRT monitor H and V size to get about the right aspect ratio, i.e. 16:9 or 2.35:1 etc. DANCAD87.EXE (tm) can display 15bit and 16bit color modes in various resolutions like 640x480, but the frame sizes are larger so your harddrives may not be fast enough to have those run at 24fps. Resolutions up to 1920x1440 32bit etc. are supported for sync playback, but you will probably not be able to get your computer's harddrives to run fast enough to playback without dropped frames at resolutions above 800x600. The primary "proxy" playback frames should be placed in I11 folders and be in Divided filename type for the Pick and View commands to play them back. You can have two resolutions in folders I11 and I12 for each shot, like maybe higher resolution monochrome in I11 and lower resolution color in I12 or something, you can switch the playback between the two sets by using the configuration command in the same menu as the Pick and Insert commands. All the "proxy" frames in the I11 folders should be the same video resolution. Some of the video resolutions are dependent on the video board used and will not work on other computers, so if you are using more than one computer for editing you might want the same video board in all the editing computers, otherwise you will need to generate "proxy" playback frames on each computer for the same shots so the frames on each computer match the properties of the video board on that computer. You can load many shots color corrected TIF frames with Divided filename type into the like I02 folders for the many shots, then enter a range of shots to make the I11 "proxy" frames for and the program will batch convert that range, like a days shooting etc. for you so you do not need to use insert manually on each shot you want to pick the trim points and key frame for. (you can also make rough workprint "proxy" PIX frames from the I01 Padded filename TIF frames in batch mode so long as all the I01 folders have Padded filename type TIF frames in them, that is you cannot mix the numbered filename types in a batch conversion job.

8. Once you have the "proxy" frames made for each shot. You can select the shot you want to trim in the edit list, press [Spacebar], then use the [P]ick command to set the first and last frame for that shot and also select the Keyframe for doing the Grading. The Key frame you select for Grading should have the actors face in the amount of light that represents the part of the shot that is most important. In movie film Grading only one "light change" was made for each shot between the shots at the cut point. The start, key, and end frames you select in the Pick command will be transferred to the edit list automatically when you exit the Pick command. You can change the edit points at any time during the editing process up to the point of "picture lock" when you would start doing the sound that goes across the edit points, after "picture lock" you would not want to make changes to the editing of the picture since you would need to go back and adjust the audio that crosses the cuts and make changes to the film music score.

9. You would probably do the Grading on each shot after you use the Pick command to select the head, key, and tail frames. You can export a BMP version of the grading, and an image of the Grading control screens as a BMP image for the director to approve, these BMP files as well as the color correction *.KCC files can be e-mailed to another location where the frames for the DI will be "cooked" on a "render farm" of computers, or to people like the DP who might be on location and want to see how the footage looks after final grading so he can know if the lighting is working. My programs could also be used on location to see how the grading would look by shooting a few frames and processing and grading them on a laptop, the *.KCC file from the on set Grading could be saved in a project folder structure and later be used to Grade the shots made using the same lighting set up saving the time of Grading the same way twice. Likewise you can burn the various *.KCC files you make to use over on other projects where you might want the same look again. To manually copy the *.KCC files into a shot for Grading you need to make a KCC folder in the right shot Ixx level and have that folder numbered right for the Divided filename type, then set the Key frame for that shot to match the *.KCC file or rename the *.KCC file to match the Key frame, otherwise the program will not find the *.KCC file for that shot if the *.KCC file number does not match the key frame number in the edit list. If you change the Key frame you need to make, or clone, a new *.KCC file, or rename the existing *.KCC file since the exact color balance in each frame of a movie is not the same so each frame can have its own *.KCC file, but the whole shot is Graded by the key frame and its *.KCC file you pick in the edit list. See SECTION: 4.10.30.0 for more information about the Grading command control screens. You need to use the Grading command in the menu you get when you press [Spacebar] from a shot in the edit list if you are going to grade several shots in batch mode since the Insert command may only review the Grading of the first shot in the group of shots to batch process.

10. You can rearrange the shots before or after you have set the trim points by marking a block of one or more shots in the edit list, move the cursor to the new point and do the movement. See the Edit list Help screen for information about the Edit list block move commands. This type of editing is sometimes called NLE or Non-Linear Editing since all the "proxy" resolution frames for all the footage shot are on harddrives for random access, you do not need to reload shots or fast forward or rewind through footage to jump to the shot you want to work with, you just select the shot in the Edit list, press the [Spacebar], and use the [P]ick command to look at that shot and set the trim points and Grading keyframe number.

11. At some point during editing of the project you would use the audio Insert command to put the audio frames into the project folder in a way similar to the way the image Insert command works. The audio Insert command converts monaural WAV files into raw audio frames. If your audio is 48000 samples per second and your frame rate is 24fps then each raw audio frame would hold 2000 16bit samples and be 4000 bytes long. The program has an automatic disk space saving feature that deletes audio frames that have no sound in them, all zeros, so you should "blop" your WAV files in a third party audio editing program like Magix (tm) before you Insert the audio into the Tracks in order to conserve disk space, which would be very important since 90% or more of many tracks will be silence. In movie film sound editing sound bits are spaced with "slug leader", in my system the "slug leader" audio frames are just erased to save disk space. In order to get the audio back into WAV from the raw frames after the slug frames have been removed the Track Insert command has a way of inserting silence to replace the missing audio frames, since you might lose the original WAV file and need to convert the audio track back into a WAV file for filtering and editing in a third party sound editing program such as Magix (tm). Be sure to split your stereo WAV files into two monaural audio WAV files, and adjust the sample rate from all sources to be the same one for all the audio tracks. You may also need to adjust the run time of the audio track if the movie is shot at NTSC rates like 23.976+fps rather than 24fps.

12. Once you get some part of your movie project edited you can use the Link command in the menu you get by pressing [Spacebar] from the Edit list to Mix the movie sound track for that range of shots, and to make the frame lists for playback with the View command. There are various ways to sync the sound to the picture for playback, you can burn the mixed WAV file to a CD and hit the spacebar to start the image frames on playback, or you can use the auto-start circuit shown on this WEB site, or you can use a Telcom T120 (tm) with SMPTE LTC time code to sync playback in Magix (tm) running on a second computer. The two computer setup is best since it lets you start and stop, replay, backup and fast forward and the sound will sync up automatically at return to sync playback speed.

13. When you get all the audio elements that go with each shot into their tracks and adjusted for volume, and all the picture edits look good, you can assert "picture lock" and start adding the music and other sounds that run across the picture cut points. The tracks that run the length of the project have their own list page that looks like the one for each shot, except that there are 10000 shot track lists and only one project length track list. See the Help screen in the Track list for Tracks commands. You get the Track insert command by pressing the [Spacebar] in the Tracks list, be careful that you are Inserting audio into empty tracks so you do not overwrite Audio you may need later, and backup your source WAV files in a "echo" or duplicate project folder on a removable backup disk.

14. Once you get all the project length audio tracks adjusted you can use the Link command to make the frame play lists and audio mix for the finished project. You can output a set of reduced resolution frames, like DVD size 720x480 to make an un-compressed AVI file by using the third party program VIRTUALDUB (tm), and then watch your project playback at sync speed in full color and with stereo audio in a computer media player. The Aggregate command makes the output resolution (any size) frames conform to the cuts in the edit list, you will need enough free disk space to hold the frames for each shot and the edited set of frames made by Aggregate. It takes a very fast computer to play back un-compressed AVI files, DVD size should work, but larger 1280x720 or 1920x1080 may be too large to play back smoothly. You can convert the un- compressed AVI into MPEG2, MPEG4 or H.262, H.264 compressed movie files for playback, but the quality will be lower than watching the un-compressed AIV files on a computer fast enough to show them without issues.

15. If you like what you see on your un-compressed AVI or converted media files you can output your project to 35mm movie film for projection. To make a set of full resolution output frames you can use the Link and Aggregate commands to copy the needed Graded frames into a single set. Because there is about 65535 frame per folder limit, you should output the frames one reel at a time if you need the files to have the Padded filename type for export. Anyway your film recorder will only take one 2000 foot reel for exposure at a time, so the about 65535 limit is not a major issue anyway.

16. If you want to use your DIY film recorder running off my DANCINEL.EXE (tm) program you have the choice of making an output frame set of edited and graded frames to have loaded into the film recorder screen, or you can make a shoot list with the Link command. Making the shoot list with the Link command eliminates the time required to copy the output frames from the shot folders and eliminates the extra disk space required to store those frame copies, resulting in maybe saving thousands of dollars in harddisk space and weeks or months of file copying. See the documentation in DANCINEL.ZIP (tm) and at this Web site for more information about operating your own DIY movie film recorder to make motion picture printing negatives and release prints.