5 Messages
•
120 Points
DCP mastering, still not category
Digital Cinema Package (DCP) mastering for films is still not an official category despite over a decade of mainstream use. Older posts with this question have gone unanswered. Please correct by adding this critical job to the category database for those of professionals who work the position (I have created over 200 DCPs for films in the past 13 years)
Stephen van Vuuren
Bethanny
Employee
•
5K Messages
•
53.3K Points
1 year ago
Hi @stephenv2 -
I have turned this post to an idea so others can vote for it and will make sure to highlight it to teams in charge.
Cheers!
1
blackmonolith
5 Messages
•
112 Points
6 months ago
Bethanny,
There was a similar discussion here:
https://community-imdb.sprinklr.com/conversations/data-issues-policy-discussions/dcp-digital-cinema-package-master-which-category/63ceb0316bcb48295247f6a6
The conclusion reached by your colleague Michelle was that "DCP Mastering" should fall under Miscellaneous Crew. As someone who's made DCP Mastering their career, I strongly believe this assumption is incorrect. It should fall under the Editorial Department.
DCP creation jobs can range from simple to complex. For those who know how to do it correctly using professional tools more robust than the "free/cheap software - drag and drop" options that are available, this process demands editorial skills. We often need to do repair work before rending out the final product. The client may react to QC notes that point out technical deficiencies in the source material by sending new source(s) where different elements might need to be combined. They might send a patch to replace one scene, or one shot, or even one frame. We might need to marry video from source 1 with audio from source 2. Separate video/audio sources need syncing, and we're not always working with material that has sync pops (guides) built in. DCPs might need to be split up into reels (chunks) in order to comply with Digital Cinema Initiative specifications. Open subtitles or closed captions generated in the cinema package might also need editorial work prior to inclusion in the final product. All of this requires editing skills.
Please remember this post, as I'll soon be reaching out regarding IMDb's insistence on rejecting DCP Mastering credits for older projects, claiming "unable to verify." This is an ongoing problem for which I'll start a new thread in the near future. Thanks for listening!
1