DCP Creation
Matt will carefully negotiate the differences between your source file tech specs, the inherent tech specs of the DCP format, and any special tech specs required by your screening venues.
He will not only guarantee your DCP is valid and compliant with the venue's base requirements, but also that its presentation of picture and sound is as polished as possible.
Captions (You Provide)
Captions typically differ from subtitles in that they are in the same language as the audio they are played with and contain not just dialogue, but also descriptions of sound effects and music cues, as well as speaker attributions.
When ordering a DCP with captions, you will need to let Matt know which of the two ways you want it included in your DCP: Closed (most typical) or Open. Closed Captions are only visible on specialized devices that can be requested at the box office, usually by deaf or hard-of-hearing patrons. Open Captions appear on the screen for all to see.
Note that if you want Closed Captions, you must provide Matt with a file that has no more than 30 characters per line in each caption event. This limit is a hard requirement imposed by the relatively aged technology still used to transmit Closed Captions in theaters.
Matt recommends a professionally prepared .ttml file as the source format you provide, but can also work with other common formats like .srt and .scc.
Subtitles (You Provide)
Subtitles are typically in a different language than the audio they are played with and strictly contain spoken dialogue as well as narratively prominent on-screen text.
As with captions, you will need to let Matt know which of the two ways you want your subtitles included in your DCP: Closed or Open (most typical for subtitles). Closed Subtitles are only visible on specialized devices handed out at the box office. Open Subtitles appear on the screen for all to see.
Note that if you want Closed Subtitles, you must provide Matt with a file that has no more than 30 characters per line in each subtitle event. This limit is a hard requirement imposed by the relatively aged technology still used to transmit Closed Subtitles in theaters.
Matt recommends a professionally prepared .ttml file as the source format you provide, but also can work with other common formats like .srt and .vtt.
Captions (Matt Creates)
Matt spent a few years in his post-production career specifically focused on timed text creation. As such, he prides himself on being able to create a caption track of the absolute highest quality.
When you hire Matt to create your English-language captions, they will not look anything like the type of caption track you might see when caption creation is outsourced to a remote country with lousy labor laws, or even worse, outsourced to AI. Instead, Matt’s caption tracks have dead-on timing to audio (while allowing for reasonable reading speed), no gross spelling errors, elegant, consistent language styling, and grammatically optimal line splits.
You will receive not only a DCP with a SMPTE DCDM specced caption track included, but also a separate .ttml servicing asset that can be used in the future for distribution to various streaming partners.
Subtitles (Matt Creates)
Matt’s subtitle creation process for films originating in the English language involves creation of an immaculate “English Template” subtitle track, including forced narrative events for all important on-screen text. Once creation of the English Template is complete, Matt will hand it off to a trusted translation partner who will translate each event into the requested target language, while maintaining the high-quality, consistent timing and styling of Matt’s original template.
Pricing for this service offering varies both on the requested target language as well as the current supply and demand of translators at the time of request.
You will receive not only a DCP with a SMPTE DCDM specced subtitle track included, but also a separate .ttml servicing asset that can be used in the future for distribution to various streaming partners.
Full Audio/Video QC
Matt has provided master-level quality control service for many of the top QC vendors in Hollywood. During his time working in QC, he established himself as a go-to “eagle-eyed, golden-eared” type who just would not miss an issue, even a momentary one, during linear playback.
Matt could list a staggering number of recognizable film titles that would have gone to Blu-ray or streaming services with critical errors in them, had it not been for his attentive QC pass. But he won’t because Matt takes confidentiality seriously.
When you hire Matt for this service, he will perform full linear QC on your film while taking detailed notes about any observed video or audio issues and assigning a severity level to them. He will then pass these notes on to you in an official QC report for you to approve of as-is or decide that a revision to your source file is necessary.
If you are curious about the types of issues that are caught in these QC passes, a fairly comprehensive guide on industry-standard QC terminology is publicly available here.
Full Timed Text QC
When you already have a caption or subtitle track created, don’t want to pay the full fee for Matt to create another one from scratch, but do want some assurance of its quality, Matt can perform full linear QC on it. He will note down any issues, relay them back to you, and can even make approved fixes before authoring them into your DCP.
Please note that Matt can only ensure proper spelling and grammar for English-language timed text. He can also only ensure accuracy for English-language timed text with corresponding English audio. For captions or subtitles in other languages, Matt can still QC for proper timing and consistent styling.
Spot QC
Included for free in the DCP Creation service, Matt will perform a three-point spot check of your source files and your final DCP output to confirm all video, audio, and timed text tracks playback correctly at the relative beginning, middle, and end points.