Dubbing Facility

We are pleased to announce that we have now upgraded our dubbing facility to finish all films on Mini DV thanks to the generous support of OZCAM.

Technical Considerations

Films MUST be submitted on the Mini DV Tape supplied in PAL (NOT HD). NTSC will not be accepted. High Definition will not be accepted, films shot HD must be dubbed in normal definition to be submitted

Basically NTSC is an American camera format and is not compatible with Australian televisions. If your camera works on your TV at home it is most likely PAL. NTSC and other format cameras would have been bought overseas.

It is recommended that you shoot 16:9 (wide screen) but make it 4:3 safe.

This means that all the major action takes place within the 4:3 square that is the dimensions of all older televisions.

Make sure you leave at least 30secs of black at the front of your tape. This can be easily done by recording with your hand over the lense. This is to avoid the beginning of the tape which is the most used section and most likely to be corrupted. The judges will put a stop watch over your film and will start from the first image or sound in your film.

Now that Hard Drive and DVD cameras are so popular, we are allowing these camera's to be used for the event however, the in-camera editing functions that alow footage to be edited are not to be used. It is about maintaing the 'Spirit' of the competition which is to shoot in a lenear fashion. You can shoot a scene, watch it, decide if you want to keep it, or erase it and shoot again. You are not to shoot a scene several times and choose the best one as that is not the 'spirit' of the festival. Basically only functions that are available to tape based formats will be allowed. Afterall The Shoot Out is about creativity and story telling not relying on technology to make your film slick.

As films are now finished on mini-DV, all tapes contain camera data that will be checked in the judging process. This data will indicate to us the manner in which a film is shot.

If you are using a hard drive or DVD camera the film MUST be exported to Mini DV at the highest possible resolution.

At the dubbing facility filmmakers can make a dub (i.e. a copy) of their completed film onto the tape supplied at registration.
At the dubbing facility competent technicians demonstrate the features of the basic dubbing system and make sure that filmmakers are given all possible assistance to complete a dub of their film in the time allowed. It is important that the completed film is handed in on the tape provided because each tape is numbered and corresponds to the filmmaker's registration number.

If filmmakers have selected music from the Music Library, they must also remember to take the information on selected track titles to the dubbing facility.

Making a Booking

Filmmakers are allowed a maximum of 15 minutes to complete the dub.
Bookings must be made in advance and are taken on registration night.

If filmmakers miss their booking time, the booking will be cancelled. Filmmakers will need to book another time if any times are still available.

The Shoot Out does not guarantee that a re-booking can be made for the Dubbing Facility on the day.

Adding music, voiceovers etc

Filmmakers are allowed to add music, voiceovers or live sound to their films.

The sound that's to be added to the vision can be edited material.

Filmmakers can create a soundtrack on a computer, burn to CD and bring the CD to the dubbing facility.

A Non Library Music Release Form will have to be completed and submitted with your film.

All forms are available here

Filmmakers CANNOT output sound and vision from a computer. The vision must come directly from the camera tape to the final Mini DV tape.

You are allowed to use a computer to create a sound track that is then burnt to CD. The soundtrack MUST then be Dubbed from a CD player at the same time as the vision is played from the camera to your final Mini DV tape. A computer must not be conected to this process.

All digital tapes contain data information and time code that can be read in the judging process. If you have exported Vision and sound from a computer this will be detected.

You are allowed to Dub at home, however the following applies to films dubbed at The Shoot Out facility.

In the dubbing facility, there are only two audio tracks available (left and right).

This means that you CAN:
• dub music over a scene in stereo completely erasing the original location sound, or
• dub music onto a scene in mono leaving one channel of original location sound

This means that you CANNOT have:
• stereo music and original location sound simultaneously
• music, a voiceover and original sound at the same time
• have one piece of music cross-fade into another
• have the original sound cross-fade into music (or vice versa)
• "clean up" the location sound; if your original sound is noisy or unclear it cannot be fixed.

Due to restrictions on the booking time and the length of the film, it is highly recommended that filmmakers do NOT plan on having too many different pieces of music, voiceovers or sound effects.

The Dubbing Facility has moved to 18 Beaumont Street Hamilton, Newcastle

 

A fee of $5.00 is charged for using the dubbing facility.

The dubbing facility will close promptly at 8.30pm on the Saturday night approx. half an hour prior to the end of the competition.

Any filmmakers arriving after this time, or without a booking, will not be able to use the dubbing facility.

Filmmakers who do NOT wish to use The Shoot Out Dubbing Facility can easily do their own dubbing as long as they have a camera, a TV monitor and a mini DV deck or camera with a dubbing function.