Submission Specifications Version 5.0 June 2015

Transcription

1 Submission Specifications Version 5.0 June 2015 Page 2: General Submission Guidelines / Delivery Information Page 3: Technical Specifications Page 4: Additional Requirements Pages 5-6: Closed Captions / Subtitle Requirements Page 7: Common QC Issues 1

2 GENERAL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES bitmax accepts a variety of archival-ready formats for ingestion but requires that the media be submitted as its native source (frame rate / resolution) which adhere to international standards. Please also note that submission of content that does not meet bitmax's preferred file specs will most likely result in an order processing delay. Masters which have been standards-converted (PAL to or from NTSC) by conventional 4-field linear conversion equipment are NOT acceptable. Please provide masters in the native framerate / dimensions in which the content was produced. You may send any archival ready format, but please note that bitmax s expectation is that when content is received for archive and delivery, that it has already passed a QC/QA stage from its place of origin. Video DVDs are NOT considered a broadcast-ready format, and are not acceptable. In the event that a submission to bitmax does not pass our QC/QA, you will be notified and offered a chance to replace said material prior to delivery (additional costs may apply). MEDIA SUBMISSIONS When delivering any media you MUST complete the submission form located at: Please note that the job cannot begin processing until we receive the form. PHYSICAL DELIVERY If you wish to submit physical media please deliver to one of the following two offices: bitmax LA 6255 W. Sunset Blvd Suite 1515 Los Angeles, CA Phone: bitmax NY 55 Broad Street Suite 13A New York, NY Phone: All physical media will be held at bitmax for a MINIMUM of 24hrs after delivery. There will be NO exceptions granted. If a digital file is submitted via external hard drive (USB / Firewire / Thunderbolt), please ensure that the file to be archived is clearly named and placed in separate folder entitled: FOR BITMAX. All physical media MUST have contact information provided with them either in the form of a telephone number or address. The return of source material should be arranged with the bitmax vault manager either by telephone or , a minimum of 1 hour before intended pickup. DIGITAL UPLOADS All digital uploads must be sent via Aspera. An Aspera upload invitation for Music Video/Short Form may be requested at: An Aspera upload invitation for Film/Television/Concert content may be requested at: Digital files MUST follow a specific naming convention: Music Videos: Artist_Title_Version_ISRC.mov (ISRC should be provided if known.) Feature/Trailers: Title_Feature_Version.mov Title_Trailer_Version.mov Television Series: Series_EpisodeName_EpisodeNumber_Version.mov Use English letters, numbers, dashes and underscores ONLY. Abbreviations will not be accepted. Versions should only relate to the deliverable product. (IE. Broadcast, Clean, Explicit, Closed Captioned). Please note that the content owner will be responsible for any costs involving the return of source material. Internal hard drives and memory cards will NOT be accepted 2 We CANNOT accept any videos from a third party site (IE. DROPBOX / YOUSENDIT) We will NOT accept any videos with third party file compression (.zip /.rar) Content uploaded will only be held temporarily for one month unless archived to BAM.

3 DELIVERY FORMATS Digital Tape Apple ProRes 4444 Digital Betacam Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) HDCAM 4:2:2 Avid DNxHD / AvidDV100 (Music Videos ONLY) HDCAMSR 4:2:2 or 4:4:4 DVCPro HD / DVCPro (Music Videos ONLY) D5 VIDEO SPECIFICATIONS Standard Resolution Frame Rates Color Space 4K 4096 x p / 25p / 24p / 23.98p 4096 x p / 25p / 24p / 23.98p 4096 x p / 25p / 24p / 23.98p 4096 x p / 25p / 24p / 23.98p 3996 x p / 25p / 24p / 23.98p 3840 x p / 25p / 24p / 23.98p ITU-R BT K HD SD 2048 x p / 25p / 24p / 23.98p ITU-R 2048 x p / 25p / 24p / 23.98p BT x i / 29.97p /25i / 25p / 24p / 23.98p ITU-R 1280 x p / 25p / 24p / 23.98p BT x i (Lower Field First) 720 x i 720 x i / 25p ITU-R BT.601 Stereo Audio Codec: Linear PCM Format: Big Endian or Little Endian Sample Depth: 16-bit or 24-bit Sample Size: 48kHz Audio must be stereo paired AUDIO SPECIFICATIONS 5.1 Audio (+LT/RT) Audio Track 1: Ch.1 Left (Front) Audio Track 2: Ch.2 Right (Front) Audio Track 3: Ch.3 Center Audio Track 4: Ch.4 LFE Audio Track 5: Ch.5 Left Surround Audio Track 6: Ch.6 Right Surround Audio Track 7: Ch.7 & 8 Left Total / Right Total (Stereo Pair) HD content on tape with 5.1 Audio MUST be delivered on HDCAM SR or D5 when sending tape. bitmax does not accept Dolby E. Any external audio provided for an editorial session MUST be 48kHz.wav /.aiff audio file. 44.1kHz audio will NOT be accepted Audio levels should remain constant at -6db as much as possible. Please prevent audio levels going below -12db 3

4 FILM AND TELEVISION ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS No Advertising, release date, physical product tags (i.e. DVD, album, concerts, promotions). Must be a clean and true feature/video. No Commercial blacks longer than 3 seconds. No Bumpers. No URLs) Trailer Notes o No MPAA ratings card o Cannot have more active pixels, and must be the same aspect ratio as the feature. o No Release Date tagging or voice over o No Physical Product tagging o If trailer is a continuous clip from the feature, it must have duration between 30 seconds and 5 minutes o If trailer is edited (traditional trailer), there is no time limit on duration. o No URLs o No DVD references, images or voice over o No Nudity / Profanity Chapter Points & Stills o All Chapter points must be provided using time code from the provided masters. o Time codes must be included on the metadata excel sheet. (Chapter Points Tab) o Time codes from DVDs are not acceptable. Closed Captioning o Closed Captioning is required for all english content (except trailers). o Preferred file type is **.cap Poster Art Profile o Feature Art TIFF with.tiff extension (32-bit uncompressed) or JPEG with.jpeg extension RGB 1400x2100 pixels minimum size (2:3 ratio) Minimum resolution 72 dpi RGB Poster Art of film must contain key art and title. Credit blocks, DVD cover, release date, website, award laurels (winner, nominated for, critics choice etc.) or promotional tagging may not be included. o TV Art JPEG with.jpeg extension RGB 2400x2400 pixels minimum size (1:1 ratio) Minimum resolution 72 dpi RGB Credit blocks, DVD cover, release date, website, award laurels (winner, nominated for, critics choice etc.) or promotional tagging may not be included. MUSIC VIDEO ADDTIONAL REQUIRMENTS The following issues can be approved but MIGHT be rejected by delivery partners (i.e. VEVO/ itunes): o Hash tags o Scrolling credits accompanying music and visuals o The following displayed for no more than 3 seconds at end of video Album Single Pack Shots (Cover Art) Logos: Record Label, Management, Production Company, Charitable Foundation The following issues WILL FAIL at itunes. They will also FAIL at VEVO (unless pre-approved). o Release Dates (including Coming Soon and Out Now) o Logo Bugs / Chyrons / Lower Third Graphics o Burned in Logos o Brand or Product Logos o Digital/Physical retail or DSP callouts/buttons o URLs / Twitter Handles / Instagram Handles o Text credits on a static screen with no music (i.e. title cards.) 4

5 Grammar File Types TIMED TEXT SPECIFICATIONS Closed Captions TRANSCRIPTION of all spoken dialogue in language spoken All captions should be grammatically correct with correct punctuation, capitalization and spelling. Music Videos Films Television Concerts QuickTime 708 closed captioning track. EIA-608 captioning on line 21 (SD ONLY) EIA-608 captioning on line 21 (SD ONLY) **.cap (Cheetah International Caption File) Subtitles TRANSLATION of all spoken dialogue into subtitle language All subtitles should be grammatically correct with correct punctuation, capitalization, spelling and sentence structure for that particular language Films Television Concerts **.stl (Spruce) **.itt (itunes) Naming **.scc (Scenarist DVD File) Caption files MUST follow these naming conventions: Films: Title_Feature_FrameRate Title_Trailer_FrameRate Television Episodes: Title_SeasonEpisode_FrameRate (e.g. Example_S01E01_2997.cap) Subtitle files MUST follow these naming conventions: Films: Title_Feature_FrameRate_Language Title_Trailer_FrameRate_Language Television Episodes: Title_SeasonEpisode_FrameRate_Language (e.g. Example_S01E01_2997_FRENCH.itt) Display Concerts: Artist_ConcertTitle_FrameRate All timed text MUST be Pop-on or Pop-up Concerts: Artist_ConcertTitle_FrameRate_Language Character Limit 32 Characters per line 42 Characters per line Duration Frame Gaps Line Treatment Minimum duration: 10 frames per text event Maximum duration: 10 seconds per text event (except for song lyrics or on-screen text, which may exceed 10 seconds) Timed text must not remain on screen during times of silence An outpoint must be used to remove the timed text from the screen during silence or extended pauses. 3 lines maximum (including any blank lines between captions) 2 frames minimum (regardless of frame rate) 2 lines maximum (including any blank lines between subtitles) Positional Data All timed text should be center justified / center positioned and placed at bottom of the screen unless covering text or a lower third graphic in which they should be at the top of the screen Reading Speed Timing Adult programs: 400 words per minute Children s programs: 160 words per minute Text should be timed to the audio or within 2-3 frames of the audio. If more on-screen time is needed for better reading speed, the out-time can be extended up to 10 or 12 frames past the timecode at which the audio ends. 5

6 Formatting Line Breaks Text should be provided without any text effects including bolding, italicizing and underlining. If multiple lines are necessary; each line must be broken so that they are of similar character lengths FAIL: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog PASS: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog Continuity Line breaks should occur: - after punctuation marks - before conjunctions - before prepositions ELLIPSES: Do not use ellipses (3 dots) or dashes when an ongoing sentence is split between two or more continuous subtitles. Use an ellipsis to indicate a pause or dialogue trailing off. In the case of a pause, if the sentence continues in the next subtitle, do not use an ellipsis at the beginning of the second subtitle. Had I known... I wouldn t have called you. Use an ellipsis followed by a space when there is a significant pause She hesitated about accepting the job. HYPENS: Use a hyphen without a space to indicate two speakers in one subtitle, with a maximum of one speaker per line. -Are you coming? -In a minute Use two hyphens to indicate abrupt interruptions. Speaker ID / Sound Effects -What are you-- -Be quiet! Use brackets [ ] to enclose speaker IDs or sound effects. Only use speaker IDs or sound effects when they cannot be visually identified. Use a generic ID to indicate and describe ambient music (e.g., rock music playing over a stereo). Sound effects should be plot pertinent. If video is a concert, lyrics must be present on screen when sung, surrounded by the symbol. 6

7 COMMON REASONS FOR IMMEDIATE REJECTION Apple ProRes 422, Apple ProRes 422 (LT), H.264 and MP4 are NOT acceptable codecs. Video codec must be Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) in a QuickTime container (**.mov). If both the L and R audio are identical, it is DUAL CHANNEL MONO and will fail. Audio must be in STEREO. Videos that have a frame rate with repeated frames, dropped frames and/or interlacing are not acceptable. Videos with a frame rate must be fully progressive. Audio with a sample rate of 44.1kHz is NOT supported. It must be 48 khz, even for editorial audio replacements. The AAC audio codec is NOT supported. It must be the Linear PCM codec. 4:1 CADENCE is a failure point for Long Form content. It must be fixed to be either fully progressive 23.98fps or 3:2 interlaced 29.97fps video before submission. Poor audio/video sync is not acceptable. Audio/video must be properly SYNCED on all video content. ***This is a list of the most common quality control issues, but videos may be failed for reasons not stated above*** 4:1 CADENCE EXPLAINED 4:1 Cadence has 4 progressive frames of video, and every 5th frame is a repeat of the 4th frame. There should be no repeated frames at all. This issue is often the result of a frame video being converted to incorrectly. When done correctly, you will see 3 unique progressive frames followed by 2 interlaced frames. Content should be kept native to the frame rate at which it was shot. This also can occur when interlaced content is tagged as progressive. DUAL CHANNEL MONO EXPLAINED Dual mono occurs when both the Left and Right channels are identical to each other. Audio should be checked on an audiometer as QuickTime will falsely define anything with two audio channels as stereo. DUAL MONO STEREO Wave Form is a straight vertical line Wave Form branches out to left and right Right and Left Levels are uniform Right and Left Levels are dynamic Correlation Meter is static at +1 Correlation Meter is dynamic between 0 and +1 If you are using Final Cut 7, make sure that you are stereo pairing your audio track before exporting. (Select your audio tracks then Modify ---> stereo pair). Your tracks should have icons like this (notice the 4 green arrows) If the source audio is MONO to begin with, nothing will be able to make it true stereo. 7