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Use an editing system, which supports the resolution of the video camera you used and avoid any data compression.
Speed changes (slow motion and fast motion) as well as animations (e.g. roll titles) must be produced in "frame mode". Attention: a videotape with effects generated in "frame mode", cannot be used for video screenings. Producing a second version is therefore inevitable.
If you wish to change the contrast of your images, rather work with the gamma value.
While positioning the titles and subtitles, keep in mind that the picture will be cut by about 2.5% on all sides during the screening in cinemas.
Colour-grading your video master is recommended only if you’re using professional devices. However, colour-grading of the film-negative will be necessary in any case. For feature-length films or films with complicated colour-grading we recommend to edit a sample-frame version of your film. (A sample-frame version consists of the 10 first and 10 last images of each shot of the film.) This sample frame-version will be transferred together with your film. The laboratory uses the sample-frame version to colour-grade the negative. If necessary, several prints can be manufactured, until the colour-grading is perfect. Only then, the whole film will be printed, which is of course more economical. Matthias Buercher wrote a special EDL program, which enables you to generate a sample-frame version of your original edit.
The partition in reels must correspond to the usual standards: on 35mm the maximum reel-length is 20 minutes, on 16mm it is 52 minutes. You can copy the different reels on the same videotape, separating them with approx. 20 seconds of black. It is compulsory that each reel is provided with a start mark (a "white frame" with an acoustic "beep", 50 frames before the first frame of each reel). Don’t forget that the sound has to overlap of approx. 40 frames at the end of each reel. This is necessary because the sound track is shifted ahead of the image on the film print.
To transfer the images, we need your picture on Digital Beta tapes in PAL format. The laboratory requires the film-sound on DAT tapes to produce the optical sound negative. We suggest to produce the DAT tape by copying the sound from the Digital Beta tape intended for the transfer. In this way image and sound will surely be in sync.
If you have a dolby-stereo mix of your film, send us the appropriate encoded tape. For films with simple mono or stereo sound the laboratory needs to know the exact rec-levels. In this case the DAT tape may be encoded into the dolby format by the laboratory, so that you can take advantage of the dolby noise reduction and its larger sound dynamic during the screening in cinemas. And of course, your film will be played in stereo, if you provided a stereo mixed tape. In addition, this procedure works out to be cheaper than a standard mono sound-negative. The only "disadvantage" of the dolby coding is that the sound-editing must be very precise and you must prevent any phase shifting of the sound during post-production. Otherwise, the dolby-decoder may send a part of the film sound to the wrong loudspeaker during playback.
The standard running speed of film projectors is 24 frames per second. As your videotape will be transferred at 25 fps (running speed of the PAL system), the length of your film extends by 4%. Although not visible, such deceleration is audible: the sound frequency is lower. You can correct this by using an "harmoniser" during postproduction. This option is rarely used because more and more cinemas are running their projectors at 24,5 fps or even faster. Time is money...