SMPTE Hollywood will explore the digital cinema package (DCP) and its role in getting movies to the theater at its April in-person meeting. A pair of experts in feature film mastering will explain the varying components of DCPs, best practices in preparing them and new ways of delivering them to movie theaters. They will provide valuable insights into this complex but essential subject useful to professionals involved in every stage of the production cycle.

SMPTE Hollywood’s first in-person meeting since the beginning of the pandemic, the event will occur on Wednesday, April 13th at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ Linwood Dunn Theatre in Hollywood. (Details below.)

DCP has been the standard format for the delivery of films to theaters since the advent of digital cinema. For years, DCPs were shipped to theaters on hard drives, but today there is a move to deliver via satellites or the internet.  The contents of DCPs vary considerably, based on such requirements as display format, foreign languages and subtitling. They also involve precise technical specifications for encoding, security and other details. Panelists Sean Romano, senior vice president of operations at Eikon Group, Burbank, and Nick Mitchell, chief technical officer at WildAcre Company, will discuss these issues and more in an information-packed session that’s not to be missed.

Panelists

  • Sean Romano, senior vice president of operations at Eikon Group, Burbank, is a longtime veteran of the Hollywood post-production community. He first experience in digital cinema came on an early digital release of Jurassic Park III. In 2006, he joined Deluxe Film Labs to work in the burgeoning field of digital cinema. Thirteen years later, he joined Eikon Group, a global leader in digital mastering and localization for the entertainment industry.
  • Nick Mitchell is chief technical officer and principal of WildAcre Company, a consulting and creative services firm. His background includes 13 years as Technicolor, most recently as vice president of immersive technology and earlier as vice president of mastering services at Technicolor Digital Cinema. In the latter role, he mastered thousands of DCPs and implemented many DCP mastering, distribution technologies and workflows still in use at Technicolor today. 
  • The event is produced by Bill Hogan.

What: DCP: From the Filmmaker to the Screen

When: Wednesday, April 13. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. The event starts at 7:30 p.m. 

Where: Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Linwood Dunn Theatre, 1313 Vine St, Los Angeles, CA 90028

Attendees must present proof of full vaccination or negative COVID-19 PCR test. Face masks required.

Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/in-person-dcp-from-the-filmmaker-to-the-screen-tickets-315698351267

About the SMPTE® Hollywood Section
The Hollywood Section of SMPTE® was initially organized as the West Coast Section in 1928. Today, as its own SMPTE Region, it encompasses more than 1,200 SMPTE Members with a common interest in motion-imaging technology in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Hollywood Section offers free meetings monthly that are open to SMPTE Members and non-members alike. Information about meetings is posted on the Section website at https://www.smpte.org/sections/hollywood.

About SMPTE®
SMPTE is the global society of media professionals, technologists, and engineers working in the digital entertainment industry. The Society fosters a diverse and engaged membership from both the technology and creative communities, delivering vast educational offerings, technical conferences and exhibitions, the SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal, and access to a rich network of colleagues essential to their career success. As an internationally recognized standards organization, SMPTE also provides a vital technical framework of engineering standards and guidelines that allow the seamless creation, management, and delivery of media for art, entertainment, and education worldwide.

Information on joining SMPTE is available at smpte.org/join.