Black Levels > Digital Film Group Inc, 604.879.5800

A film print or digital projection master can be quite different from a television broadcast master. One of the most common areas of this phenomenon are black levels.
In a darkened theater, thin (grey-looking) black levels on the print or digital projection can yield the impression of rather flat looking imagery. To avoid this effect, a lot of attention needs to be paid to the black areas of the video signal during color timing and shooting.

Variations in the blacks areas of the signal can be accentuated during the transformation from digital to film due to the differences in the gamma responses of these different mediums.

As well, many of the common video rules for broadcast black levels don’t necessarily apply to a film output or digital projection.

Television broadcast standards (sometimes referred to as broadcast “clamping” or “legalizing”) of black and white levels are not recommended for most film output. Since film negative has a much wider latitude than video it can actually see into areas of black that you are may not be seeing on the monitor, depending on how that reference monitor you are using is set.

It is very important to test your black levels by having DFG output a little of your color corrected