Editor’s note: FilmFreeway recently announced a partnership with CineSend that allows filmmakers to create festival-ready Digital Cinema Packages (DCPs) within the FilmFreeway platform. Brad Fox, CineSend’s VP of postproduction, breaks down the most common mistakes his team sees while quality checking thousands of DCPs every year.
I encoded my first professional Digital Cinema Package (DCP) over 15 years ago. It was a convoluted, stressful job with no official documentation, extremely limited tools, and a pile of daunting obstacles. It took three or four different trips to a theater before I created a package that would play at all.
And when it finally did, all the people were green and there was no sound.
There are far more options now than there were back then, but surprisingly, many of the biggest DCP challenges remain the same. CineSend now creates and quality checks more than 4,000 DCPs every year, with screenings at every major festival around the world.
We’ve seen every type of mistake possible in DCP creation, and some of them are all stars: the same hurdles that trip up filmmakers year after year.
1. Not reading the delivery requirements
This sounds obvious, but it’s easily the most common mistake filmmakers make.
Nothing derails a screening faster than missing accessibility requirements, overlooking venue-specific limitations, or simply sending materials too late. Some older theater systems can only play certain types of DCPs, and festivals generally warn filmmakers in advance about known issues with specific workflows or software tools.
It’s heartbreaking when a team spends years finishing a film only to stumble at the finish line because they didn’t carefully review the delivery instructions.
2. Mixing the film too loud
Many filmmakers mix audio based on what sounds good on editing speakers, laptops, or home theater systems. Unfortunately, what works in a small room often becomes overwhelming in an actual theater.
Ask any theater manager about movie loudness, and they’ll have stories:
- Audience complaints, walkouts, or refund demands
- Audio bleed affecting screenings in other theaters
- Emergency volume adjustments that make parts inaudible
Even without access to a professional theatrical mix stage, filmmakers should at least understand concepts like ITU loudness and true peak measurements, which are supported in most modern editing and audio software.
3. Sending audio to the wrong channels
Audio problems are so common they deserve a second spot on this list.
Incorrect channel mapping can create deeply frustrating screenings. I’ve seen films where dialogue sounds like it’s coming from behind the audience—or worse, where there’s no dialogue at all.
DCPs require channels in this order:
- Left
- Right
- Center
- Low frequency effect
- Left surround
- Right surround
Always manually check both your master files and your final DCP. It’s very easy to make a simple mistake here, and software preset layouts aren’t always correct.
4. Using the wrong container settings
The most common picture issue we see isn’t bad color. It’s incorrect container sizing.
This is especially dangerous because the DCP may appear to work correctly sometimes. A film might display properly in one theater, then suddenly fail to fill the screen correctly somewhere else.
For theatrical DCPs, your film should be matched to either a Flat (1.85:1) or Scope (2.39:1) container frame based on which is the closest to the active picture area of your film. Don’t put widescreen films in Flat container frames or 16:9 films in Scope ones.
If your film uses multiple aspect ratios, it’s worth talking to a professional before making final decisions so you understand how it will project in different cinema setups.
Bonus tip: Don’t use Full container frames (1.90:1) for theatrical screenings. They’re primarily intended for postproduction and archival workflows and can create playback problems in some theaters.
5. Breaking the film’s color
DCPs require a very specific color format, and properly encoded images often won’t look correct outside a proper theater environment.
Modern software usually handles color conversion very well—but only if it’s given the correct information. If settings are wrong, the results can be dramatic: blue skin tones, distorted colors, or images that look completely different from what you intended.
And because these problems aren’t always obvious on a computer playback, filmmakers sometimes don’t discover them until they’re sitting in the theater watching the screening.
Make sure you have the correct color settings for your film, don’t guess.
6. Letting the frame rate drift
Many modern productions are shot and edited in fractional frame rates like 23.98 or 29.97 fps, but DCPs require whole-number frame rates: 24, 25, or 30 fps.
If frame rate conversion is handled incorrectly, you can end up with choppy motion, blurry playback, or audio that slowly drifts out of sync over the course of the film.
These issues aren’t always immediately obvious, which makes them particularly dangerous.
7. Treating captions as an afterthought
Subtitles and captions are one of the most common areas of confusion in DCP delivery.
Unlike many digital video formats, text tracks need to be properly encoded into the DCP itself rather than simply attached afterward. Open captions, subtitles, and closed captioning for accessibility devices also all have different requirements and best practices.
Most filmmakers wouldn’t dream of releasing a movie if random scenes were blacked out or dialogue was cut off. But that’s what it can feel like for audience members relying on captions or subtitles if there are mistakes.
If your film requires subtitles or accessibility tracks, plan for them early, not as a last-minute addition.
8. Metadata and naming errors
DCP naming conventions can seem overly technical, but they exist for a reason.
Theaters and festivals often manage hundreds of DCPs at the same time, sometimes on equipment with very small displays. Accurate metadata helps projectionists identify the correct version of a film quickly and confidently (and make sure they can tell right away if there are playback problems).
Every year we hear about screening delays, last-minute panics, and projection hiccups all due to simple metadata mistakes.
If the theater can’t find your film, they can’t play it.
9. Never testing in a real theater
Compared to exporting a video file, creating a DCP can seem overly complicated.
But remember that the format is designed to:
- Present your film at the highest possible quality (the bitrate of DCPs is many times higher than almost all other exhibition formats)
- Make your film play properly in any certified digital cinema anywhere in the world
Desktop DCP playback tools are useful, but they’re not substitutes for testing in a real theater. Some problems only become obvious in a theatrical environment, especially when dealing with different projector, server, and audio configurations.
And unlike a home computer, festivals don’t have the luxury of time to try to tinker with equipment settings or parameters on every single film if things aren’t working properly. They need DCPs to play 100% correctly out of the box for every possible equipment configuration.
The most important thing for filmmakers creating their own DCPs is having a realistic testing plan before delivery—not after something goes wrong.
10. Leaving everything to the last minute
If there’s one piece of advice I’d give filmmakers creating a DCP for the first time, it’s this: Leave yourself more time than you think you need.
DCPs have detailed technical requirements, they can be difficult to review accurately, and small mistakes can have major consequences. Most problems we see every year come down to underestimating the format and not leaving enough time to get everything right.
Whether you’re building a DCP yourself or working with a professional postproduction team, build in time for testing, revisions, and troubleshooting.
When filmmakers come to us with emergencies right at a screening deadline, the options we have to help can be limited—or very expensive. A few extra days can make a world of difference.
Don’t lose sight of the end goal
More than anything, don’t lose sight of why you’re creating a DCP in the first place.
Making a DCP is the final stage of finishing your film. You’re taking all the work you’ve put into it and making sure it looks exactly as it’s supposed to, on the big screen, in front of a live audience.
That shared experience is why many people fall in love with filmmaking in the first place.
And it’s worth taking the time to get right.
Want help creating a DCP?
FilmFreeway’s partnership with CineSend gives filmmakers access to professional DCP creation directly within the FilmFreeway platform.
Learn more about DCP creation services here.
