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Negative cutting [1] (also known as negative matching and negative conforming) is the process of cutting motion picture negative to match precisely the final edit as specified by the film editor. Original camera negative (OCN) is cut with scissors and joined using a film splicer and film cement. Negative cutting is part of the post-production process and occurs after editing and prior to striking internegatives and release prints. The process of negative cutting has changed little since the beginning of cinema in the early 20th century. In the early 1980s computer software was first used to aid the cutting process. Kodak introduced barcode on motion picture negative in the mid-1990s. This enabled negative cutters to more easily track shots and identify film sections based on keykode.
The original camera negative (OCN) is the film in a traditional film-based movie camera which captures the original image. This is the film from which all other copies will be made. It is known as raw stock prior to exposure.
A film splicer is a device which can be used to physically join together lengths of photographic film. It is mostly used in film motion pictures. The units are made in various types depending on the usage: Single-8, Super 8 film, 16mm, 9,5 mm, 35mm and 70mm. Used in film editing to make a cut (transition).
Film cement is a special glue designed to join motion picture film. It is made of film base dissolved in a solvent. Two cut sections of film are spliced together in a film splicer using film cement. Splices can be made either with a "hot" splicer, or the splicer unplugged and at room temperature. It is most important that the emulsion of the film be scraped off prior to applying the cement or the splice will fail. Film cement also has a workable life span, if the amount of solvent falls below a certain level the splices will fail. Cement life can be extended by the careful addition of its solvent, usually methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) or acetone.
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Toward the late 1990s and early 2000s negative cutting changed due to the advent of digital cinema technologies such as digital intermediate (DI), digital projection and high-definition television. In some countries, due to the high cost of online suites, negative cutting is still used for commercials by reducing footage. Increasingly feature films are bypassing the negative cutting process altogether and are being scanned directly from the uncut rushes.
Digital cinema refers to the use of digital technology to distribute or project motion pictures as opposed to the historical use of reels of motion picture film, such as 35 mm film. Whereas film reels have to be shipped to movie theaters, a digital movie can be distributed to cinemas in a number of ways: over the Internet or dedicated satellite links, or by sending hard drives or optical discs such as Blu-ray discs. Digital movies are projected using a digital video projector instead of a film projector. Digital cinema is distinct from high-definition television and does not necessarily use traditional television or other traditional high-definition video standards, aspect ratios, or frame rates. In digital cinema, resolutions are represented by the horizontal pixel count, usually 2K or 4K. As digital-cinema technology improved in the early 2010s, most of the theaters across the world converted to digital video projection.
Digital intermediate is a motion picture finishing process which classically involves digitizing a motion picture and manipulating the color and other image characteristics.
High Defination Television (HDTV) is a television system providing an image resolution that is of substantially higher resolution than that of standard-definition television. This can be either analog or digital. HDTV is the current standard video format used in most broadcasts: terrestrial broadcast television, cable television, satellite television, Blu-rays, and streaming video.
The existence of digital intermediates (DI) has created a new demand for negative cutters to extract selected takes which are cut from the rushes and re-spliced into new rolls (in edit order) to reduce the volume of footage for scanning.
Dailies, in filmmaking, are the raw, unedited footage shot during the making of a motion picture. They are so called because usually at the end of each day, that day's footage is developed, synced to sound, and printed on film in a batch for viewing the next day by the director, some members of the film crew, and some actors. Dailies serve as an indication of how the filming and the actors' performances are progressing. However, the term can be used to refer to any raw footage, regardless of when it is developed or printed.
