[Figure 2] Master tape formats. From the left are BetaSP, Mini DV and SVHS.

You should also take the audio file as an .aiff or .wav format that either starts with frame #1 or has exactly two seconds of lead time before the first frame in your project. Have your audio files both as a stereo file and as separate left and right channel files. Some edit systems need the channels separated to import them properly.

Always use your master tape to make dubs at a duplication house. It will be faster and cost less than outputting multiple copies at a post-production facility. Duplication facilities will almost always be less expensive for dubs than post-houses.

When taking a digital project to film, you have many options. All digital-to-film transfer facilities have different specifications and costs. Make sure you talk to them before you send them your work to make sure you are sending your project in the ideal format for their facility.

The remaining chapter covers ideal resolution and mastering from tape to and more. The book also includes an appendix listing digital-to-film transfer facilities.

Producing Independent 2D Character Animation: Making and Selling a Short Film, by Mark Simon. Burlington, Massachusetts: Focal Press, 2003. 432 pages. ISBN: 0-240-80513-5.

Mark Simon founded and owns A&S Animation, Inc., an award-winning cel animation house in Florida, which develops and produces character animation for commercials, TV, training videos and the Web. He also owns Animatics & Storyboards, Inc., the largest storyboard house in the southern United States, which has provided work on more than 1,200 productions. Mark’s accomplishments include owning an award-winning advertising firm, being a syndicated cartoonist, production designer of film and TV, writing entertainment industry books and lecturing on both animation and storyboards. Winning more than 30 animation awards for his efforts, Mark has directed Timmy’s Lessons In Nature (which he sold as a TV series), My Wife Is Pregnant, numerous commercials, training videos and television series special effects.