Presentation of the Cinema Package Presentation (CPP) format for saving files

As the MIFC enters the final day of its 10th edition, Baptiste Heynemann of the CST and Jean-Pierre Boiget, director of operations at Studiocanal, came to present the CPP format developed by the CST for the preservation and exploitation of films.

The panel opened with a presentation of the CST by Baptiste Heynemann, the association's general delegate, who then gave the floor to Jean-Pierre Boiget to explain the various problems that the sector may encounter when it comes to the conservation and exploitation of digitized material. He tried to paint a global picture of the main difficulties that exhibitors face, which are not facilitated by the digitization of films. Indeed, if the 35 mm format used to guarantee a comfort of exploitation, digital does not guarantee any more the access and the exploitation of the images and the sound. Even if works have already been digitized in 4K format, information may be missing for the exploitation of the files. As he says with the example of Akira Kurozawa's Ran, the feature film had been digitized two years ago, but at the time of making a re-release the colorimetry was not found. The director of Studiocanal, formerly at Quinta Industries before its liquidation in 2011, explains that the cataloguers' union had already thought of creating a metadata base to accompany the film archives, allowing easy retrieval of colorimetry spaces, display screens, the version and title of the film in play, its place of post-production ... A way to collect and especially to pass on works to the next generation, which the CST began to think about five years ago, until ending up with Cinema Package Presentation (CPP).

The CPP is the result of five years of joint work between Germany, Sweden and France (via the CNC and the CST). The CPP aims to propose a rigorous methodology, based on European standards, to facilitate the restoration, conservation, and exploitation of film heritage (but not only). It includes: the metadata of a work (descriptive such as its titles, year of production, casting, etc.; and provenance metadata with the media of provenance, scanning operations, etc.); auxiliary metadata; playlists (with a playlist for each of the separate essences); and sub-packages. Each sub-package can contain for the constrained profile: DCP, IMF Packages #2e, #4, #5, Image sequences (DPX, TIFF, EXR), sound files, subtitle files (DC, STL, IMSC.1). For the unconstrained profile, we are talking about proRes file etc. In addition, the subpackages include descriptive metadata (frame size, framerates, channel mapping etc.) and data, i.e. the files themselves. Information about the initial release of the work can be attached to the file (such as its poster or professional information).

Designed to be a "toolbox" and not a recommendation, the CPP allows for the sharing of editorial and technical data and the creation of a European link to unify film heritage. It is not very prescriptive, as Jean-Pierre Boiget explains to support Baptiste Heynemann, only a minimum of data is required. A system that intends, in the long run, to become a common technical language for all European countries regarding the conservation and exploitation of images, and to propose an answer to the problem of digitization.