DCM will handle the creation of the DCP (Digital-Cinema Package) from master materials and its digital distribution to DCM cinema screens for the campaign.

Once we have received master materials and copy clearance/s we will invite you to a pre-distribution screening of the final DCP.

We advise allowing at least 48 hours for preparation of final assets and 24 hours for copy clearance submission. All specifications are provided within this page. Please note that copy supply from you to us is fully electronic.

Picture upload

Via DCM Media Shuttle

DCM Media Shuttle

Audio upload

Via 4cine

4cine

CAA submission

Cinema Advertising Association

CAA website

BBFC submission

British Board of Film Classification

BBFC website

Process overview

Key steps in the cinema advertising process

Copy clearance

Obtain necessary approvals from CAA and BBFC (if required)

Step 1

Prepare technical assets

Create picture and audio assets according to specifications

Step 2

Delivery

Submit copy rotation instructions and upload assets

Step 3

Download full tech specs

Step 1

Step 2a

Step 2b

Step 3

Step 4

Copy clearance

Cinema clearance in the form of final approval from the Cinema Advertising Association (CAA) is required to show any advertisement in cinema.

The CAA is the sole clearance body for most commercial advertising in UK cinemas. However, the following types of advertising also require certification from the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC):

All advertisements to promote Charity, Public Information or Campaigns.
All Government / Local Council advertising.
All advertisements to promote and/or that contain content from films/television programmes, irrespective of length and format (i.e. broadcast, streaming, pay-per-view, download and home entertainment etc.).

Download full production tech specs

1.1 Submitting to CAA

If you do not already have one, you will need to contact the CAA directly to set up an account to apply for clearance.

The CAA advise an approximate lead time of 24 hours to clear final copy following receipt of payment and video content. However, contentious copy will be referred to a Thursday morning Copy Panel meeting.

Please submit final copy as soon as possible, with a view to confirmation by the copy deadline communicated to you by DCM.

Click here to access the CAA submission form and all instructions.

1.2 Submitting to BBFC

If you do not already have one, you will need to contact the BBFC directly to set up an account to apply for certification.

If unsure whether your advertisement requires BBFC certification, please contact the BBFC Helpline (helpline@bbfc.co.uk / 020 7440 0299) who will be happy to advise you.

When applying for clearance please fill out the "public information / campaigning film" submission form on the BBFC extranet: http://www.bbfc.co.uk.

If the BBFC website says your submission lead time is longer than 48 hours then there is a good chance that you have submitted as a Trailer / Feature, rather than Public Information / Campaigning Film. Please contact BBFC directly to amend.

Technical specs - picture

For each piece of copy please supply one TIFF image sequence at the highest resolution you have available, selecting from the options in 2.2 Picture.

There is no additional charge for higher resolutions.

Download full production tech specs

2.1 Notes

Please ensure that the audio is mixed against the same picture as the one you are supplying to DCM, to avoid sync issues in the process.
Cinema runs at 24fps; however, you will note that we accept picture at either 24fps or 25fps. 25fps will be slowed down to 24fps on the DCP.
If you are supplying a native 25fps picture, then your sound studio must mix against this same 25fps version and they will then need to stretch the audio to 24fps before supplying the finished Immersive Audio and/or 5.1 mixes to us, as per the audio specifications in this document. This means that the advertisement will run 4% slower/longer in cinema. (However, please note that DCM do not charge any additional fees for this 4% overrun).
If it is preferable to avoid stretching the audio, then you may alternatively decide to talk to your post house about cutting a native 24fps picture before the mix which will avoid the tempo change.
The D-Cinema Immersive Audio & D-Cinema 5.1 cinema mixes should be budgeted for by the creative agency, and we highly recommend using a theatrical studio set up to motion-picture industry norms such as ISO 2969 and ISO 22234.
Please contact the DCM Production Team for our list of recommended sound studios which specialise in mixing for cinema commercials.

2.2 Picture

For each piece of copy please supply one TIFF image sequence at the highest resolution you have available, selecting from the four options (4K, UHD, 2K, FullHD) below.

There is no additional charge for higher resolutions.

4K DATA TIFF Sequence

Ratio 1.85

Whole Picture 3996 x 2160

Cinema Title Safety 3596 x 1944

UHD DATA TIFF Sequence

Ratio 1.78

Whole Picture 3840 x 2160

Cinema Title Safety 3210 x 1806

2K DATA TIFF Sequence

Ratio 1.85

Whole Picture 1998 x 1080

Cinema Title Safety 1798 x 972

FullHD DATA TIFF Sequence

Ratio 1.78

Whole Picture 1920 x 1080

Cinema Title Safety 1605 x 903

All legal lines and logos must be positioned within Cinema Title Safety.

Bit depth 8 - 16 bit accepted.
For best results please supply highest bit depth available, per source.

Colour primaries rec709

Range Legal (Studio) 16-235 or Full (Extended) 0-255

Frame rate 25fps or 24fps (see Section 2.1)
Frames should always be supplied progressive, NOT interlaced.

Length TIFF sequence should contain active frames ONLY i.e. NO clock, end frame hold or black frames at start or end.

QuickTime is NOT accepted

Alpha channel is NOT accepted

2.3 Superimposed Text

If your advert requires superimposed text (supers), we suggest a minimum text height of 16 pixels, and a recommended height of 18 pixels.
This guidance is based on a resolution of 1998x1080 or 1920x1080. If your advert’s resolution is 3996x2160 or 3840x2160, we suggest a minimum text height of 32 pixels, and a recommended height of 36 pixels.
The pixel count should be measured from the top of the highest ascender to the bottom of the lowest descender.
For information on super positioning, please reach out to request our title safety guides, and ensure you use the title safety guide that corresponds with the resolution of the picture you are supplying, otherwise the picture may be rejected.
Please reach out to the Cinema Advertising Association (CAA) for further information on the legibility of supers, such as the use of opaque boxes and the calculation of hold durations.

2.4 Picture Naming Conventions

Once your TIFF Image Sequence has been created, please zip it into a folder with the following naming convention:

Product_Subtitle_Length_fps_Clock Number*

*A clock number will be required to submit Copy Rotation Instructions via Caria, however this does not have to be a cinema specific clock. So, if your copy is clocked for TV then this number can be used again.

Technical specs - audio

Audio specifications for Digital-Cinema Immersive Audio and Digital-Cinema 5.1 Audio.

All submitted audio (D-Cinema Immersive Audio and D-Cinema 5.1) at the specified rate of 48000 samples per second:

must be in sync with picture at a rate of 24 frames per second
must not include a leader (i.e. the FFOA is the start of the file; the first audio sample represent the very start of the audio associated with the very first image frame)
must be the exact duration of the related picture at a rate of 24 frames per second (i.e. there are exactly 2000 audio samples per image frame).

Download full production tech specs

2.5 Audio Notes

A Digital-Cinema Immersive Audio and/or Digital-Cinema 5.1 Audio mix is required for all copy.
For all D-Cinema Immersive Audio submissions, a separate 5.1 audio mix is also required to be submitted; this is for use by cinemas that are not equipped with a D-Cinema Immersive Audio system.
Immersive sound technology offers overhead speakers and the ability to place up to 118 individual sounds (objects) anywhere within the 3D space of the cinema auditorium.
For the best results, it is ideal for your sound studio to have access to separate uncompressed stems for the Immersive mix, including music stems. This is so that every sound can be individually placed within the 3D immersive sound environment.
Please contact your studio directly for their individual specifications and advice.
If you are supplying a D-Cinema Immersive audio mix, please complete this mix first - your sound studio can quickly & easily re-render this to 5.1 saving both time and money.

2.6 Audio Specifications

Digital cinema immersive audio submission
Pass / Fail Criteria

Condition Yes No

File is an unencrypted D-Cinema Immersive Audio Track File (MXF) created in accordance with SMPTE ST429-18, SMPTE ST2098-2, and SMPTE RDD 57? Fail

File respects the following naming convention—when unzipped: CLIENT NAME_CONTENT TITLE VERSION.IAB.mxf? For example: Brand XYZ_Autumn Collection (EN v2).IAB.mxf Fail

24 fps frame rate? Fail

48 kHz sample rate? Fail

24 bit sample depth? Fail

LFE is broadband? Fail

Sync pop exists &/or MXF First Frame metadata is not 0? Fail

Leq(m) exceeds 82 dB as measured in accordance with ISO 21727, BS 5550-7.4.2, and SAWA Standards and Recommendations of 2000? * Fail

* Note that 4cine measures the full D-Cinema Immersive Audio Track File and not a rendered proxy.

Digital cinema 5.1 audio submission
Pass / Fail Criteria

Condition Yes No

5.1 channel configuration? Fail

Only LR stereo in a wider channel configuration? Fail

A complete set of separate single-track files are present? Fail

Files respect the following naming convention—when unzipped: CLIENT NAME_CONTENT TITLE VERSION.CHANNEL ID.wav? For example: Brand XYZ_Autumn Collection (EN v2).L.wav, … Fail

All files are the same length and name (except for CHANNEL-ID)? Fail

48 kHz sample rate? Fail

24 bit sample depth? Fail

LFE is broadband? Fail

Sync pop exists Fail

Leq(m) exceeds 82 dB as measured in accordance with ISO 21727, BS 5550-7.4.2, and SAWA Standards and Recommendations of 2000? Fail

2.7 Audio Naming Conventions

Of the submitted campaign, CLIENT NAME identifies its client and CONTENT TITLE VERSION identifies its title (including the version).
The underscore, _, is reserved and must be used once and only once.
Do not use any of the following file-unsafe characters: \, /, :, *, ?, ", <, >, or |.
For D-Cinema 5.1 submissions, the CHANNEL-ID mapping is: L = Left, R = Right, C = Centre, LFE = Low Frequency Extension (Sub-woofer), Ls = Left surround, and Rs = Right surround.

For example

Brand XYZ_Autumn Collection (EN v2).L.wav
Brand XYZ_Autumn Collection (EN v2).R.wav
Brand XYZ_Autumn Collection (EN v2).C.wav
Brand XYZ_Autumn Collection (EN v2).LFE.wav
Brand XYZ_Autumn Collection (EN v2).Ls.wav
Brand XYZ_Autumn Collection (EN v2).Rs.wavd again.

For D-Cinema Immersive Audio submissions, IAB must be used in place of the CHANNEL-ID.

For example

Brand XYZ_Autumn Collection (EN v2).IAB.mxf

Additional specs and customer responsibilities

All submitted audio (D-Cinema Immersive Audio and D-Cinema 5.1) at the specified rate of 48000 samples per second:

must be in sync with picture at a rate of 24 frames per second
must not include a leader (i.e. the FFOA is the start of the file; the first audio sample represent the very start of the audio associated with the very first image frame)
must be the exact duration of the related picture at a rate of 24 frames per second (i.e. there are exactly 2000 audio samples per image frame)

Accessible content

Around 27% of people in the UK have hearing loss, tinnitus, or are deaf (RNID, 2024).
Around 3% of people in the UK are registered blind or partially sighted (RNIB, 2021).
These two facts mean that around 20 million people may not be able to access your campaign without additional support.
We can run audio description and captioned versions of your advert at no extra cost.

Download full production tech specs

3.1 Caption Delivery

There are 3 options for delivery captioned copy:

Our preferred format is in XML, encoded to D-Cinema Unicode UTF-8. This offers the most range in the captioning visuals.
We understand that a lot of copy will have a caption file created already in an SRT format. We can also accept this format and use it to create the file that we require. However, it would be worth discussing with your supplier to see if they can easily create a XML version before delivering the SRT.
The final option is to deliver two versions of your copies TIFF sequence, one clean and one with the captions burnt into picture. This is usually a more costly and time heavy process but will give you more creative control than with an SRT.

3.2 Audio Description Delivery

We require the audio description (AD) track to be delivered to us as a WAV file. This can be uploaded alongside the TIFF sequence to our DCM Media Shuttle or can be sent to us on a download link.
We will then embed the AD track into the DCP which will play out in AD screenings, through headsets given to those who have requested it

Delivery instructions

Instructions for submitting copy rotation instructions and uploading assets.

Ahead of delivering your advert, please ensure you have completed each of the steps. Your advert will not be able to run in cinemas until all points have been actioned.

Please note: it is the uploader’s responsibility to ensure that uploads fully comply to DCM's technical specifications. Anything that doesn’t may be rejected and incur additional costs. Please ensure all specifications have been read and adhered to.

Download full production tech specs

4.1 Copy Rotation Instructions

Please also see note on Clock Number use in Section 2.4.

If you are already setup with Caria access, you should use the platform to create your CRI. Creative Agencies will see the booking on their system, indicated by the cinema symbol.

There are guides on how to setup CRI's on the Caria Help page:

4.2 Picture Delivery

Please do not upload picture files to 4cine as they will be rejected.

Connect to the DCM Media Shuttle and upload zipped folder as instructed.
We do not accept WeTransfer links or hard drives.
Please note that source material will be automatically removed from the server after 30 days if not used or 60 days after a DCP has been mastered and approved.

Picture upload Via DCM media shuttle

dcm.mediashuttle.com

4.3 Audio Delivery

Please do not upload audio to the DCM Media Shuttle as it will be rejected.

Please instruct your sound studio be set up with a 4cine® account to deliver audio to DCM via 4cine.ibmaspera.com.
Once only, your sound studio will need to contact administrator@4cine.io to set up their 4cine.io account to be granted access to 4cine.ibmaspera.com for submissions to DCM, and we recommend that this is done as soon as possible to avoid delay.
Once set up, upon receipt of a D-Cinema Immersive Audio or a 5.1 audio mix, 4cine.io will run an essential technical QC evaluating the submission against the DCM Submission Specification in Section 2.6, which also ensures compliance with UK cinema audio volume regulations.
4cine.io automatically alerts the sound studio and DCM once QC is complete and shares all QC-Passed submissions automatically with us for our subsequent DCP mastering with the picture.
Please note that source material will be automatically removed from the 4cine server after 6 months.

Submit audio to 4cine®

4cine.ibmaspera.com

Resupply details

DCM conducts a thorough QC on all assets supplied ahead of mastering and will flag any technical issues or queries to the creative supplying, so they can resupply. If the assets are delivered to specification with no technical issues, DCM will take your supplied assets as final delivery and proceed to master your copy.

If picture or audio assets need to be resupplied after DCP mastering, a remastering fee will apply.
If picture or audio assets need to be resupplied after DCP mastering and the campaign has already commenced, both a remastering fee and a redistribution fee will apply. The redistribution fee is dependent on the size of the campaign. Please contact us for further details.

Production Requirement Technical Specifications

Cinema advertising production requirements

DCM will handle the creation of the DCP (Digital-Cinema Package) from master materials and its digital distribution to DCM cinema screens for the campaign.

Once we have received master materials and copy clearance/s we will invite you to a pre-distribution screening of the final DCP.

Picture upload

Audio upload

CAA submission

BBFC submission

DCM Production Team

Cinema Advertising Association (CAA)

British Board of Film Classification (BBFC)

4Cine Audio Conformity

Process overview

Copy clearance

Prepare technical assets

Delivery

Copy clearance