What is Keycode?
Keycode refers to the latent edge numbers put onto the negative film at the manufacturers. When the film is processed these numbers become visible. They aid the negative cutter in his/her ability to match your film back to A&B rolls from a cut film workprint or video daily. At Colorlab we can record those numbers onto a data track (aka, the Address Track) on Digibeta and BCSP only. Other tape formats, because of inherent technical limitations, cannot record as well onto the Address Track. If you are planning on finishing your film on film (as opposed to finishing on video) we recommend you transfer your film to a Digibeta or BCSP master and have this information recorded onto a disk we refer to as a “FLEX FILE.” You can opt to have keycode information “burned in” on your video master tape or hidden on the Address Track. If you want to be able to see keycode, but don’t want it to interfere with your picture safe area, you can request to have keycode (and timecode for that matter) burned
