Answer print refers to the first version of a given motion picture that is printed to film after color correction on an interpositive. It is also the first version of the movie printed to film with the sound properly synced to the picture.
Answer prints are created during the post-production process after editing, dubbing and other related audio work and special effects sequences have been finished or completed to a degree satisfactory for pre-release viewing. They are used by the filmmaker and studio to ensure that the work going in to the film during the post-production process is cohesive with the final goals for the project. In effect, it is a post-edit editing where the filmmaker can observe and direct the course of the film's final look and feel as it pertains to color correction, sound and special effects elements and overall pacing/editing. Pre-release screenings for test audiences are often run from late answer print copies of the film, as more often than not the filmmaker is using the screening as a way to help direct the final choices he/she will make regarding the finished project.
When the last answer print is approved and finalized, it is used to make an internegative from which the release prints are struck.
Famous quotes containing the words answer and/or print:
“Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.”
—Bible: New Testament St. Paul, in Colossians, 4:6.
“What do I care
that the stream is trampled,
the sand on the stream-bank
still holds the print of your foot:
the heel is cut deep.”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)