5 Film Post Production Workflow Tips
Between story editing, video editing, music scoring, and more, post-production is the most expensive phase of production. It involves hundreds of people, scattered across multiple teams, along with myriad interdependent tasks that complicate post-production.
Heading into post-production without a clear plan jeopardizes all of the work you’ve put into production up to this point. A poorly planned process will eat into your ROI, delay your project, and create confusion throughout the team.
The good news is that a clearly defined post-production workflow solves these issues and simplifies your project. Here are five tips to help you create a successful workflow. Each tip includes key steps within post-production to help you and your entire team get on the same page.
The Importance of a Clear Post-Production Workflow
Once filming wraps, you’ll have hundreds of hours of raw footage to comb through. All of this content has to be viewed and sorted to create a final version that matches the vision you had in pre-production.
As you know, editing in post-production can take weeks, months, or even years to complete, depending on the final product. For example, the 1994 documentary Hoop Dreams was released after spending three years in post-production. A combination of funding issues and increased run time caused post-production time to balloon. This documentary was a large undertaking, and others like it benefit from a clear workflow — there’s less time spent in post-production.
For your part, an organized post-production workflow saves time for your editors, sound engineers, artists, composers, and other members. Teams understand where and when they fit into the overall process, so they can plan accordingly. Post-production flows more smoothly when everyone involved is aware of each step (and status) of the process.
To get started, set up a road map during pre-production when you’re focused on planning. In your road map:
- list all of the post-production tasks you anticipate;
- assign each task a timeline for completion; and
- include a target completion date.
Once the road map is complete, share it with your team. It helps to create the road map early in production. If anything isn’t accounted for, it’s flagged long before post-production starts. This approach helps ensure that your movies are completed and released on time. The sooner you can deliver your final product, the sooner you can start recouping your investment.
Now let’s look at five tips that will help keep your post-production workflow on track. Include these tips within your road map.
1. Organize Footage to Simplify the Editing Process
Whether you’re filming a comedy or a true-crime documentary, it’s important that the story you set out to tell comes across the way you intend it to. For example, you want your film to tell a cohesive story that flows well, and you want your audience to laugh or sympathize at the right places.
The film’s editor has to understand your vision in order to accurately organize the footage you share with them. That way, the final version of the film tells the intended story.
To help with this stage of the post-production workflow, meet with the editors and their teams when you send them your footage. Use this meeting to:
- give editors ideas of what types of footage to include in the final cut;
- create a bin structure and scene bins to organize footage; and
- review script notes to make sure they’re incorporated throughout the film.
Organizing footage early on helps ensure that your project will be delivered on time. Follow the same process for all of your projects.
Keep in mind, if you’ve filmed a documentary or interview, you have the option to transcribe audio notes to text. With our transcription service, you can save time getting organized in post-production. Audio to text transcription frees up your time to explore the content you record to find the most important points to share.
2. Edit Visual and Sound Effects to Tell a Story
Editing visual and sound effects is one of the most important steps of post-production. To make sure what viewers see on scene matches what they hear, visual-effects artists work frame by frame. As a result, this step can easily take the most time to complete. Of course, the length of time it takes depends on the type of film you’re making.
After scenes are organized, meet with sound and visual editors during post-production to talk about what each scene is meant to accomplish. For example, if you film a crime miniseries for TV and want to create a sense of mystery or build suspense early on, use your meeting to talk about the types of sounds you want to hear in the first scene. Do you want to hear some sounds more than others? What types of visual effects will you need to pull this off?
Your meeting will help sound artists create audio that pulls scenes together and facilitate the feelings and emotions you want your audience to experience. Also, ask the sound team to confirm the following:
- They have the required technical specs. This is more important if you’re an amateur or independent filmmaker and you partner with a video production company to help manage your post-production needs.
- Files delivered in the right formats. There are lots of file versions to choose from, make sure you know which type your effects teams prefer.
- Deliverables. Be clear on what you expect the team to deliver and when you expect to receive it.
Since the visual editor connects the editorial and visual-effects teams, their role in your meeting will be to track each shot, match it to sound, and know when to insert invisible effects. Again, getting organized early on makes this step of the post-production workflow move more smoothly.
3. Add Production Effects to M&E Tracks for Foreign-Language Films
Sets are noisy places, which means production effects are a fact of life when you’re filming. You also have to account for the sounds actors make when they’re in a scene, like the sound of a door closing or the sound of footsteps walking across a squeaky floor. These sounds are tied to the dialogue stem, so if you want to remove them, you’re going to need editing, plus Foley and library effects to make your scenes play out the way you want them to.
Since your M&E tracks include only music and effects, these “extra” sounds will be missing from the dialogue of foreign-language films. Add in the production effects you need in your film to the M&E track so that foreign-language films have the same feel as the original English version. Give your editors a description of what you’d like to hear in each scene. That way, the right sounds are added, removed, or left as is.
Regardless of where your audience is located and regardless of their preferred language, the viewing experience is the same. This is important if you want to appeal to a wide audience and create a financially successful final product.
4. Use ADR to Enhance the Impact Dialogue Has
After filming has wrapped, there’s a chance you’ll have to add in additional dialogue. For example, a conversation between actors needs to change or an actor used profanity. Maybe the set was noisy or another noise made the dialogue unusable. With automated dialogue replacement (ADR), you can make changes so that dialogue is easy to understand. Plus, for foreign-language films, you can use ADR to add in new dialogue on top of the original.
ADR enhances your project, but the main drawback of this tech is the cost: It’s very expensive. It’s also time-consuming, and in some cases, it’s hard for actors to recapture the emotion they achieved in the original version. To save time and money:
- Watch the edited film and make notes on where dialogue quality needs to be addressed.
- Make a list of cues for where you need ADR.
- Create a dialogue-requirements document outlining exactly what you want to change.
- Schedule recording time with actors.
This approach organizes the process of improving dialogue in your film and makes sure that actors’ time is maximized while they’re recording.
When ADR Isn’t An Option
For TV shows or documentaries where it isn’t possible to use ADR because the dialogue isn’t usually replaced, use text on the screen to help your audience understand what’s being said. Use our tool which offers closed captioning:
Dialogue appears as text so that a wider segment of your audience can watch your programs. For people who have to watch with the sound off, text on the screen allows them to watch without disturbing anyone around them.
Our closed-caption editor simplifies your dialogue editor’s job by:
- automating caption updates so that proper grammar appears on the screen, the words that appear on the screen match the audience’s local spelling, and more;
- making it easy to download different formats so your final product can be viewed on different platforms; and
- allowing sharing so other team members have access to the editing project if needed.
Overall, your audience has a better viewing experience because dialogue is easy to follow and understand.
5. Re-record to Create a Balanced Soundtrack
Mixing is another phase of the post-production workflow that’s time-intensive. There’s the task of reviewing all the dialogue plus incorporating ADR sound effects, Foley, and music to create a soundtrack. Many different types of re-recording mixers come together to handle all of these tasks. You can see how mixing gets confusing quickly.
To simplify this phase of the post-production workflow, get mixers to work on specific stems so it’s easier to make changes to the soundtrack. For example, have teams set up for dialogue, music, effects, and other stems you have. Instead of teams focused on tasks, like adding sound effects, you can go deeper by setting up teams that focus on subtasks. So with sound effects work, you’ll have a team working to make sure the dialogue still sounds good with effects mixed in, and another team that makes sure the music doesn’t clash with the effects.
That means there are a lot of people involved in producing the soundtrack, but it’s easier to make fixes or updates when your team has to deal with only one stem at a time.
Review Your Post-Production Workflow
Everyone involved in the production of your film, TV show, documentary, etc. — such as additional filmmakers, editors, or engineers — needs to debrief after each project. Use this time as an opportunity to gather and to share insights into which processes worked and which ones didn’t.
Use the tips we’ve shared as a starting point to make changes to your processes and to guide your debrief meetings. There are a lot of people involved in each step of the post-production workflow, so it’s key to get their insights on the changes you make. Ongoing feedback makes sure post-production runs as smoothly as possible so time and money are spent effectively.
Get started with these tips, and let us know how they work for you. Are there additional tips that have helped your post-production workflow?
Pre-production is the
stage where you try and convince everyone that your film is about to start
shooting. It’s the nerve-wracking stage where you wait for financial
commitments to materialize in your bank, and for cast and crew to agree that
they will definitely turn up.
‘Real’ pre-production is when you’re spending money on script development, casting, scouting and securing crew. Bottom line — pre-production is not difficult.
The second stage, production, is right after you get financing. Now you quickly get everyone together and spend nine to eighteen days of 14-18 hours each, shooting from dawn to dusk. Production is a ball buster.
During production, everything happens at once. The actors, lights, camera, props, schedule, film stock, egos, temper tantrums, and all the rest. Production, although typically presented as being fun and joyous, will probably be the worst two or three weeks of your life. But you persevere. Somehow you get that Martini Shot. Your film is in the can. You bring out the flat beer and celebrate. Everyone hugs everyone (except you, the skinflint producer) and goes home. You pass out and wake up approximately two days later.
When you do wake up, you find twenty hours of tape or the equivalent in film stock by the foot of your bed. You’re all alone. What do you do now? The answer, of course, is simple. You begin post-production.
Post-production, somehow, is the part of the process that intimidates people most. Remember, it is not difficult. Production is massively difficult. Post-production is not, as long as you take it to step by step. Your first phone call will probably be to your cinematographer who, although he/she hates you, will be able to introduce you to several good editors. All you need to know about post-production and finishing your film is the thirteen steps listed below. Just take them one step at a time, in the order, they appear. There will be no eighteen hour days. Your function will be to hire people and oversee them by dropping in for half an hour here and there. Post-production, I repeat, is not difficult.
The 13 Steps of Post-Production
1. Pick an editing format
There are two ways of doing post-production. One is the old way — the film way. Shoot film and edit, or splice film on film editing equipment. There are few filmmakers who edit this way today.
The second is the digital way. Two is a new way — the electronic way. Get all your rushes digitized (if shot on film you will need them telecined, or scanned to a digital format). The steps are pretty much the same in either format.
2. Hire a picture editor
Your cinematographer is probably a good person to ask for recommendations for an editor. An editor’s job is to create an Edit Decision List (EDL). The editor will read your script and look at the rushes, and from this information, cut the film according to their opinion of what makes the story better. Given this huge creative responsibility, I always like to get an editor well before the project goes into production. A good editor will advise on the types of shots they will need, and advise on tricky post-production issues before the film starts.
The normal schedule for editing a feature is 8 – 10 weeks. During this time, your editor will create different drafts of your film. The first is called the Rough Cut, and last is the Answer Print. There are two conclusions to edit: the first when you are happy with the visual images (locking picture) and the second when you are happy with the sound (sound lock).
3. Hire a sound editor
Now, about two months later, the picture film is tight but you need to enhance the look with sound. Thus, hire a sound editor and an assistant for five to six weeks to (a) cut dialogue tracks, (b) re-create sound effects, and (c) get cue sheets ready for simplifying Step 7, The Mix.
4. Do ADR
This stands for Automatic Dialogue Replacement. What it actually is, is a large hollow room with a projector that projects your most recent picture draft from Step 2 and has the actors come back and lip sync and loop dialogue that wasn’t sharp and clear.
5. Do Foley
Go to a room that looks like (or could very well be) the ADR room and this time, without actors, have sound people called Foley Artists – or sometimes ‘walkers’ – put the noise of footsteps and certain other sound effects into your film.
6. Secure music
First, for your musical score here’s what not to do. Don’t use any popular old song that you haven’t purchased the rights to. Don’t even think about a public domain or classical music either, because it’ll either get expensive or it’ll stink. Don’t use any pre-cleared CD-ROM music because it won’t be good enough quality. What you should do is simply this: hire a musician with his or her own studio to compose brand new original songs and tunes that you have the rights to.
7. Do re-recording/the mix
Now that you have 20-40 tracks of sound (dialogue, ADR, Foley, music) you must layer them on top of each other to artificially create a feeling of sound with depth. This is called the re-recording session or the Mix.
8. Get an M&E
Somewhere in the not-too-distant future, you will be selling the rights to your film to foreign nations. The distributor/buyer in that nation wants a soundtrack without English dialogue so they can dub the dialogue. Thus the M&E stands for only Music and Effects.
9. Get your titles
Your editing is now done. Now what is left is to get the final pieces needed for the answer print. The first three pieces to get are your six-to-eight Opening Title Cards and then the Rear Title Crawl. These title files are then added to the master track.
10. Get a DCP
In order to deliver the film, you will need to create a Digital Cinema Package – a hard drive which contains the final copy of your film encoded so it can play in cinemas.
11. Get a dialogue script
In order for foreign territories to dub or subtitle your film, you will need to create a dialogue script which has the precise time code for each piece of dialogue so the subtitler or dubbing artist knows exactly where to place their dialogue.
12. Get a campaign image
A picture says a thousand words. Your campaign image is likely the first thing a prospective distributor or festival programmer will see of your film. The image (with titles and credits) should let the viewer know exactly what your film is about.
13. Get a trailer
Create a 90-120 second trailer that conveys the mood and atmosphere of your movie. Often programming and distribution decisions will be based on the strength of your trailer.
‘Real’ pre-production is when you’re spending money on script development, casting, scouting and securing crew. Bottom line — pre-production is not difficult.
The second stage, production, is right after you get financing. Now you quickly get everyone together and spend nine to eighteen days of 14-18 hours each, shooting from dawn to dusk. Production is a ball buster.
During production, everything happens at once. The actors, lights, camera, props, schedule, film stock, egos, temper tantrums, and all the rest. Production, although typically presented as being fun and joyous, will probably be the worst two or three weeks of your life. But you persevere. Somehow you get that Martini Shot. Your film is in the can. You bring out the flat beer and celebrate. Everyone hugs everyone (except you, the skinflint producer) and goes home. You pass out and wake up approximately two days later.
When you do wake up, you find twenty hours of tape or the equivalent in film stock by the foot of your bed. You’re all alone. What do you do now? The answer, of course, is simple. You begin post-production.
Post-production, somehow, is the part of the process that intimidates people most. Remember, it is not difficult. Production is massively difficult. Post-production is not, as long as you take it to step by step. Your first phone call will probably be to your cinematographer who, although he/she hates you, will be able to introduce you to several good editors. All you need to know about post-production and finishing your film is the thirteen steps listed below. Just take them one step at a time, in the order, they appear. There will be no eighteen hour days. Your function will be to hire people and oversee them by dropping in for half an hour here and there. Post-production, I repeat, is not difficult.
The 13 Steps of Post-Production
1. Pick an editing format
There are two ways of doing post-production. One is the old way — the film way. Shoot film and edit, or splice film on film editing equipment. There are few filmmakers who edit this way today.
The second is the digital way. Two is a new way — the electronic way. Get all your rushes digitized (if shot on film you will need them telecined, or scanned to a digital format). The steps are pretty much the same in either format.
2. Hire a picture editor
Your cinematographer is probably a good person to ask for recommendations for an editor. An editor’s job is to create an Edit Decision List (EDL). The editor will read your script and look at the rushes, and from this information, cut the film according to their opinion of what makes the story better. Given this huge creative responsibility, I always like to get an editor well before the project goes into production. A good editor will advise on the types of shots they will need, and advise on tricky post-production issues before the film starts.
The normal schedule for editing a feature is 8 – 10 weeks. During this time, your editor will create different drafts of your film. The first is called the Rough Cut, and last is the Answer Print. There are two conclusions to edit: the first when you are happy with the visual images (locking picture) and the second when you are happy with the sound (sound lock).
3. Hire a sound editor
Now, about two months later, the picture film is tight but you need to enhance the look with sound. Thus, hire a sound editor and an assistant for five to six weeks to (a) cut dialogue tracks, (b) re-create sound effects, and (c) get cue sheets ready for simplifying Step 7, The Mix.
4. Do ADR
This stands for Automatic Dialogue Replacement. What it actually is, is a large hollow room with a projector that projects your most recent picture draft from Step 2 and has the actors come back and lip sync and loop dialogue that wasn’t sharp and clear.
5. Do Foley
Go to a room that looks like (or could very well be) the ADR room and this time, without actors, have sound people called Foley Artists – or sometimes ‘walkers’ – put the noise of footsteps and certain other sound effects into your film.
6. Secure music
First, for your musical score here’s what not to do. Don’t use any popular old song that you haven’t purchased the rights to. Don’t even think about a public domain or classical music either, because it’ll either get expensive or it’ll stink. Don’t use any pre-cleared CD-ROM music because it won’t be good enough quality. What you should do is simply this: hire a musician with his or her own studio to compose brand new original songs and tunes that you have the rights to.
7. Do re-recording/the mix
Now that you have 20-40 tracks of sound (dialogue, ADR, Foley, music) you must layer them on top of each other to artificially create a feeling of sound with depth. This is called the re-recording session or the Mix.
8. Get an M&E
Somewhere in the not-too-distant future, you will be selling the rights to your film to foreign nations. The distributor/buyer in that nation wants a soundtrack without English dialogue so they can dub the dialogue. Thus the M&E stands for only Music and Effects.
9. Get your titles
Your editing is now done. Now what is left is to get the final pieces needed for the answer print. The first three pieces to get are your six-to-eight Opening Title Cards and then the Rear Title Crawl. These title files are then added to the master track.
10. Get a DCP
In order to deliver the film, you will need to create a Digital Cinema Package – a hard drive which contains the final copy of your film encoded so it can play in cinemas.
11. Get a dialogue script
In order for foreign territories to dub or subtitle your film, you will need to create a dialogue script which has the precise time code for each piece of dialogue so the subtitler or dubbing artist knows exactly where to place their dialogue.
12. Get a campaign image
A picture says a thousand words. Your campaign image is likely the first thing a prospective distributor or festival programmer will see of your film. The image (with titles and credits) should let the viewer know exactly what your film is about.
13. Get a trailer
Create a 90-120 second trailer that conveys the mood and atmosphere of your movie. Often programming and distribution decisions will be based on the strength of your trailer.
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