The editor’s workflow through the six steps of post production; ingesting and logging, rough cut, fine cut, titling, picture lock, and soundtrack.
by Glen Berry
Edited by Stavros C. Stavrides
Updated July 16, 2022
IMPORTANT CONCEPTS
Post-Production is (relatively) Predictable
The Rough Cut: Shot Selection and Order
Picture Lock in film and video is a major milestone
Make it Play without Music
The Six Steps of Post Production
Post Production is a more controlled environment than production and far more predictable with a well-defined workflow. The long hours of production can be stressful dealing with tight schedules and unknown variables and chaotic with a large number of people and unfamiliar locations. Post Production is the opposite. Few people are involved, the hours are regular, schedules can be planned with precision, and the amount of material to work with is finite.
This fourth phase of the moviemaking process can be broken down into a series of distinct and easily identifiable steps:
- Ingesting and Logging
- Rough cut vs Fine Cut
- Titles
- Picture Lock
- Sound Track (Design, Composing, Mixing, Sweetening)
1. Ingesting and Logging
At the very start of the post-production process, the editor should receive a set of materials from the production team. That batch of materials should include the script, raw footage and audio, the camera logs, and the sound reports (if available). These are likely copies of the camera’s original media because to lose or damage the originals would result in a catastrophic and irreplaceable loss.
Very simply, ‘ingesting’ simply means transferring footage to your local hard drive for editing. This can describe capturing from a solid state (SSD)media card and may involve transcoding a proprietary codec to another format that is more palatable and easier to work with.
The editor and assistant must have strong computing skills and the ability to grasp the technical concepts related to media quality, bit rate, and storage, which are beyond the scope of this article.
Once all of the footage has been ingested onto the local hard drive and is viewable inside the editing platform, the editor or assistant editor can begin logging the footage. This process often involves viewing every clip, labeled appropriately (by the slate marker at the head of each shot), and making notations about the quality of each clip.
The camera logs come in handy at this point as a reference tool. The editor should make their own notes about each shot, regardless of the notes in the camera log.
2. The Rough Cut
We have a very simple objective with the rough cut, and that is to get the movie’s picture and dialogue, to play from start to finish. As the name suggests, it will not be perfect.
Do not strive to make it perfect. We must accept that our first pass at an edit will not include perfect transitions. All we are trying to accomplish is to make the first, and most important, decisions about shot selection and shot order.
The action of each scene in the script should have been covered from more than one angle in production (‘getting coverage’). The editor must decide what perspective to use at any given moment in the scene and get the movie to play from start to finish.
3. The Fine Cut
As the name would suggest, the fine cut is an exercise at finding the perfect transition points and cutting down on the fat. The heads and tails of each shot can usually be trimmed by at least 10-15%.
Moving forward with the fine cut should not take place until the director (or producer) has signed off on the rough cut. The order and choice of shots have to be determined first before determining what is a fine cut. In film, there’s no point in getting every cut dialed into the exact frame if a sequence will need to be rebuilt.
Creatively, the narrative of the fine cut must flow well without the aid of music (unless, of course, music is featured or plays a vital part in the scene, such as the performance of instruments or dance.
If there are sections that drag or seem rough, music may smooth them over but that is not the purpose of music. Music should emphasize moments or heighten the feeling of moments on the screen, not fix problems for the editor.
This article is drawn from the “Five Phases of Production” chapter in Cyber Film School’s
Multi-Touch Filmmaking Textbook
4. Titles
As mentioned previously, simple titles can be done easily by the editor with most editing platforms. Anything more elaborate than that ought to be done by a design specialist unless the editor has such talent and skill. Regardless of whether complex title treatments need to be integrated with the picture, they need to be built before the edit is complete.
5. Picture Lock
Picture lock in film and video is not a process by itself but rather better described as a major milestone. Picture lock means that there will be no more changes to the picture.
Directors sometimes have a hard time with this. They want to keep noodling with the picture endlessly. This is why you want to make them sign a document indicating that the picture is now locked.
Picture lock is critical because this signifies that the editor’s job is done. The project can now be sent to a colorist, the composer, and the sound designer for finalization, although the composer and sound designer may have been involved to a degree during the latter portion of the rough cut.
Any changes to the picture can have very disruptive effects on their work and can result in enormous inefficiencies, blown deadlines, and unhappy people. When the picture is locked, it’s locked.
6. SoundTrack
The popular mistaken description of a soundtrack is the collection of pre-recorded songs included in a movie. However, this is not what we mean when we talk about the soundtrack.
When we use the term ‘soundtrack‘, we mean everything the audience actually hears when they watch the movie. The soundtrack is comprised of four elements:
- Dialogue
- Narration
- Sound Effects
- Music
Dialogue has already been determined by the editor and is delivered to the sound designer and composer along with the locked picture as reference material. If narration is used, a ‘scratch track’ (temporary track) should have already been developed and timed into the fine cut.
The sound designer is responsible for creating a rich and multi-layered mix of sound effects that do not interfere with the dialogue. Likewise, the composer creates a score that enhances and emphasizes the emotional moments of the piece.
Both the sound designer and the composer need the picture-locked movie with the dialogue track to do their jobs, which is why arriving at the picture lock is so critical.
Summary
• Post Production is much more predictable and less stressful than production. Managing a post-production schedule is much easier than production
• The rough cut is about shot selection and shot order. Do not worry about timing. Your efforts will be wasted when you are instructed to rebuild sequences after the first viewing.
• Your fine cut has to play and be watchable without music. Do not rely on music to rescue a scene. Music will make it better but the scene needs to play without it.
• When the producer or director has signed off on the picture lock, there will be no more changes to the edit. Get signatures on paper. Any changes to the edit after this point will be painful and expensive.
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Post-Production Rules of Thumb >>
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