Step IV Intro

Walter Murch's In the Blink of an Eye is a wonderful collection of short pieces on editing and sound design. Ignore what he says about editing on computer, but pay attention to his ideas about style and editorial choices.

My friend, editor Margot Roth, says, "Editing is by far the most fun part of the process. It's the reward for all your hard work."

I agree.

Because people emphasize production, they come into post thinking they're at the end. They're not. Postproduction isn't a matter of assembly. Like every step in making movies, postproduction requires a plan.

Get some rest before diving into post. Coming to the material fresh can be difficult, especially if you had a rough production period. Still, catch up on your sleep, do some laundry, and start bathing regularly again.

Cutting picture and sound are designed according to the director's vision, the raw material accrued during production, and any additional material that will be created for the show. This combination takes into account three concerns:

• Aesthetic—what does the director believe will best convey his or her reading of the script given the existing material?
• Technical—what is the final version of the show, what equipment is required, and what are the restrictions of using DV?
• Logistic—what issues regarding scheduling and budgeting come into play?

Major motion pictures have a separate team to manage each aspect of postproduction. That team handles a collection of other teams assigned to the show, with a postproduction supervisor to manage the personnel, schedule, and budget of each job, a sort of assistant director of postproduction.

On many shows, the editor cuts the movie, while an assistant editor takes care of the organizational details. Though digital technology has made organizing and handling the material easier, some editors will not work unless they have an assistant. Be sure to budget accordingly. Titles and credits are handled by companies that specialize in creating them. Frankly, unless you have a very specific and intricate title sequence, or can get the work done for little or no money, you or your editor may be able to handle it.

Visual effects are handled by a visual effects supervisor. This person will locate companies and individuals to handle matte work, compositing, rotoscoping, CGI, and other postproduction effects. Get this person on your show while in preproduction to avoid costly overruns.

With post-audio, a dialogue editor repairs and replaces dialogue, a Foley artist records sound effects, and a music supervisor manages the music, including hiring a composer who writes and often performs music to fit the length of certain scenes, and clearing music for use with a motion picture.

Once these elements have been cleaned up, edited, created, cleared, and placed, a rerecording mixer mixes them and place into the final show.

You can hire experienced personnel to handle some or all of these tasks, or decide to do them yourself. Because you can manipulate DV in a computer for relatively little money, you may want to handle all of this yourself. Many independent producers have more time than money, and time is what really matters. Especially if you have little or no pressure regarding investors, interest rates, and deadlines, you can take the time to work on the material.

However, just because you can doesn't mean you should. Affordable equipment doesn't automatically make anyone and editor or sound designer. If the task is too much for you, or you're simply not interested in it, find someone who can handle it.

Chapter 28, "Postproduction Systems: Things to Consider" explores different configurations of systems for video and audio postproduction and can help you decide if you have both the budget and the personality to handle postproduction tasks. Chapter 29, "Cutting Picture" explains and illustrates techniques, tools, and philosophical approaches regarding editing motion pictures, including organizing the material, transitions between shots, scenes, and sequences, as well as common problems and solutions. This chapter also discusses the differences between action safe and title safe image areas, and tricks like compositing and rotoscoping.

Chapter 30, "Post-Audio" details how to handle post-audio tasks, such as sound designing, dialogue editing, narration and voiceovers, creating, and finding, creating, and using sound effects, music, and sound beds.

Finally, Chapter 31, "Finishing" covers what you'll need to do to complete, master, and duplicate your show so you can take it to market.