Notes On Post Production

The low budget filmmaker may only be able to afford a final video answer print. With the many quality computer editing programs available to the everyday consumer, you can literally assemble your movie at home, adding quality effects, transitions, and sound tracks.

To save money, send all of your footage, film and sound stock, as well as the camera report, to the lab after the last day of shooting. The lab will process the film, and at your request, may transfer it to video. Most labs can also transfer the sound to video in sync with the visual action. You can get your footage and sound back on video, transfer it to the hard drive on your home computer, and start editing (be sure to back up your work every day on a second hard drive).

The timer/colorist in the lab will ensure color consistency throughout the entire film. The gray cards you shot will greatly assist her in this process. To save money, you can request a one-light work print. This means the timer/colorist will only correct for one of the primary colors (in film, the primary colors are blue, green, and red; usually the color green contains the most information). Granted, the color quality of the print you get back will be lower than a fully color corrected print, but if your purpose is merely to have a movie on video to show investors who may later pay for a fully color corrected film answer print (and possibly a blowup to 35mm if you originally shot in Super16mm), a one-light video work print is all that you will need for now. However, if you intend for your final product to be in the form of a video answer print only, you should pay for the full three-light color correction.

Before the first day of principal photography, you should have already set up a lab deal and incorporated the cost into your budget. Let them know what gauge of film you are shooting (16mm or 35mm), how much film you are shooting and will therefore be processing, and what medium you want the work print to be in (film or video). Also, find out what information should be included in the camera report, on each can of exposed film, and on the sound stock that you will deliver to them. Generally the necessary information will include the film role number, the scene and take numbers on each roll, whether each take is with synchronous sound or is MOS, the sound stock roll number where that sound can be found, and whether or not a take is to be printed (though labs usually require that all footage shot in 16mm be printed). Many labs can provide you with camera report sheets of their own for you to fill out on the set.

The Sound Edit - Movies must go through a sound edit. This takes place after the initial editing together of all footage and requires a separate professional sound editor who will be in charge of overseeing automatic dialogue recording (ADR), Foley, music recording, and the sound mix. ADR is when the actors come in to the studio and re-record all of their lines. They watch themselves on a screen, one shot at a time, and redeliver their lines into a microphone, in sync with their original lines delivered during principal photography. Foley involves sound effects. Footsteps on hardwood floors, on gravel or grass, breaking glass, fists hitting flesh, gun shots, and every other sound you hear in movies are usually created in a studio. The sound mix takes all of these tracks and assembles them together; the volume of each track is altered as needed.

If you are editing on your computer, you will most likely have to depend on the sound created and captured on set (this is why it is so important to get the best sound as you can on set, just in case you have to use it). While on set, in addition to dialogue tracks, you will also want to do your own on-the-spot Foley recording of footsteps, breaking glass, fists hitting flesh, gun shots, as well as other background noises, crowd noises, room tone, and all other sounds that occur in a scene. Some of these sounds will be recorded in sync with the action, others will be recorded by themselves, without the camera rolling. Later, you will perform your own sound mix on your home computer. Most programs will allow you to lay out several tracks and adjust the volume of each as you see fit. (NOTE: While editing on your computer, first only lay the tracks for sounds that must be in sync with the action, such as dialogue. If the lab is unable to do this for you, you will have to use the clap board at the beginning of each scene as the point to match action and sound. After you have edited the entire film into a fluid story, then go back and mix in the other sound effects, background noise, and music.)

FINAL NOTES:

Major motion pictures go through many stages before they reach an audience. In post production alone, films are often edited and reedited over and over before the director, producer, and studio executives are satisfied with the final result. Even so, post production is a relatively calm period. Once principal photography is completed and the film is "in the can," your movie has essentially been captured. You need now only to put together what you have already created. Just make sure the lab takes good care of your negative and your original sound stock for as long as they have it.

Once you have completed your movie, you will want to show it to everyone. Before you do so, be sure to copyright the final answer print, even if the screenplay already has been (go to www.copyright.gov for more information). Your best bet for exposure is the film festival circuit. The major festivals are Sundance, Cannes International, Toronto International, Telluride, and the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival, among many others. Each has a web site where you can learn more about their submission guidelines.



Copyright © 2004 by HomeFilmSchool.com

Go to the Bibliography