How do you "FINISH" your film?

Richard J. Johnson

Richard J. Johnson

Joystick Member
We are filming the last two scenes of my first feature length film this weekend and the previous 32 scenes have been edited.
I have a few questions.

1. Do you do all of your color correction on shot by shot basis or do you get the entire movie in a timeline and then start that process.

2. scoring and sound design- is this normally the last thing you do? again, is it a scene by scene thing or do you edit and color correct, get everything right then start the process.

3. and what is color grading? Is this like using a magic bullet type of program. which I have. I have FCP HD but I don't have Apple Color.

4. Audio- when you do the volume matching from scene to scene do you have the enitre film up on screen?

This is my first feature length film and I have not done any short films, just music videos so I am a little newbafied when it comes to the finishing aspect. Please forgive any lncorrect jargon when it comes to terminology.
any help would be appreciated.

We are also having a small premiere at the local loews theater, is there anything I should consider when showing it in a movie theater, even though it is on their smallest screen. (my buddy works there, so i figure it's free, why not?)
 
filthrich said:
We are filming the last two scenes of my first feature length film this weekend and the previous 32 scenes have been edited.
I have a few questions.

1. Do you do all of your color correction on shot by shot basis or do you get the entire movie in a timeline and then start that process.
Click to expand...

Color correction is the process of making sure your film matches from shot to shot in term of white balance, brightness, black levels etc. Color grading is the fancy color effects to give it a special look. This is usually done after the picture has been locked.

filthrich said:
2. scoring and sound design- is this normally the last thing you do? again, is it a scene by scene thing or do you edit and color correct, get everything right then start the process.
Click to expand...

I lock the picture in term of timing, then I send the cut to the composer and sound designer to start working on the score and the dialogue simultaneously. From this point on the timing cannot be changed because it'll screw up the sound. After the music is locked I send it off to the sound designer and he mixes it all together.



filthrich said:
4. Audio- when you do the volume matching from scene to scene do you have the enitre film up on screen?
Click to expand...

Audio level needs to be mixed consistently through the whole film, usually averaging around -12db and peaking at around -6db.
 
Thank you very much for the detailed description. It helps tremendously!! The only problem is that I am doing it all. It sucks, but at least I know the correct order to follow. thank you.
 
The advice you got from Huy Vu is excellent; that's how it's done.

I'd like to add a few points from my own personal experience, which might help you in the future. I've edited a lot of feature films, mostly on 35mm upright moviolas and flatbeds, but the last two in FCP Studio.

Here's what I do:

1) Do all your color correcting and sound balancing as you go. If you postpone everything until the end, you'll forget a lot and you'll spend endless hours, days and months going back to correct this and that.

The exception to this self-imposed rule is when I'm on a roll and I'm cutting brilliantly and frantically, not letting the inspiration to slip away, then by all means forget color and sound and just go with it. ... But this seldom happens -- unfortunately. I'm recalling days bygone, alas!

2) Make sure you have a monitor that is color correct. I don't have one of these, so I ended up on my last two features going back and dumping all the color correction I'd done -- it was atrocious. The way I got the movie back from telecine was by far better on my last 35mm feature.

And in this last feature I just finished, I had to go back and dump all my color corrections as well. This one was shot with the Sony Z1, which did a perfect job of color correcting on the fly as I shot. LOL

3) Regardless of how you do it, you'll have to go back and look at all the movie at the end and nitpick it to death correcting every little mistake there is in color and sound.

4) Then you do a final mix and make sure the sound is all balanced and pleasing to the ear.

Good luck and enjoy it -- editing is the best part of filmmaking. It's where a movie is made.

Personal note: How much does it cost to rent a theater? I'd love to screen my new movie Felliniesque Players to a general audience.
 
Hey Filthrich -

I've been there. Um like 3 times! hahaha I'm finishing up my third movie right now. doing all of the editing, color grading, audio, etc myself.

What I'd do if I were you is:

First get a few edits in a timeline and figure out what type of look you are going for. I did color correction then grading - but what I learned is that Magic Bullet allows you to do them in one step, and by doing them this way you can avoid any overprocessing. No since in taking one shot up too high and then later taking it back down.

Unfortunately I couldn't afford a good monitor for my movie so even now in color correction, it's kinda up in the air. If you are like me, then color-correct/grade a few scenes then export them out to DVD and watch them on your Television (which is a natural NTSC monitor) this way you'll know if you've put too much color or too much contrast etc. What looks good on the computer doesn't look good on the TV/Plasma/LCD/Big Screen. Generally you need the contrast lower than norm and the saturation lower than norm. Both get a boost on a monitor.

While you are color correcting, you can clean your audio scene by scene in a program like Adobe Audition. There are a lot of tools. I find the Dynamics and low hum filter to be my favorites.

Do the audio for each scene first that has to do with the actors talking and any small sounds that ONLY exist in that scene.

Then create a "reel". I'm not sure the exact numbers, but I was told long ago that if you ever want to get on the big screen projected with 35mm, your footage must be in reels. Basically a 35mm film is too big for one unit to play, so every 15 minutes or so the reel changes, little black dots (pops) at the top of the screen, prompt the projector to start the next reel. - You've seen these in movies even if you haven't noticed them - if that made since.

Anyway, pull a few scenes into a "reel" to last 14 to 16 miniutes. Put the rest of the audio down in the reel. Music, Score, sound effects etc. The reason why you do this is because if the 35mm reel ended - your sound has to end. But in a movie, generally sounds slightly overlap scenes and transitions. Only at the reel change does the sound actually end and start up again.

When you have all of your "reels" together, you can load them into your timeline and you're done. Each Reel should be the completed portion of that movie, but the final timeline is just a way for you to preview your finished film.

So first: figure out the look
Get the look right in each scene seperately
Do the speaking audio for each scene seperately
Load a few scenes into a reel
Check the colors over the length of the reel
Add Sound FX and Music Score and Soundtrack into the reel
Place all reels back to back in new timeline/project to view finished movie


Whoosh - my hands hurt - too much typing
 
In the last 4 years I've only made three movies, two are feature length and one is a 40 minute featurette :-)

You can find the trailers at: http://www.releasing.net

You can buy them at www.indieflix.com

BUTTEFLIES IN THE WIND is a 97 minute 35mm feature film. I shot it myself one-man-crew and edited as well.

http://www.indieflix.com/FilmDetail.aspx?tid=12463&name=Butterflies in the Wind

Felliniesque Players isn't out yet. THE CHASE is a 40 minute movie. You can buy that at www.indieflix also.

http://www.indieflix.com/FilmDetail.aspx?tid=5260&name=The Chase

I've shote and/or edited many 35mm movies -- most of them action oriented. I should've never worked on these movies. They brought me down. Making B-movies with a few "name" actors is a lousy way of working yourself up to A-movies. It rarely if ever works. Lot's of people still are trying this approach, so I won't say anything more.

So I won't mention most of them. The ones that might be still found in video stores are:

KILLZONE, FIGHT TO WIN, A Mission to Kill, etc.
 
filmman said:
Personal note: How much does it cost to rent a theater? I'd love to screen my new movie Felliniesque Players to a general audience.
Click to expand...

Thank you. At Loews you have to buy every seat in the theater at $4.00 per seat. We are getting the small 200 seat theater. And you can only have it Monday thru Thursday.
 
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jls4 said:
Hey Filthrich -

So first: figure out the look
Get the look right in each scene seperately
Do the speaking audio for each scene seperately
Load a few scenes into a reel
Check the colors over the length of the reel
Add Sound FX and Music Score and Soundtrack into the reel
Place all reels back to back in new timeline/project to view finished movie


Whoosh - my hands hurt - too much typing
Click to expand...

thank you.
 
Personally I think doing anything beyond rough/basic mixing and color work is a waste of time while you are still cutting. Lots of things change during the editing process so I don't see the point of spending time grading and mixing a scene or shot that might get tossed the next day. I focus on cutting the story first. Then I'll move onto finishing the audio and color correcting/grading after the edit has locked (or nearly locked depending on the situation).


-A
 
I work non-linarly as well.
I do not waiste time finioshing something that may end up on the cutting room floor. I work from the top with the story, back from the top with timing, back from the top with audio and b-roll than back from the top with color correction, effects and such. Nothing is polished until that final pass.
 
It may also depend on the scene. Sometimes when you use special effects, you need to add the effect to see if the cut is good before you can keep going. I normally cut each scene in a different file, color correct etc and then add all the files into a single project.

but i've only do shorts.. fyi haha.
 
egyptianboxer104 said:
It may also depend on the scene. Sometimes when you use special effects, you need to add the effect to see if the cut is good before you can keep going.
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Or you could keep the cut rough with handles and make the decision where to cut once the VFX are done. I'd rather do it this way, but the guy I work with says he can't feel it until the effects are done, so it never feels right.
 
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