I'll fix it in post....

Punjabi

Punjabi

Member
Just a little advice for my fellow newbys...I just finished my first big project and the most common thing said on my set was "fix it in post."


My advice:

Keep a .40 cal S&W on set...:kali::furious3:
If you ever hear yourself or anyone else say/whisper/write/mouth/think those words: Unload two clips into their chest and genitals (the last part is only necessary to ensure that, if somehow they live through this, they can't breed to make little satanic babies running around screaming "post" "post" "fix it in post.")

A little extreme I know but you get the point. I'm done shooting now; the sets are down, the releases expired, actors gone and I have shots, important shots, that I can't use because I can't fix it in post without it looking like a late 90's sci-fi horror starring Richard Grieco. Best way to learn film is to film. I'm sure everyone on this board already knows this....thanks for letting me vent.
 
if you're having post problems you might want to post in the editing forum, they'll probably help you out. I'd ask you what problems you're having right here but the mods would probably tell you to move it, or do it themselves.
 
It's called post because that's what you bang your head against when you realize 80% of your shots are blown out and the other 20% you forgot to white balance and recorded in another frame rate. good luck with that!
 
Solomojo said:
It's called post because that's what you bang your head against when you realize 80% of your shots are blown out and the other 20% you forgot to white balance and recorded in another frame rate. good luck with that!
Click to expand...

Heh

Seriously though sometimes there are thing that you think are unusable that can be salvaged. You may as well head over to your NLE forum and see what advice you can get. Post grabs and as much info as you can.
 
I'm glad that Punjabi brought this up.
I had made a huge mistake by thinking that I can fix things in post back in few years ago. My white balance was a little bit off, and I didn't take it as a big deal because I thought my FCP could do all the magic, but it turned out that I cannot get the proper color, fresh looking footage no matter what I do.

My Advice is, never ever think about fixing it in post.
Unless they are very very minor changes, or something you can get away with by color correction and etc, throw "I'll fix it in post" out of you head.
Shooting is shooting, and if you can fix everything in post, why are there cinematographers, gaffers, and etc?
If something is off, it's always better to re-shoot with better settings on the spot, because you won't be able to play around much in post, unless you wanna spend a fortune and hire a whole bunch of 3D crew, which is not even going to get near what you've shot properly. :P
 
You have to be pretty much an insane perfectionist on set. Then when you get to post you'll be at least partly happy. But always use DV Rack + production monitor when shooting. Then you know what you're getting.

Also, good advice from ncje; you can save far more footage than you think with color correction. :thumbup:
 
Problems

Problems

The problems aren't HUGE...white balance was something I was pretty good at keeping in check. A lot of bad lighting I thought I could tone down (I don't know why/how I could be so stupid.) Now when I try I lose so much image quality my actors look like different people. In all its probably not as bad as I make it sound but after pouring over the computer for two straight nights trying to fix the un-fix-able its pretty easy to blow things out of proportion.
 
Yeah....me too but whatever works. J/K

Let me clarify:

That's when I'll be famous by. You're supposed to set clearly defined goals for success and that's one of mine. It's kind of pathetic in a forest gump sort of way but, on the other hand, it's working. It's something to work towards and kind of an ominous mile stone that keeps me pumping out films and scratching for work because I want to do everything I can before it comes so, even if it doesn't happen, it won't be cuz I didn't try. Like I said, pathetic, but works
 
you could write yourself that 1 million check and keep it in a safe place until you can actually cash it. That's what Jim Carrey did...not me though...um...yeah.
 
Check out what the Pro's say on www.2nd-unit.tv about fixing it in post. First they say O.M.G. do you know how much that will cost in post???? Second who is the D.P. and why isn't he/she doing there job!!!
 
I'd rather shoot it correctly and not have to worry about it in post. Making minor adjustments in post is fine, but correcting something that could have been taken care of while shooting seems to make more sense.

During our final project in school, the crew has worked together for a few years, except for the director who was new and his 'solution' was to fix it in post instead of taking the time to make the changes then and there. We ended up kicking him out of our group in the long run. It just put more work on the editor/compositors because of his 'fix it in post' attitude.

There used to be a poster hanging up at a printing company I worked at that said "If you don't have time to do it right the first time, when will you find time to fix it." I love that saying and it's something good to live by.
 
If you actually have an idea of what you're going to do in post before you even start shooting, and whether an in-camera/phsyical effect isn't preferable/doable...ain't nothin' wrong with doing it in post.

But using post as a solution to everything is stupid. We're not going to be able to replace the craft service goodies in post. That FCP 3-Way Color Corrector is only so versatile.
 
fix it in post

fix it in post

Punjabi said:
Just a little advice for my fellow newbys...I just finished my first big project and the most common thing said on my set was "fix it in post."
Click to expand...

OMG...I hear this statment uttered from every Director I have worked for. The statement is code for "The shot did not work out the way I wanted it and I have no idea how to make the shot work" :crybaby:

Well, having been around ... LOTS ... on sets I know that shots don't work because of inexperiance, lack of organization and no planning.

Sure, somethings will be fixed in post as part of making the scene. It is one thing to say, "we will fix it in post because we intened to" rather than try and cover up blunders with saying "we will fix it in post"...well most of us know what that means...it means the scene will get cut or cut around and our time was just wasted.

So please...if you or your crew is saying "we will fix it in post" way to often, stop everything and have a meeting, get organized, preplan your shots and perhaps look at your communications.
 
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