Step by Step Post Production?

Zblock

Zblock

Well-known member
Hey guys I really need some help here. Please leave your input.
So I finished shooting a feature a few months ago... took some time away to do the kavadba roadtrip (www.kavadba.com) and now I'm back making the trailer and editing the film together.

Simply put my question is... What? and in What ORDER should I go about my post production from film clips (audio is already synced) to scene editing, to full film cut to sound design to color correction, to music, to sound levels to Export????

So i'm using Adobe Premiere. Edit first... export to what to do sound design?

I think I would have saved a big headache by asking this question before I started. Please help.
 
Ask the people you are collaborating with what format they want these things in as there are multiple ways to skin a cat.


-Andrew
 
You are asking a question on a forum, that most filmmakers spend YEARS learning. Best thing you could do right now probably is hire an experience post-production supervisor and pay them what they are worth.

Have you done any shorts? What was your process on those?
 
Yeah I did shorts but the work flow was soooo much smaller on them that I couldn't go wrong. Now I've got minutes of unusable sound versus seconds and every step I complete seems to confuse the process even more. For instance I did color correction too soon and now my timeline is slow. I added music too soon so now I can't cut my trailer correctly hahah. Ooooh it's frustrating.

It's scripted.
 
Yea, that's a mess....

I haven't cut any scripted features, but I have worked with long projects. My current short I am about to start cutting has 17 days of footage. Pretty big for a short, but there were a LOT of takes, and it will trim way down.

My general method for working in post is:

1. Review script and story boards
2. Match up production sound and sync sound, then lock that together.
3. Cut to the story board
4. Review and see if elements need moving around.
5. Do basic color correction to get footage to match.
6. Screen movie, take notes, get input.
7. Do any ADR and put that in if required
8. Add temp music
9. Re-screen
10. Tighten cuts, try to get picture lock
11. After picture lock get film scored
12. Work on final color
13. Do final assembly
14. Screen
15. Tweak until happy then release.

You say you did color correction too early and your timeline is slow. I haven't used Premiere, but I know in Avid, basic color correction is real time. I see zero timeline performance hit. Or did you grade it, using complex filters and plug-ins?

Regarding cutting your trailer, can't you just mute the music track? Then you can cut with dialog only, and add music later.
 
Zblock said:
Yeah I did shorts but the work flow was soooo much smaller on them that I couldn't go wrong. Now I've got minutes of unusable sound versus seconds and every step I complete seems to confuse the process even more. For instance I did color correction too soon and now my timeline is slow. I added music too soon so now I can't cut my trailer correctly hahah. Ooooh it's frustrating.

It's scripted.
Click to expand...

Number one - picture needs to be locked before even thinking about editing sound. Music is very late in the process as it has to fit around the dialog which in turn has to be cut to picture. Why does having music in the body of the film have any effect on cutting the trailer? You DO have the music on a separate track, do you not? Mute it or remove it. You don't need to cut the trailer from a copy of your edited film anyway - go back to the originals that were used in the film. Surely you saved them intact.
 
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Do to all the complex edits (slow mo's, speed ups, cc, titles, transistions) the timeline is very slow. So to compensate I exported all my scenes individually so I could string those together. Thats where I feel the mistakes were made.

A few more specific questions,
1. Do you edit the entire film on one timeline or is it appropriate to edit by scene and then combine said scenes?
2. What programs do you guys use for sound design and mixing. What file can I export my movie to that will still keep all the separate sound files specifically for this reason?

Yes of course I've got all my original data. The files I'm working with right now are exported so the music and SX are on the same track.
 
1. What type of video files are you working with? What type of system are you editing them on? Do you have enough horsepower to do a long form project with the files? CPU, RAM, RAID setup... If your timeline isn't playing back properly with FX and transitions applied your system is hampering you from the start. Are you having problems even if you render the timeline out and than playback? We were using outdated dual core machines, and they were giving us fits. Recently upgraded to a AMD 6 core machine and it flys. Slow downs are history... Using Edius 5.5 it has realtime playback with up to 4 layers with some effects and transitions.

2. Organization, organization... I mainly do 99% long form projects 90 mintues and above. My current project has over 4000 clips, compositions, photos etc. The first thing I do is organize everything and put all the materials in one main folder location. Than everything is categorized and put into sub folders for easy access.

3. I would start with only doing a rough cut first. No FX, no transitions, no color correcting. Just make some notes as you go along when you have an idea. Tell the story first add the FX later. Color correcting is one of the last things that I do.

4. Work in sequences rather than on one whole timeline. Break the show down into acts or parts etc. You'll thank yourself as the project gets longer and more complicated, and you need to move things around. Especially if you have spots with special effects and such... You can easily pull the sequences to a master timeline for the show and arrange them as you wish. This is how I work and it works well for me.
 
Thanks Tommy, That was exactly one of the reasons I made a whole bunch of sequences because with soooo many files things just got to cluttered. You have to move one piece and you risk messing up hours of work.

I'm editing on Premiere Pro and have a little under 2000 clips to tie together.

:) Makin' Movies

I didn't organize first because I was too excited to get into the editing. Now I regret it.
 
I edit all in one timeline and do my sound mix in my NLE, Vegas. A trick I used on my last movie, which had a lot of similar effects as yours, was to render an SD version of the movie and add that to the top video track of the timeline while working on the sound. When you're ready for the final render, turn that track off and you're good to go.
 
I'll be the first one to say... if you want this film to have any potential... hire an editor.

It takes years to learn the structure of a narrative film. I've shot at least 4 feature lenght films that could potentially be decent C maybe even B film... They got cut by the director and nobody bother to watch those disasters. Even recently i worked on 2 projects (well produced shorts) that got ruined by director's editing... Just because you know Final Cut, Avid or Premiere inside out does not make you an editor.

(BTW, i'm not an editor so i have nothing to gain by telling you to spend thousands of dollars to get your film edited)
 
LMAO, Dude, Im going through the same exact thing right now. coincidently enough, I PM'd Richard yesterday regarding the same info. He made a very good point in terms of cutting clips seperatly, that way, if you need to go back and tweak it you can easier. Then just copy and paste the clips in on the final timeline. Good luck with your post. keep us informed on how it's going. thanks
 
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