Step 6: Post-Production
Post-Production involves every step after primary filming, editing and correction0, reshoots, marketing, ect. The process of reshooting is simple enough in concept (though perhaps not in actual process) that we can skip that one. In a similar fashion, marketing is something so intangible that there is very little that can be explained about it. Which leaves editing and correction.

Editing serves two purposed. First, the logistics of production often make it impossible to film in sequence. And even in the extremely rare case where a story is filmed in order, there are still numerous takes and unnecessary footage between the good shots. Thus, editing serves to eliminate this unwanted footage and to place the events in a coherent order (I can hear you now saying, "Duh!") Second, even simple actions take up a great deal of time on film. Think about if for a second. Imagine a sequence of a person getting dressed. In real life this process takes as a minim five minutes. Five minutes in the course of the human life is insignificant, but five minutes in the course of a two hour movie is a horrendous amount of time to spend on meaningless action. If that same person pulled clothes out of a closet and in the next shot walked into the kitchen, the obvious conclusion the audience will make is said person got dressed. Thus editing can serve to eliminate tedious and unnecessary footage so that the audience may focus on the story. Editing can also serve to create. The human eye, when viewing a scene does not remain stationary. Watch two people talking, your eye will jump from person to person to watch speech or gauge reaction. You’ll find it extremely difficult to watch both at the same time and you could end up cross-eyed so I wouldn’t suggest it. Editing also serves to mimic this action of selective viewing. When a conversation between two people is put on film, it is filmed (usually) by switching back and forth between the characters to again, watch speech or gauge reaction. The natural switching back and forth is unobtrusive because in reality, you do it all the time. Thus editing serves to place shots into a coherent storyline, eliminate unnecessary footage, and create better flow.

Editing can also have a very important impact through artistic applications. An example of this is rhythm. An example of this would be a fight sequence. As the two enemies approach each other, the shots are long, keeping the pace slow. As tension builds, the shots become shorter, building energy. When the fight begins the shots become short and fast, lending the scene energy which the audience in turn interprets. Finally, one fighter falls to the ground and the shots become long again. The energy of the scene drops and the audience relaxes. The editing of shots created a rhythm which heightened the power of the scene.

Other examples of techniques in which the editing serves more interesting purposes are parallel editing and montage. Parallel editing is a technique in two separate scenes are shown to take place at the same time. To do this, the editor cuts the two scenes together switching from one to the other. This is often used in scenes where the character is racing against time, such as the bomb’s clock counting down as the character tries to get out of the building. A montage sequence is another technique in which extremely short shots are edited together in quick succession to create general emotion.

Editing is not the entirety of post-production however. Once the picture is edited into its final narrative form, there are hundreds of tiny elements that need to be tweaked. Occasionally, different light schemes will produce different colors between shots, the differences are always slight, however, they need to be corrected to create continuity between shots. This process is called color-correction. Titles and credits, a key part to any movie, are also designed and added. Also at this stage any computer generated effects are added to footage, though in truth this will happen before the scene is edited. While these visual components are polished, the audio portions of the film are tweaked elsewhere. Very rarely are the audio components you hear in the theater the sounds recorded during footage. Audio is recorded onto a separate track, which is kept in time with the footage via a sync machine (this is so your movie doesn’t end up looking like a cheap dubbing job). The microphones used to record the actors voices are extremely precise in their range, they pick up sound only from the air immediately in front of the actor. This keeps the voice quality as high possible. Later on, background is added in when it can be adjusted to suitable levels. So if two characters are walking amidst a midnight orchard replete with singing nightbirds, the dialogue is really the only noise recorded at the time. The other noises, the crickets, nightbirds and the wind, are either recorded at the same location or elsewhere and then added in so that the night wildlife only adds to the mood of the scene, rather than drowning out the speech of the characters.

In a low budget perspective, it is often possible to plug an external mic into your camera, this mic can then either be placed on a boom to pick up their voices and it can be hidden within the scene (but only if the characters aren’t moving). The additional background noise can be recorded and added in later using a two-channel mixer.

The final step of making the movie is to show it. The key factor to remember here is to show to it to an audience you believe matches the film. If you make a documentary film about wildlife in your area, most teenagers will not like it, on the other hand, the local chapter of environmentalists or nature enthusiasts would probably enjoy watching it. By avoiding groups that would turn the film down simply for its genre, you are well on your way to making films that an audience can enjoy.

So there you have it, the basic outline of the filmmaking process. Hope it gave you some new insights, or tips, or maybe just passed the time. :)


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