Post production is probably the most important and crucial stage of any project this is where all your hard work and planning from pre production and production comes to life. All the hard work on shoots where the crew work tirelessly to film the production mean nothing if the edit is not there to make it come to life, The editor is handed rushes that come unnamed, unmanaged and completelely untranscoded this is where the editors work begins.
The editing process adds story, pace and effects to your shots. Ultimately bringing your project to life. With the use of after effects you can make a simple shot look visually amazing by the use of animated text, effects osuch as fire, water, rotoscoping, slow motion aswell as changing the outlook and colour grading of the original shot.
The editing process is a long, tiring job and is usually done in an editing suite (unless you have your own) editors work tirelessly over a matter of months to bring the directors work to life , As an editor you are required to work on your own at times and into long hours of the night even though well pad this job can be tedious and repetetive but someone has to do it.
In the industry the main editing software that is used is Final cut pro (macs), adobe Premier Pro and avid extensive knowledge of these 3 softwares will give you an advantage when moving into the industry.
So here are the stages that bring together a final masterpiece these are your basics.
Once you have your shots you will need to transfer them from the SD Card to the computer in order for you to transcode them into an apple pro res 422 codec, The desired frames per second usually 25fps, and of course the compression this is a very important process without it you will find that your files will not work on the chosen edit software.
Once transcoded the next step would be for you to name each individual shot for effective file management the easiest way to do this is to name each file by shot type and location if there is no clapper board used then this is the easiest way I found whilst editing the music shows name of song and shot type was all that was needed for me to effectively manage my files without to much hassle.
Once you have your files named and organised the next step would be to import the files into the editing software I.e final cut this should include all shots you want to be used and plus any audio or music that will be accompanying the footage. You must ensure that the file types match for each shot this includes your sequence to be set at 1920x1080,25fps and apple pro res 422 if these file types are not consistent for each shot then you will encounter problems later on in your edit and will mean you will have to start from scratch.
Once this is all imported you are now ready to begin your edit and take the first steps to bringing your story to life.
There are different types of media I.e feature films, Music videos, Music shows, Adverts, Corporate videos, documentaries, tv shows and short films all which go through the same editing process,there are basic tools to use to edit your footage cutting in and out will be used in every single edit that you produce this ensures the correct section of footage is used and any unneccesary footage is avoided Keyframes, Cutaways, Text and splicing are also used to assist you with the editing process.
I have worked mainly on music shows this year which meant I had 5 or more cameras which I used on the shoot which meant I had 5 different shot types of each performance to edit together.
For a multi camera music shoot the first step would be for you to sync the footage from all the cameras that were used on the shoot this is to ensure that audio remains in sync throughout . They will be synced to the same start point I usually used the clapper board sound as personally I found this to be the easiest place to ensure that each camera starts from the same place and also the clapper board made a distinctive sound that was easily picked up by the cameras microphones.
This Job can be quite tedious and can be fiddly it will involve you using the cutting tool a lot to get rid of unwanted footage however this will make your edit simpler after this stage.
Once all the video is synced its now time to add the audio, Once inputted into the timeline if all cameras are synced correctly your audio will not need to be touched again. Before you start editing it may be wise to use markers this will help if you listen to the audio track only as it runs through the timeline you should add markers to the beat of the song so that when it comes to cutting the edit together you know exactly at what point to cut to another camera this will ultimately make your edit interesting and keep the audience focused the eyes are also a great way to enjoy music and if marked and cut correctly even the most basic editor could produce a final cut that is a masterpiece.
Youe now ready to enter the rough cut stage this is where the story can be constructed to a end product but you can still amend and adjust if not quite up to scratch for the final edit, The rough cut can be used to show the director, producer or members of your crew before gaining feedback and making the adequate changes to complete for the final cut.
It would be helpful if you had a story board to hand so that you know the directors hopes and targets for the project this can be used as a guideline for your story to keep it on track without the story board you may find it difficult to keep the story to the directors standards and expectations.
A final cut can then be produced after taking all feedback and asserting the necessary adjustments but before it can be a final edit is must go through colour grading or colour correction as it is also known.
Colour Correction is an important part of any edit as it can alter the look of your shots, An example of this would be if you had a scene in your edit that was a flashback you could change the original colour footgae into black and white to give it the effect differenciate between present day and the past this is used a lot in feature films a good example would be in 'American History X' where the film goes back and forth from the past to the present day through the films entirety this gives the audience a quick understanding of what is going on without leaving them confused therefore keeping them engaged which after all is what any director wants from his audience. You can also add a noisy or grainy look to your edit which for that proffessional look which is what you want from your final cut.
Magic bullet is a software package that we use in college and even though I find this tricky and is not one of my strong points I have seen how amazing the outcome can be on a final edit.
Colour correction can be difficult and also stressful which I have found in the latest project for music video, the DOP wanted to go for a blue/green look on the video which once colour graded did not work out aswell as we originally thought and after some feedback we had to alter the final cut.
If colour correction is spot on it can turn a basic edit into a professional industry standard project.
Once your final cut has been colour graded and improved you may want to run it through after effects to add any title screens especially if you are animating them or adding animated text.
When we worked on Documentaries we choose to use after effects to add our title screen, As our documentary was based on bullying my idea for the title sequence was to have written insukts appear on the screen and then letters from eachnword dropping or raising into the middle of the screen to make up the title of our documentary the letters then pulsated with a black shadow behind them, We then added a grungy background to add extra effect to it, in my opinion it started off the mood for our documentary by instantly captivating the audience with the voice over.
So now you have a final edit with titles, credits, colour grade and after effects once given the thumbs up from the director you are now ready to export your final cut, you need to export your editthis is where it once again compressed into the desired file format I.e MP4, .mov etc the desired format will depend on how you want to use or on what system it is to be used on I.e DVD, youtube.
The export can be a lengthy process ranging from minutes to hours feature films probably being the longest process.
Once the file is exported your edit is complete.
In conclusion editing is the most important process that your project will go through without it you would just have a collection of shots with no music, story or life. Imagine life without editing how boring would that be without it our eyes would not of seen greats like star wars or rocky our ears would never be able to listen to music and our brains never be able to engage in intellectual stimulation. The industry is wide and with so many opportunities out there editing is definatly a career for those who have the skills and patience to perform this role.after all the sweat blood and tears thare used up in the editing suite It eventually gives you a final product that can be used at your will wether it be for hobby, education or in the industry, Every sector of media uses the editing process from tv to film to newspaper to books. Everything media based that we watch, read or hear has been edited and every process is similair you eliminate the best from the poor you add colour and effects to make it come to life and you create a story that captivates the audience algthough it is a tough tiring process you will create something that once started out as just an idea you are literally creating magic from dust.
If I am honest I never quite took to editing I found it very tough and my brain just did not seem to engage I learn the basics of post production but there was so much more that I could of learnt if I just gave it a chance I believe there are 2 kinds of people those that can and those that wont I am gutted that I choose to be the wrong kind of person as a career in editing would have been a good path for me to go down but if I have learnt one thing from this is that I am definatly mindset in production rather than post production.
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