4.2 Mastery Journal: Month 10 – Film Production Thesis III (Post-Production)
Making a short film is like baking a pie—an incredibly difficult, yet hopefully, tasty pie. Step one is pre-production: acquire and organize funds and utensils. Step two is production: use the tools and ingredients gathered, and follow the recipe (script) as closely as possible. And step three is post-production: put the mixed ingredients together and place into the oven. It’s safe to say that I was really looking forward to step three. Pre-production and production were very difficult and rewarding parts of my degree program, but post-production is where I can finally see the hard work put together into a coherent story. Apart from seeing the thesis film come together, I was truly looking forward to learning concepts and technical skills that will better my future films and projects.
Editing has always been one of my favorite parts of the filmmaking process. I’m a sound and music guy, so I think that picture editing pairs well. Like milk and pie (sorry, no more talk of pie. I think I’m just hungry). Having primarily experienced the director’s chair in the past, I’ve always tried to picture the film as an editor. My films haven’t always come out exactly how I pictured them, but thinking this way has always seemed to help me during production, as well as for post.
Thinking strictly as an editor is a rather different way of thinking. It takes a certain set of skills to put films together—a lot of times thinking of creative ways to tell the story, which not even the director pictured. It’s like being given a puzzle, in which almost every piece is connectable. A puzzle like that requires a very specific kind of eye. And in order to be successful as an editor, it’s very important to keep storytelling at the forefront of the process. Learning the importance of storytelling was one of the best things that I learned this past month. It seems like a no-brainer, but when editing a film it’s very easy to put things like continuity and composition first. While those are incredibly important aspects with which to focus, the story is always key. At the very least, this is how I feel the editing process should be tackled.
When I looked forward to post-production, during my first month of this program, I made a short list of what I expected to learn this month. My first expectation was to know how to apply filmmaking concepts to film creation. I believe that this is something that I’ve actually learned throughout the past ten months and not necessarily within this past month, alone. However, like I had been saying, the storytelling aspect is what is most important to making a great film. And well after the film is shot, the story should be at the forefront. My second expectation was to acquire a great understanding of specific roles in the filmmaking process. Again, this is something that I’ve been learning throughout the program. Yet, it is very important to understand who does what, especially during the post-production process. For smaller project, people tend to take on many different roles. But in larger productions, it’s very important to know everyone’s jobs in order to assure the best possible workflow, particularly during post. My final expectation was to have a better understanding of the theory and methodologies behind filmmaking. This is something that is very important to focus on during every step of the filmmaking process. And I will say it one last time, storytelling is most important when putting a film together. But knowing how and why things are done the way that they are is crucial to know. Not just knowing how to do something, but knowing why it is done that way is what I learned this past month. I absolutely feel that I met my goals for this course.