Post-Production — The Sixth Stage in
the Seven-Stage Process of
Filmmaking
The making of a film can be a lot like putting together a puzzle. All the pieces and stages of filmmaking have to come together perfectly. If even a single detail is out of place, the process and the success of the movie can be delayed or thrown off. Gathering the pieces is the easier task. Strategizing how to piece them together is the challenging part.
In this seven-part blog series on filmmaking, we’ve been breaking down the stages of film production and what it takes to take an idea into the development of a major motion picture that will captivate audiences and impress critics alike.
So far, we’ve covered:
1. Development
2. Pre-Production
3. Production
4. Photography
5. Wrap
6. Post-production
7. Distribution
In the first few blogs, we covered what it takes to create a great film. We’ve dissected the tried-and-true process that includes early script development to shooting actual footage. In those blogs you will find a detailed overview of how an idea turns into a script in the development stage to the moment cameras begin rolling in production and tearing down the set when the director calls it a wrap!
This sixth blog in the filmmaking series details what goes on in post-production. This is where the different components of the film are pieced together, fitting each aspect nicely into the other to visually depict the film’s entire storyline.
Post-Production is the grand master of filmmaking. Raw footage alone is not enough to break the box office. In this stage of filmmaking all the footage that was filmed during production is ready to be edited and transformed. Post-Production is a delicate stage in filmmaking and relies on a carefully selected team of skilled editors and can be broken down into five intricate steps:
1. Editing the Content
2. Sound Editing and Music
3. Visual Effects
4. Sound Mixing
5. Color Grading
Editing
The post-production editor gets to work their magic during editing. This is what truly begins to sync the movie together chronologically. Generally, they begin by reading the script and reviewing the raw footage to create a plan for editing (cutting) the film.
The Chopping Block
Editing is essentially a chopping block when it comes to film production. As the post-production editor sifts through the footage, they determine what scenes stay and which go, creating a first rough draft of the film. Post-production editing is more complicated than it may sound on paper and is never finalized in a single go-around. The process often takes several attempts and can last anywhere from weeks to months.
There will be lots of footage that goes unused as well as b-roll that will not be used. This is a normal aspect of the editing process. Some scenes are shot several times, some are never used, and some are parts of different takes spliced together to create one scene.
Sound Editing
Once a final proposed draft of the film is edited and approved, it’s handed off to the next member of the editing team: the sound editor.
Who doesn’t love a good soundtrack, hearing one of our favorite songs, or discovering new music from a film? Sound editing is more than adding in the background music. It involves filtering background noise, adding in voice overs, dialogue enhancements, and other sound effects, too.
A critical component of the sound editing stage involves editing background noise. There are a lot of things happening on a set during production that cameras inevitably pick up. Before the sound editor can decipher what needs added or redone during editing, they have to eliminate all the noise and hear it clearly for the first time.
When a movie is filmed and spliced together later there can be discrepancies or inconsistencies in the dialogue so it is pieced together to align with the story line. This could mean that sometimes if the original voice is not clear, they may need to recreate the voice altogether and reinsert it into the film.
Then come the sound effects. A movie needs some umph to really make the audience emotionally experience the scene. A crowd gasping, the whistle of a train in the distance, the buzz of an alarm clock. All of these sound effects add an emotional element to the story.
Now that the soundtrack music is selected, background noise is filtered out, and the dialogue aligns, we are ready to move onto the next stage which is adding the visual effects.
Computer Generated
That umph we talked about when it comes to sound effects can also be applied to visual effects. Stunts and scenes where a huge explosion occurs or a building is demolished can quickly break a film’s budget, so they are typically created in a studio.
Artists and engineers work together to create computer generated images and mini versions of stunts that can be manipulated into life size scenes. A lot of these are due to expenses, as mentioned, or are simply considered too dangerous to accomplish in reality. When that is the case, they are completed in front of a green screen and then brought to using visual effects.
Now that music, dialogue and visual effects have been applied and added to the film footage, we have a film that creates a story. The auditory facets are incorporated and polished to create a cohesive auditory experience. This brings us to Sound Mixing.
Sound Mixing and Color Grading
When watching a movie, we want to be able to hear the conversation over the background noise or music. A sound engineer works to adjust audio levels and blend the noises. This is called sound mixing. It creates an audible experience for the viewer by executing a complete and cohesive scene.
Then, the final step in post-production is color grading. Color grading is the final step in putting the finishing touches on the film.
During this step of the editing process the color editor goes through the film frame by frame and adjusts the colors to create the mood that needs to be depicted to execute the perfect scene.
When the scene calls for a dreary day, or a dark moment, the computer editor turns down the color tones to generate this effect. This is how consistency is created throughout the film and the storyline is delivered for maximum viewing.
Filmmaking is a complicated and detailed oriented process with seven stages that need to be executed with precision to create a successful movie. Post-production is a vital stage of filmmaking. Raw footage is transformed using the techniques we covered here, creating a cohesive film that aligns with the director’s vision and delivers a well-rounded visual experience to viewers.
Now that we have created a film, let’s see how it goes from project to the big screen.
Make sure to catch next month’s blog and see how a film is packaged and distributed. To learn more about ritestream and how our media ecosystem in Web3 is transforming the creation, monetization and consumption of film & tv content via Blockchain and NFTs visit ritestream.io.
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