Post Production Workflow

The shoot is over. I'm still figuring out all the things I learned, and at some point I'll integrate it and write a short blog entry on the topic. But at the moment my energy is going towards getting ready for the next step: cutting the film. What follows is a synopsis of the post workflow for Found In Time It's based on things I've learned while making this film, my experience as post supervisor on previous features, and a lot of consultation with other folks. Many thanks to Josh Apter, head of Manhattan Edit Workshop, Creative Cow Magazine, and as always Ben Wolf.

Don't Just Start Cutting
The temptation is probably just to dig in and start cutting scenes together, using the camera master footage. This is almost always a mistake. First off, if you're the director, you have no perspective on the footage. I know I don't. Secondly, you need to organize both the "physical" files on the drive, giving them a proper reel name and folder to live in; and the names of the clips in your NLE. Thirdly, you need to set up a schedule - what you want, when you want it, and what the end goal is. Hopefully you've done this before you shot anything, and now you're just revising it to match your remaining money/schedule/expectations. But if not, now's a good time to set it up.

The Schedule
Take a BIG step back. Forget about the footage burning a hole on your hard drive. Think carefully: when can I realistically finish this film? What are the steps I need to take to get there? Who's going to do those steps?
At this point, post breaks down into nine BIG steps, that generally (though not always) follow the order below:

1. Backup, Transcoding, Logging. In an ideal world, this is happening on a daily basis. Every night the Assistant Editor takes the day's work (either on cards or drives), backs it up to another drive, then transcodes the footage to the editing format, usually while also logging it into the NLE.

2. Picture Cutting. The film is put together, reel by reel, by the editor.

3. Reshoots/Inserts/Additional Photography. You need it, you didn't get it. Now go get it.

4. F/X and Titles. As the film nears completion, visual effects artists go to work on the more complex material. In an ideal world, sequences are finalized in time for the online. In many cases, the online has to be pushed back until after the sound mix is done, to give the effects artists more time. Titles are usually done at this point (end credit crawls are often finalized only at the final output phase).

5. Online. The film selects (from the final cut) are retranscoded at the highest possible resolution/setting. The footage is color corrected, basic transitions (dissolves, fades) and effects work (taking out booms, minor tweaks, etc.) are done. F/X and titles are married to the locked picture.

6. Sound Editing. The dialog levels are evened out, and the "sound world" of the film created - effects, foley, music, voice-over, are inserted and brought together.

7. Music. The composer scores the final cut of the film (sometimes this happens during the editing process). Existing music is licensed (don't do this at home, kids! You don't have the budget. Trust me.). The music is premixed (ideally).

8. Mix. The various sound elements (dialog, effects, foley, music, ambiance) are brought together and leveled, to conform to both artistic and broadcast standards. The mixer creates final "bounce files."

9. Final Output. The conformed film is married to the bounce tracks, and the whole thing (all the reels) are output to the "final" master medium (tape or film).

So with this outline in hand, you have to figure out: who's going to be doing what (personnel)? With what tools (gear)? For how long (timeframe)? And what are the things each step requires (inputs) and what are the results (outputs)?

After doing some research, and thinking about what's worked best on previous low-budget films, I came up with the following chart [NOTE: I know Blogger doesn't want to format this correctly. I'm working on it]:

Num.	Step	Inputs	Personnel	Gear	Outputs
1	Transcoding Organizing bins Logging clips with scene/shot/take/other info	H.264 Clips on drive Sound WAV files on drive	Myself	Final Cut Canon5D FCP Plugin	Final Cut Project File w/bins Named ProRes LT clips in folders on drive Logging notes of some kind (database, spreadsheet, something)
2	Syncing	ProRes LT clips Audio files Final Cut Project	Me	Final Cut PluralEyes	Final Cut Project File w/bins
3	Script Notes	Final Cut Project Script	Me	Final Cut Pro	Lined script books with notes Binder with notes, sound reports, production reports, etc.
4	Picture Edit	Final Cut Project Binder Hard Drive	Editor	Final Cut Pro	Sequences in reels
5	Feedback Screenings	Rough or 2nd Cut on DVD	Editor, Me, Trusted friends	DVD projector	Notes for next cut
6	Reshoots/Inserts	Wish list of shots	Skeleton crew and cast	Basic camera/sound unit Props, set dressing	Video/audio footage
7	F/X and Titles	Final Cut Project F/X footage (shot on location) Add'l computer-generated footage	Ben Wolf Me Visual F/X Artist Editor (possibly)	Final Cut Pro Photoshop Motion After Effects(?)	Locked VFX sequences and titles
8	Transcode for Online	FCP sequences (reels) Camera master files	Me	Final Cut Pro 5DtoRGB tool	ProRes HQ (422) or ProRes 444 versions of selects only (clips that made the final cut) Notes
9	Conform	ProRes HQ clips Offline Final Cut Pro sequences (reels) VFX and title sequences	Me	Final Cut Pro	Final Cut Pro sequences, linked to ProRes HQ clips
10	Color Correction/Basic Compositing	Final Cut Pro sequences (reels) Notes	Colorist Ben (DP) Myself	Final Cut Pro Color Motion After Effects	Color corrected reels with all titles and effects in place
11	Prep for Sound Edit	Audio files Final Cut Reels (preferably color corrected, but at least the final conforms	Me	Final Cut Pro	Quicktimes for each reel per the sound designer/composer specs Sound tracks grouped per spec OMF files per reel Sound Design Notes in binder
12	Sound Design	OMF files, etc. as above	Sound Designer Foley Artist? Dialog Editor?	ProTools or other sound software Final Cut Pro	Stereo LTRT session files Possibly 5.1 session files
13	Music	Quicktimes and sound notes	Composer	Instruments Music mixing software	Soundtrack, broken into reels, premixed
14	Mix	Session files Quicktimes Soundtrack files (if not already part of session files)	Sound Designer Mixer(?)	ProTools Mixing hardware	Bounce tracks
15	Final Output	Blank HDCAM and Digibeta stock Final Cut reels Bounce tracks	Me Post House Editor Mixer?	Online suite	Projection master SD tape master DVD master (Quicktimes)

Some specifics:
1. We picked ProRes LT because it offers the best compromise between file size and quality. H.264 can be difficult to edit with natively - it's a long-GOP format, which means that Final Cut has to do a lot of math to reconstruct the frames at your edit points. This can cause machines to chug and drop frames during playback, which is not good. The whole long-GOP vs. i-frame discussion is beyond the scope of this article; but I'll dig up some good resources for you or talk about it more in-depth at some point.

ProRes LT is an i-frame format (individual frames are stored instead of groups of frames), but the file size is manageable.

2. Pluraleyes is a stand-alone program that can take clips in a Final Cut Pro sequence and line them up. Assuming you have camera audio, Pluraleyes can line up your separate-source audio files with your video (with camera sound) files.

3. I'm glossing over a lot of the sound post process (which could have its own diagram); I'll save that for another blog entry.

So now you've got a basic idea of what we'll be doing over the next few months. Future blogs will focus on the individual steps, with more specifics and how-tos. I'd go into more detail but this entry is getting pretty long as it is. Until next time then!