What is Post-Production? - Peerspace

The editing process

The editor is there for their ability to piece a story together and recognize how to get its message across most effectively. A film can be rewritten in the editing process — that is how much power a good editor has. Editors are hired through an agency, or they may work in studio. But usually, experienced directors have editors they like to work with. Editors work on software such as AVID, Final Cut Pro, or Adobe Premiere.

The editing process takes many cuts to get it down to what the audience sees. However, there are four key parts in the process:

The assembly cut

This is when the editor creates a movie using what they believe to be the best takes, often having different coverage of the same line in a sequence. This cut has no music or effects of any kind. It is quite long for an actual movie, but the director needs it to have clarity on what’s working. The director chooses between takes the editor is unsure of, determining if there are any pickup shots or reshoots needed.

The rough cut

This is the cut of the movie once the director has made notes on what they saw in the assembly. This version is trimmed down to an appropriate length. It’s also where the music gets added and the sound fixed up.

The fine cut

The fine cut is the one presented to producers, studio heads, and friends to get feedback. In this cut, rough visual effects might be added, with music finalized, sound presentable, and any Automated Dialog Replacement (ADR) included.

The picture lock

Picture lock is the stage when no major changes happen to the edit, especially regarding the film’s timing. This version goes to composers, VFX artists, and colorists to put the finishing touches to the film.

Adding sound and music

What you hear during a film has a great impact on the story told on screen. The sound editing happens congruently with the video editing, and comprises three parts: dialog editing, sound design, and Automated Dialog Replacement (ADR).

Dialog editing

This sort of editing happens first, and it involves picking out the best audio takes and placing them into the video. This also means cleaning up any odd noises in the background and the peaking of audio, as well as making sure everything is clear.

Sound design and composition

Sound designers collect all the “wild sounds,” or sounds recorded separately on set, then start placing them throughout the video. Any audio that sounds odd when paired with the image gets replaced or recorded as foley sounds.

Foley artists record a crisp track of a sound recreation — it could be footsteps on gravel, paper crumpling, or a hit to the head. Sound designers are also responsible for creating the feel of another world. They add the magic coming from wands or the alien spaceship’s foreign beep-bops.

The composing of music comes after the picture lock. The director will talk to the composer about the story prior to picture lock so that they have an understanding of what the goal is. If the director wants a licensed song in the film, they go to the music supervisor to secure the rights to use the song.

Automated Dialog Replacement (ADR)

ADR are lines re-recorded by the actors if they flubbed them. You can also use them when there are line rewrites or if the director desires a different performance for the story to work. The footage plays in front of the actor to help them match up their lines with the footage.

At the very end, after all those steps, the sound needs to be mixed. This is the key distinction between sound editing and sound mixing. Sound editing is the process of getting the movie to the end. Sound mixing is the end.

The rerecording mixer takes all the sound elements and balances all the audio levels. This is important so that the music isn’t battling with the dialog or a loud sound effect doesn’t scare an audience unintentionally.

More fun production facts: discover what a script supervisor does!