Post-Production

This is another area that's overlooked. Good "post" can save an ailing project. The editor is the director's best friend, in my opinion. Bad editing is jarring to the senses and confuses the storyline. Good editing is nearly invisible, but leads the audience through the story like a pace car, bringing clarity and efficiency to your final product. Sound editing and musical score are also extremely important aspects of post. If you've ever watched something with a crappy soundtrack or poor sound, you'll know that the audio element of a film is nearly as important as the visual.

These things cost money. Renting an editing suite, sound stage and hiring post staff are all fairly expensive unless you know the right people. The cost gets exponentially higher when you start fiddling with effects, CGI (computer effects and animation) or ADR. About a fifth of our budget was spent on post, and we got everything on the cheap and shot on digital! I have a friend who's an editor and had access to an editing suite, plus I did the sound in my home studio. I estimate that without those advantages, post-production would have doubled our initial costs. When shooting on film the lab costs make up a fair chunk of the post budget as well. The IFC can find some good deals on film stock and lab services. We didn't have to shop for those, so I can't offer any more help on it.

Hopefully you had these things lined up in pre-production like I suggested so there are no surprises. We had to schedule our editing time on-the-fly because we weren't paying full price, but once again the more organized you are from the get-go the more smoothly everything runs. I'll be looking out for more resources for finding post facilities, crewmembers, equipment and everything else you need to make a film or TV project work. The links to the left should give you a good headstart. Check back often for new links and more tips...

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