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Post production
Post production refers to everything that happens after you finish shooting:
• Transfer of the rushes to VHS with timecodes
• Transcription of interviews (with timecodes in the margins)
• Translation and subtitling
• Voice overs and foreign language dubbing
• Paper edit (to get the structure right and to know which bits
of which tapes to digitise)
• Edit decision list (EDL) – a list (sometimes digital) of
all the IN and OUT timecodes and tape number of the clips to be digitized
• Footage digitising
• Offline (rough) edit – often done at a lower resolution
in video facilities houses, but with newer desktop systems taking in footage
at top resolution, there is less differentiation between on and off-line
these days
• Rostrum filming (or scanning) for still images
• Laying down of music tracks and other sounds
• Titling
• Computer generated images (CGI), special effects, 3D graphics,
After Effects work
• The final sound edit (sometimes called the sound dub)
• The final online edit (online suites in professional facilities
studios are very expensive – around £100/hr with editor) hence
the move to newer desktop systems like Final Cut Pro (see below) where
it can all be done from home!
• Final mix-down to master tape and sub-master and archiving of
the project including the digital video edit project on the computer.
In short, post production is everything up to the time that a master video is produced.
Editing and the direction of an edit are both very skilled jobs and require
training. You can find out more in the Training Links section. You can
also try out the BBC
online post production training course.
EDITING SYSTEMS - there are a number of well known editing
systems:
• The simplest to use is probably Apple’s iMovies
– free with all new Apple computers. The new high definition (HD)
version is also part of the iLife
family of programmes available from Apple suppliers.
• Final Cut Pro is the choice of the new media
production professional. Again, it’s an Apple programme so it only
works on their computers and it is not a cheap option, though it is much
cheaper than the other professional option of an Avid Suite!
• For PC and Mac users there’s a free downloadable version
of the famous Avid digital video compositing system – Avid
Free DV
for hi-spec machines only.
• Also for both PCs and Macs is the well-known Adobe Premiere,
part of Adobe’s
video collection which includes Photoshop and After Effects –
also priceless tools though not easy to use. Premiere
Pro is cheaper than Final Cut Pro while Premiere
Lite retails at under £60, so good if your on a low budget and
lack the power/storage capacity to run Avid Free DV (see above).
SOUND EDITING AND MIXING
As most of the above digital video compositing packages described
above have limited sound editing and mixing tools, you may wish to process
sound in a separate sound editing package. There are hundreds of free
ones you can download off the web, but if you want to use what the pros
use then think about getting hold of WaveLab, Cool Edit Pro or Sound Forge.
You will find tutorials to help you with them on the web – just
search for e.g. “Cool Edit Pro Tutorials” under Google and
loads of sites come up! The BBC has
tutorials online taking you from the basics of Cool Edit Pro through
editing, multitrack packaging, mixing down and housekeeping.
MUSIC
Any music used needs clearance for all specific uses –
both publishing and recording copyright needs to be cleared. For more
information on mechanical (automated) methods of doing this, contact the
Mechanical Copyright Protection Society
(MCPS).
The Community Channel offers guidance on music rights on its website.
Often the cheapest option is to use Library Music. If you use music from one of your favourite artistes you are better off contacting the artiste’s record company to sort publishing and recording rights as doing that the mechanical way will not elicit any discounts that you might be able to persuade through direct contact.
All contributors that give an interview (excluding vox pops) or a verbal performance, such as a presenter, should sign a release form which should cover their contribution for use in all the ways you envisage it being used.
If you are clearing rights for a UK-only video but you also intend to stream the video on the web, you actually need to clear global rights.
Remember to keep all contracts and legal documents after the project has finished.