What is post-production?

Post-production is what happens after you have shot the film, and includes everything from editing to colour grading, sound design to special effects.

What are the five stages of post-production?

According to Adobe, the post-production process can be broken down into the following five stages:

Log your raw footage. This isn’t the most creative of jobs, but it’s essential for the editing process. You’ll need to log all of your footage and then ensure it is saved and clearly labelled to avoid confusion as you edit.
Assemble footage. Go through all of your footage and delete what isn’t usable, whether that is because a line was dropped by an actor, or because there’s a reflection of your cameraman in the mirror. Then gather all your good footage and place it in an ordered timeline.
Edit a rough cut. Choose final takes of each scene, clean up your timeline and put it all together in a rough edit. This is also the time to bring in the sound team or sound editor, who can re-record any voice acting which needs to be clearer, add sound effects and compose music.
Fine cut. At this stage, you should tightening up the different elements of your rough cut and finalising the shape of the film. This is also a moment to make sure that each bit of footage sits well with what is around it and that there are no obvious mistakes, like a hairstyle that changes between one camera angle to the next.
Final cut. Now you have a film, it’s time to make it sing. Here you’ll do everything from colour correcting and grading to motion graphics and visual effects work. This is the space to really think about your vision for the film and what aesthetic you’d like it to have. Think about the genre you are working in and the impact you want your film to have on the viewer.

Depending on the size of your team, you’ll want to get feedback on a regular basis as you go through this process. It’ll be much easier to make large structural changes to your film during the rough cut stage, for example, so factoring in some time to be given and to take on feedback then could really help your project.

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