I love post-production – there, it just had to be said – because it’s where the film or video project really happens, in one giant multimedia jigsaw!  It’s where you get to throw away all of the plans, storyboards and scripts and ask one simple question – what have we actually got in the digital can to work with?

Then you start to build, change, rearrange, fine tune and test every possibility until you hit just the right storyline, performance and outcome.

…that goes through the test cuts, the rough cuts, and the final rough cut with an offline editor.  Then it’s passed to the online or finishing editor to further fine tune and refine, adding in graphics, effects, titles and credits, with a much wider pallette to work from, and finally to the colorist to perfect the visuals. In the meantime the soundtrack comes together with the selection of test music and effects. From there it goes on to a composer, foley studio and/or sound studio to put together the full soundtrack.  Then it’s touched up and has the mix tweaked to picture in sound sweetening.  Then finally the colorist combines final images and sound and masters the film.

Of course, if you have just a little bit of a multiple personality disorder life is even better, because then – like myself – you get to take the offline editor, online editor and the colorist roles, each of which really does need a different hat to provide the necessary perspective… but it’s one pair of eyes and one brief on the entire post project, which offers huge advantages all round.

Unlike the shoot, with it’s many variables, exhaustion fueled craziness and instant decisions, post is a simple linear progression with enough time to think about what is being done… and there is fresh coffee right next to you 24 hours a day!