Filmmaking - Post Production
After you’ve shot your film, you'll need to figure out your
post-production strategy (ideally, you should figure all that out during
your pre-production budgeting phase, but lots of filmmakers choose to "get
it in the can" first and then figure out post later...)
- Where will you edit? By yourself at Home? At a post-house or
boutique? Maybe a freelance editor with his own system?
- What will you final format be? DVD? Beta-SP or Digi-Beta? HDCAM or
maybe a 35mm film print?
- What about Audio? Effects? Color Correction?
24 FPS
FAQ: DO I really need to edit in 24FPS?
ANSWER: Some filmmakers hope and pray that their movie will end up on
35mm. They hope that someone will see their film or they’ll get into
Sundance and then a distributor or an agent will pay for the 35mm Print.
This happens about 1 in 9806 times. Bottom line is, if you’re never realistically
going to end
up on 35mm, you don’t need to cut your film in 24FPS. If you think you
really have a chance, and/or you actually have the budget to go to film,
then yes, cut in 24.
There are 3 ways right now to end up on 35mm:
- You have your negative cut and make your print the old fashioned
optical way (Film shooters only). Go to
www.negativecutting.com for more
info.
- You go through a 2K or 4K film scanner and a Digital Intermediary
(DI). Go to www.efilm.com for more info.
- You go the low-budget way and contact
DVFILM in
Austin Texas, Who will transfer your film from virtually any
source (including Quicktime files on a hard drive!) directly to
35mm Film.
EDITORIAL
If you are not planning on finishing on film, you are setting your film
up for a straight-to-DVD release.
Most distribution companies will need a master of your film on Digi-Beta
(NTSC). They will also need a Digi-Beta or Beta-SP copy with an Music &
Effect mix (M&E mix). HDCAM is becoming an option for delivery and will
eventually replace Digi-Beta as the primary delivery format.
Costs are much lower for turnkey uncompressed or even HD systems today.
It can become cost effective to buy a turnkey Film-editor with the
appropriate hardware and then rent-in the decks when you need to output your
master.
Turnkey System for Finishing on Digi-Beta
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- Dual Processor Apple G5 Workstation
- Final Cut Studio
- AJA I/O Break-out-box
- Uncompressed Storage from Dulce, Sonnet, Caldigit, Ciprico, G-Tech
- NTSC Color Monitor (Panasonic BT-LH2600)
- Dual Computer Displays
Turnkey System for Finishing on BetaSP
- Dual Processor HP Workstation
- Avid Xpress Pro
- Avid Mojo Break-out-Box or "DNA"
- Uncompressed storage from Dulce, Sonnet, Caldigit, Ciprico, G-Tech
- NTSC Color Monitor (PVM20L2)
- Dual Computer Displays
These Solutions will cost you between $10-20K depending on storage
requirements and monitors.
Contact
Filmmaking for a quote to meet your specific
needs.
Turnkey Solution for Finishing on HDCAM or D5-HD
- Dual Processor G5 Workstation
- Final Cut Pro Studio
- AJA KONA2 with KBOX
- Storage from Dulce, Sonnet, Caldigit, Ciprico, G-Tech
- HD Capable Reference Monitor (Panasonic BT-LH2600 is recommended)
- 23" or 30" Apple Cinema Displays
The HD Finishing solution will cost between $15k-$25K
Additional items to consider for your workstation:
- Graphics and Compositing Software: Shake, Combustion, or After
Effects
- 3D Graphics and modeling
 Software: 3D Studio Max, Maya
- Audio Software for Mastering your mix: Pro Tools LE MBOX or Digi 002
w/ DV Tool Kit.
- Panasonic DMR-6070 DVD Burner with Firewire and 160GB storage for
quick DVD dubs
- DV VTR for ingest and editing.
- PANASONIC AJ-HD1200A – For I/O of DVCPROHD, for HD Backups of your
Project and for upconverting to 1080 with Panasonic HD-D5
- SONY HVR-M10U – Sony HDV VTR for HDV ingest and backup.
- AJA – HD10A – Mini-converter for HD Component to HD-SDI. Useful for
converting 4:2:0 HDV footage into DVCPRO HD (or other online HD codec)
and thus preserving 4:2:2 color space. Can only be used with the KONA 3
or Other HD-SDI input such as the Avid Adrenaline HD.
OFFLINE / ONLINE Approach
Another common way to do it is to "offline" the film yourself. Edit at
home in an offline resolution (usually DV25 or Photo-JPEG) and create and
EDL to take to a post house or a boutique shop with the hardware to
appropriately finish or "on-line" your piece to a Video master.
The Post-House can also be used to sweeten your audio mix and create
titles and graphics for you. Your best advantage for using a post-house is
Color Correction. Most filmmakers are not professional color correctors
and the tools that FCP and Avid Xpress Pro offer are nothing compared to a
professional who does nothing but color correct film and video (often with
high end gear from Da Vinci, Discreet or with an Avid Symphony)
Contact a local company in your area, two in DFW to consider are
POST ASYLUM and
Video Post and Transfer
.
BUILD YOUR OWN COLOR CORRECTION SUITE
If you think you have the chops to do your own color correction, and
know that you are limited with internal NLE options, your next step is to
get a system based on Apple's
FINAL TOUCH.
Final Touch will run on a G5 in either SD, HD or 2K. It works with EDL's
from Avid or XML's from Final Cut Pro.
Recommended System:
- Final Touch SD, HD or 2K
- Dual/Quad Processor G5 w/ 4GB RAM
- Two 23" Apple Cinema Displays
- AJA or Blackmagic Card for Video output
- Sony BVM Monitor or ECinema LCD Reference Monitor
- Xsan 2 or Ciprico 4210 Fibre Raid
- Final Cut Pro (for media ingest, export)
- Tangent
Color Panels
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