Presentation given for Second Light Tech Lab in Liverpool, 19th June 2012. Covers what post-production is, and how to get the most out of it. For more information, see http://www.surrealroad.com

1. THE STAGES
of Post-Production

2. ACQUISITION
• Digital camera footage
• Film scanning (?)
• Videotape (?)
• Digital audio
• Photographs? Documents? Screenshots?

3. LOGGING
• Essential for efficient production
• Where’s my stuff ?
• Discover “happy accidents”
• Boring! :(

4. EDITING
• “Offline” editing
• Make or break a production
• Highly creative process
• Highly technical process…?

5. CONFORMING
• “Online” editing
• Difficult jigsaw puzzle
• Numerical process (EDLs, reel numbers, frame numbers)
• Single frames make all the difference
• Transitions

6. VISUAL EFFECTS
• Expensive? (No!)
• But… time-consuming*!
• Time = money = can you afford either?
• *Some skill/experience required (probably)

7. COLOUR CORRECTION

8. COLOUR CORRECTION

9. MASTERING
• Digital cinema?
• Blu-ray?
• DVD?
• YouTube?
• Mobile phone?
• Film…?

10. IT’S NOT THAT DIFFICULT
• You can use any of these techniques right now
• Regardless of budget
• Do you have a laptop? (iPads don’t count)

11. POST-PRODUCTION
for Production

12. DIGITAL CINEMA CAMERAS
• “Super” high definition
• Glorified phone cameras
• Lenses more important than body
• Flash memory cards (please buy them!)
• Watch the footage! (But later…)

13. DIGITAL IMAGE TECHNICIAN
• Responsible for footage coming off the camera
• Stores the footage securely
• Complicated procedures?
• Checks the quality?
• Logging?

14. LOGGING (ON-SET)
• Script supervisor?
• Anyone at all taking notes?
• Streamline with software?
• synaesthesia.surrealroad.com

15. COLOUR CORRECTION
(ON-SET)
• Makes the DoP happy
• Necessary?
• Look-up tables (LUTs)

16. VISUAL EFFECTS
CONSIDERATIONS
• Chroma key (aka Blue/Green screen)
• Tracking markers
• Lighting!
• Logging!
• 3D

17. “FIX IT IN POST”
• No.
• Really no.
• (If you have to).