By Cassy van Eeden

With complex technical terminology such as ‘rotoscoping’, ‘colour grading’ and ‘VFX’, post-production may seem impossible to understand. However, that is far from the case. Post-production is, in fact, not as complex as it may seem.

What is post-production?

Essentially, post-production refers to any editing activities that take place after footage has been shot on a recording device (usually a camera).

As Charmaine Greyling, online artist at Upstairs Ludus, explains, post-production is the third piece of the filmmaking puzzle. First there is pre-production which involves conceptualising and planning the film. The second part is production, which refers to the shooting of the film. And then there is post-production, says Greyling.

“During post-production,” says Francois Stark, director of Postmasters, “we redefine a production’s raw footage and sound into a finished product, aimed at specific target audiences”.

Managing director of General Post, Kirsty Galliard, describes the job of people working in post-production as taking raw footage and making it into something that a viewer would be interested in watching.

What happens during post-production?

It can take months for just one second of footage to go through post-production. During post-production, there are several processes, which can be broken down into four stages: offline editing or VFX; online editing; final mix; and delivery.

Offline

Stark explains that the offline phase “entails cutting down the raw footage to get a video or film that conveys your message to your audience”. He argues: “This is the most important step in the post-production chain.”

“The offline editor goes through every single take and makes a selection of the best one[s],” says Greyling. “He then cuts the shorts together to tell a story.”

Online

Jacqui Pearson, executive producer and partner at Left, explains that the online process begins once the client or director approves of the offline edit.

“Online editing refers to anything that enhances or finishes a video,” explains Galliard. The online phase includes colour grading and adding visual effects (VFX) and motion graphics.

Colour grading involves manipulating colours so that they are enhanced or that they match a specific style.

Once grading is complete, visual effects (VFX) and motion graphics are added. A good example of VFX, argues Pearson, is crowd duplication. “To fill a stadium with thousands of people is way too costly, this then becomes a post-production task.”

Final mix

Once all the work in the online phase is completed, the video goes to final mix. “Final mix refers to the final mixing of the sound of your video,” says Galliard. “The final mix engineer will adjust the levels of the people who are speaking, add voice-overs if necessary and add music and sound effects to enhance your film.”

Delivery

The final phase of post-production is delivery. This is when the high quality format of the video is converted into delivery formats required by the client or broadcasters involved, says Stark.

As Galliard notes, post-production is the one thing that the media industry cannot forgo. Without it, we would just be watching endless batches of unedited, unattractive footage with very little meaning.

What is your understanding of post-production? Are there any other concepts that need explaining? Let us know in the comments below.