How To Make A Short Film. Part 3: Post-Production

Welcome back to the third instalment of our “How To Make A Short Film” series. We’ve previously covered pre-production and production, so you already know how to organise and shoot your film. Now it’s time to tackle post-production which, depending on your film’s budget and needs, may consist of the following steps:

• Backing up rushes
• Syncing Sound
• Editing
• Visual effects
• Audio post-productions
• Music
• Colour grading
• Final deliverables

Post-production is a really exciting part of the filmmaking process because you get to be surgical with so many different aspects of sound and picture. You may also get the opportunity to work with a variety of talented creatives such as composers, colourists, sound designers, editors, and so on.

We will explore each of the above stages, understanding best practices and the proper order of post-production, as well as some things you should keep in mind along the way. 

Buckle up ‘cause this one is going to be fun!

Backing Up Rushes

Probably the most obvious and overlooked part of the entire process. Be sure to have at least three copies of all your rushes on separate hard drives, so if one goes down you’ve got two spares. If something does happen to one of the drives, be sure to buy another and back everything up again so you always have three copies. The last thing you want is to lose your entire film! Fortunately I have never had this happen to me, but I do know people who have experienced this.

Just don’t risk it… please… for me.

If you can afford to have a DIT on set, they will do all of this for you on the day of the shoot. However, indie budgets don’t always allow for the luxury of a dedicated DIT, so a good idea would be to have an experienced 1st or 2nd AC that also knows how to back up rushes properly.

Once everything is backed up, you’re ready to start editing.

Syncing Sound

Before you can start cutting your film you need to sync the sound with the picture, assuming you recorded the sound to an external recorder. If you recorded straight into camera you can skip this step and get right into editing.

There are a number of different ways to sync sound which depends on how you set everything up on the shoot, and what NLE (editing software) you are using. If you used timecode then most NLE’s have really simple solutions to sync sound automatically for you. If you used a traditional clapperboard while filming, then you can either sync each clip manually or try some of the automated features in your NLE, provided you also recorded reference audio on your camera.

We won’t dive into too much detail about this here, but just be aware that you need to sync all your rushes before you can start editing.

Editing

Short film distribution is a topic we will be discussing more in Part 4 of the series, but all you really need to know before you start editing is what your intended output is for your film. Is it festivals? YouTube or Vimeo? A short film website? A proof-of-concept which you will be showing potential investors? Whatever your intended purpose is, it’s important to keep it in mind before you start editing so you can setup all your project files correctly. 

Once you have determined your correct project settings and synced all your sound, you can get stuck in. There are literally hundreds of different way to approach an edit, and the best one is the one that works for you. I don’t mean to be cliché but it really is true. 

Remember, a film is just a series of smaller scenes which, when stuck together, create a coherent story. When you realise this everything becomes ten times more manageable. Just focus on taking it one scene at a time, then you can connect them all later. The nice thing with this is you don’t have to edit in chronological order if you don’t want to. You can actually try some pretty cool and interesting things by starting somewhere later in the film, then trying to build up to that point.

One key piece of advice; don’t force the edit to perfectly match the original script. Things don’t always turn out exactly as you expected them to which is not necessarily a bad thing, it just means you need to understand what you can and can’t create with the rushes you have. Before you commit to an edit, watch your rushes through several times, understand them, and let them guide you.

Be prepared to change everything. The biggest favour you can do yourself is to be open-minded and not to become too attached to your first cut. In Martin Scorsese’s Masterclass he says, “If you don’t get physically ill seeing your first rough cut, something’s wrong”. He is absolutely right. You will have put so much time, effort, and money into your film that your first cut will never meet your expectations. I can’t remember single time I haven’t felt this way. The important thing is that you keep working on it and trying new things to take it to a level you don’t yet realise is possible. Even then, as good as it may become it will still be different to what you originally imagined during the script and development stages, and that’s okay.

Always ask for feedback on your edit. You will have become so familiar with your film to the point that obvious improvements will be hidden from you. You should aim to acquire feedback from an array of different people, too. Your on-set HOD’s are a great option here. Like you they know the story well, but they won’t know the rushes as fluently as you so they will each have a unique perspective. On the flip side, getting feedback from other filmmakers you respect that have zero knowledge of the story can be equally as invaluable. This is because they have no hidden agenda or previous influence. All they can do is take your film at face value as an audience member.

Before you can move onto any of the next stages, you MUST reach the stage we call “picture lock”. All this means is that you have reached the point where you will no longer make further edit revisions. This is an important decision to make not only for your own sanity, but to ensure that any work carried out in the sound design, colour grading, and music stages are not affected by edit changes later down the line. If you reach picture lock, pass your files on to the next stages of post-production and then change something, you will be extremely unpopular with your post-production team! It will cause a huge amount of work for you and everyone else involved. It will throw everything out of sync, and in many cases work will have to be completely redone. Once it’s locked, no more changes.

Visual Effects, Music & Audio Post-Production

This is where things can get a bit complicated because these three things can be done simultaneously. Typically this is the stage where the pace of progress drops right down. You will find yourself having to wait on different things such as your composer’s availability or the visual effects revisions before you can colour grade etc. It can be pretty frustrating, so make sure you have conversations with your post-production team early on so you can get it all booked in. 

Many indie projects won’t need VFX, but if yours does just be ready for a much longer post-production process. The good thing is you can be doing things simultaneously, so hopefully you can always avoid being at a standstill and waiting for someone to finish their work before moving on.

Music and sound should be very much integrated with each other. If you have the luxury of working with a separate composer and sound designer, then make sure all conversations relating to sound and music involve both of those people. You will be amazed at the difference this makes. I made a film several years ago called The Seditionist, which has a cool soundtrack and great sound design, but because I worked with the composer and sound designer individually you can sense some moments where the music and sound design are clashing. This is because occasionally they are both utilising similar frequency ranges, thus causing it to sound busy and muddy, or making the dialogue difficult to hear. This does not mean either one of them did a bad job. Quite the opposite, they both did an amazing job! This means that I, as a director, didn’t do a good job of integrating the entire post-sound team together to create a cohesive final mix.

Music composition, sound design, and dialogue editing can and should be done simultaneously, but the final mix itself must wait until these are all finished. The final mix does exactly what it says on the tin. It takes all the dialogue tracks, music tracks and sound effects tracks and mixes them all together so they are sitting at the right level in relation to each other. This is especially important if you’re going to be screening in cinemas or even online, because both outputs require different mixing techniques. Hiring a really experienced audio post-production specialist is key here, and will skyrocket your film’s production value. Feel free to check out the talented and friendly guys at 344 Audio; the company we use on all our films.

Colour Grading

Last but not definitely not least is colour grading. This doesn’t have to be last in the post-production process, especially if you don’t have any VFX deliverables to wait on, but having a graded film can be really useful for a composer and sound designer. Seeing the finished look of the film helps them fully understand its emotion and tone, and in many cases will influence the work that they do to create a more coherent finished product.

If you are working with visual effects, however, the chances are you will be waiting on them to be finished for quite a while due to the lengthy nature of the VFX process. If this is the case, I would recommend completing all the music and sound in the meantime so you’re being as efficient with your time as possible. Typically, colour grading is done after visual effects so that the colour of the VFX and the colour of the original shot can be matched and integrated together. This will deliver the most realistic results.

Colour grading is all about capturing the tone of the story, and will do all the heavy lifting when it comes to drawing your audience into a world that is believable. The emotion of each scene must be captured on set through the acting, lighting, camera movement, makeup and production design, but colour grading can elevate these to a whole new level.

Take a look at this shot below. It is fresh out of the camera, and as you can see we are given a dull, grey, desaturated image.

Now take a look at this next image. It’s the same shot, but I have applied a basic grade to it with some contrast and saturation. I have essentially made the shot look “natural” as it would have on the day.

This is already a significant improvement! There’s nothing wrong with this look, and in many cases this could be what you’re looking for. However, we need to take into account the context of this shot when considering our approach to colour grading.

This is a scene from Farewell Waltz, a period short film that follows the love story of an impoverished Jamaican immigrant and a wealthy English girl on the eve of World War II. This is the opening scene where they first lock eyes and fall in love. Here are some things we might want to consider:

• As this is a dreamy “falling in love” scene, we may want to try making it feel warm, bright and airy.
• The girl is dressed very elegantly and we can tell she is wealthy. The boy in this scene is the polar opposite; a farm boy wearing muddy, tattered clothes. Therefore, we may want to bring out some of those fancy colours from the girl’s attire, and push more neutral brown tones into the boy’s shot to highlight the dirt and blend him into his rural environment. This contrast would help the costume and makeup design in selling the idea that these two lovers are from different sides of life.
• As it’s a period film, we may want to emulate the look of old 16mm or 35mm film. The type of film stock we want to emulate may lead us to a high contrast image with punchy colours, or a low contrast image with lifted blacks.

These are just a few of many considerations when approaching a grade, and each film, each scene, and each story will call for a different approach. Taking the above ideas into account, here is one possible outcome for the grade of this shot:

Notice how I said that this is “one possible outcome”. There are infinite ways to grade a shot and, like most other aspects of filmmaking, it is completely subjective. There is no right or wrong way to do this, no hard and fast rules. You may completely disagree with my colour grading approach above and that’s totally fine. As long as you can justify why you’re making a creative decision, your ideas are valid.

Final Deliverables

And now we finally reach the moment we never thought we’d reach: deliverables! This is the point at which you export the film in different formats and sizes for your desired output. This is why we emphasised setting up our project files correctly at the start of the editing process.

If you’re exporting for the web or to show a specific individual or investor, then this is pretty straightforward. You probably only need two exports: one which is the highest quality possible and will be a large file size, such as ProRes 422 HQ or DNxHD, and one that is somewhat compressed but will be easy to transfer online, such as H264.

If you’re exporting for theatrical release and film festivals, there are some more things to consider. You should export the two previously mentioned versions, but you will also need a DCP or “digital cinema package”. A DCP is basically a collection of files that, when combined together, make up your film. It is the standard method for screening in cinemas that use digital projectors. DCP’s can be tricky to create and test so I’d recommend doing some research about this. If you’re taking your film around the festival circuit for an extended period of time, you will find yourself needing to export several more versions of the film. This is because some festivals require specific file types and sizes, such as keeping your film under 2GB, for example. Make sure you keep all your project files safe, backed up, and easily accessible so you can provide these files as and when you need to.

There are a couple of other things you might want to do some research on, such as the different colour space used for DCP’s that screen in cinemas (P3 colour space) versus regular online release (Rec 709 colour space). Similarly, using a regular stereo mix (where your sound only comes out of a left and right speaker) versus a 5.1 mix (where your sound comes out of all five speakers in a cinema to give a surround sound experience). These are not absolute necessities but if you want to give your audience the best experience possible as well as keep your film looking and sound consistent across all viewing platforms, then it may be worth looking into.

That’s A Wrap!

And with that, you have successfully completed your short movie! Now you’re allowed to hibernate for six months before returning to civilisation. Throughout this whole process you’ve probably been wondering why on earth anyone would put themselves through this. Don’t worry, this is how we all feel, but I bet you already can’t wait to get back on the horse and get working on your next project. Filmmaking is addictive and rewarding in so many ways.

Just a few final thoughts before we wrap up:

Make sure to leave plenty of budget for post-production. It may seem obvious but so many people forget how much time and money is required for it. It’s all well and good spending thousands on hiring a good crew, Hollywood camera equipment and amazing locations, but if you don’t give post-production the same consideration then all of it will be for nothing. You need to be able to take those rushes you captured and turn them into something magical, and you have a lot of tools at your disposal to help you do that.

Also, although I said you should ask people for feedback on your edit, you must take everyone’s feedback with a pinch of salt. People will do their best to help you but subconsciously they will have an agenda. For example, if you were to ask your cinematographer for feedback on the edit, they may say something like “This shot doesn’t really work here because we missed focus for a moment”. This is a totally valid suggestion, and if you have another take that fixes this then feel free to try it. However, what if this take was the best one as far as performance is concerned? Performance always comes first, so although their feedback is valid, you have to take it in context of the bigger picture.

My life motto is a quote from V for Vendetta which says, “Beneath this mask there is an idea… and ideas are bulletproof.” Your ideas are bulletproof. Don’t let anyone shatter them or tell you they’re stupid or wrong. Ultimately, as the director, your film is your baby and you should stand true to your vision throughout the whole process. Whenever I have done this the final result has always made me happy, rather than compromising on a hundred different things and not feeling like the film is truly my own.

Now that your film is complete, it’s time to show it to the world…