“That’s a wrap!!’ yells the Director. That’s it, the very last scene of your video is shot and the project is done. The crew celebrates with laughs and high fives while the editor stands from afar, watching them, knowing that the project is definitely not done. In fact, it’s only just begun.

Post-production can be a daunting task. There can be hundreds, even thousands of clips to organize and sift through before you even start cutting and piecing together the 1st cut.

But truthfully, the editing happens way before the post stage, it usually happens during pre-production.

From here, we can hash out all the intricacies of your edit through the scripting and storyboarding process. It's possible (and important) to really hammer down the mood, pacing, sound, and even the music— well, maybe the music— at least we can cut down the time needed to search for it! Knowing all of this from the beginning of the project sets the stage for the editor and even the client so there are no surprises when it comes down to that first viewing.

Workflow is key to finishing your project on-time and on-budget. It’s taken us some time and a few hit and misses to really find a definitive process that we could use on almost every project. What’s great about it is that it’s totally malleable, it can be changed for different projects and different needs, but the basis of it is that it starts us off in the right direction and helps us know where we are at every stage of the edit.

Cineflair’s “Workable” Post-Production Workflow:

• Ingest

• Organize/Bin

• Create Proxies* (A must for us to be able to work quickly)

• Create a String-out sequence

• Create a Selects sequence

• Rough Cut

• Internal review

• 1st Cut for client review

• 2nd Cut (Including sound and colour)

• Final Cut

• Mastering Sound and Colour

• Final “nod of approval” from client

• Final Export

• Beers, Bourbon, or Mezcal ;)

This process works for us and our many projects we have on the go, but as we grow and our needs change, so will this workflow. What’s important is that the structure of this keeps everybody on our team rowing in the same direction and when the client asks about their video we can relay to them the exact stage it’s in limiting the number of revisions and surprises that could arise during the viewing of the video.

If you want to learn more about what’s going on in the post-production realm of the industry, Jonny Elwyn has a great site and blog about everything post related. He is a freelance film editor and writer from the UK and handles everything from on-set rushes, offline editorial work, to sound mixing and colour grading.

So when the director yells “that’s a wrap” and you see the crew celebrating, the editor can get in there! There is nothing to worry about— no more unorganized footage, no more hours lost searching for that song… (a guy can dream). With electronic bins that are labelled and colour coordinated, the process is streamlined! 

Now all the editor has to worry about is when “Jimmy” comes over says:

Image from fstoppers.com