Best Workflow for full feature movie

[Steffen Baermann]

Dear all,

we just finished shooting a full feature movie filmed on Red Epic Dragon and Red Scarlet MX (mostly on Red Scarlet). I am now thinking of post production and am wondering, what is the best workflow for editing it. Idea is to finish it in 4K.

We have 8TB of Raw-Material.

I would not want to use FCPX due to the limited sound support, so the options are :

- AVID
- Adobe
- Sony Vegas


The system needs to support : slow-motion, neat video (grainy video) ....

Thanks

Steffen

 

[Nick Pasquariello]

"Best" workflow? We can give you some cliff notes, but really, you should find someone you can sit down and talk it out with. "Best" depends on specifically what kind of project, specifically what personalities will be involved with the editing and finishing, specifically what gear and budget is available, and specifically where it is intended to be displayed.

 

[Marc Wielage]

we just finished shooting a full feature movie filmed on Red Epic Dragon and Red Scarlet MX (mostly on Red Scarlet). I am now thinking of post production and am wondering, what is the best workflow for editing it. Idea is to finish it in 4K.

Gee, now is a little late to be figuring out workflow if you're almost finished shooting the film. How have you been watching dailies?

Avid Media Composer is a very fully-featured editing program that pretty much will do anything you throw at it -- particularly version 8.3 -- but there's a steep learning curve. I would consider hiring an editor who already knows the program and have them start getting all the footage organized, sync up all the audio, and decide if you want to cut with lower-res proxies or cut with 4K material. Bear in mind every major Hollywood film of the last 5-10 years has been cut with low-res proxies and then conformed in the final process.

Resolve is a terrific mastering tool with good noise reduction, but wait until you cut the movie before deciding how little or how much noise reduction to use. Pablo, Mistika, Baselight, Nucoda... all of them also have good conforming tools and good noise reduction as well, but again, there's a steep learning curve plus don't forget the need for a calibrated monitor. You don't necessarily have to color correct in 4K to deliver 4K.

You should also hire a post supervisor and sit down to determine what your delivery requirements will be with your distributor. They may have specific needs for content & ratings limitations, running time, aspect ratios, sound mixes, and many other technical requirements that you'll need to carefully follow in order for the film to be accepted for theaters and/or home video.

 

[MichaelP]

Hire and editor based on their editing skills, ability to work with the director, understands and can bring experience to the material, etc. Then you will know which system to use based on their preference. I would not want my editor struggling with a system they were not familiar with when they should be working on the story, arcs, performances and things to support the creative goals of the film. And as Marc mentions, a post super that can navigate the post process with proper turnovers to sound and picture finish as well as all the required deliverables.