The New Reality: Part One
Remote Post Production
Covid-19 Has Changed Everything For Us All – Especially For The Film and Video Industry. So What Next…
The COVID-19 Pandemic has thrown the entire world into disarray at a time when things were looking very positive for many of us in the film and video post and production industry. Right now, half way through May 2020, we have been locked away for many weeks with little to look forward to but the crashing global economy that will follow. But we have always been a group that has terrific drive, out of the box thinking and a mastery of all things technological… so how do we get existing productions finished and new programs made in this brave new reality?
Obviously, every production is different – but they can all be split into pre-production, asset production and post-production. This blog deals with the area we concentrate on – post. Essentially this includes editing, moving graphics, audio, music, color grading and mastering. Part Two will talk about the possibilities for asset creation and remote working, while remote pre-production has been an everyday reality for many years now and doesn’t need to be talked about.
With my Producer/Director hat on I think that it is fair to say that once I stopped having to lug around 1″ and Betacam tape reels, I can count the number of programs where I have spent every minute of the post process sitting next to the post specialist on three fingers. On most gigs I’d be there at the start of the project, when creative decisions had to be made; when it was time to review an edit or grade progress several times a day; and as the process came towards an end and the big picture view was needed. I don’t have time to sit there through every process, for 9 hours a day, every day, for weeks on end and watch tweaks and hours of rendering – and most projects could never sustain that sort of cost.
But now? In this new reality I can’t travel safely, I don’t want to stay in hotels, I don’t want to be in a room full of people, and I certainly don’t want to sit 6 inches from anyone else! But does any Producer, Director or DP actually need to be physically there during the post process?
If I have to record a voiceover with an actor in London I don’t fly there for an hour to do it, I find a reputable and professional sound studio near to the talent, talk with them before the session about the tone and style I want, and then participate on a phone or an internet link where I can hear clearly. They then send me a file of the recording and I listen to it on my own sound system before giving a final okay or taking another run at the recording after passing on a few notes/changes.
Given a choice, of course I’d rather be there in person, and maybe I would get a slightly better result that way – but if I have a good sound engineer/producer and we are on the same page, then I’m quite happy to accept this compromise versus 20 hours on a plane and recording with jet lag. Most people are.