Evaluation - Post-Production

March 28, 2017 Unknown 0 Comments

Post production is the final processes during film production. These processes include everything that is completed after the filming process – usually including the editing of the footage to the final film. Post production finalises the product, and is usually the lengthiest and most time-consuming section. Films that require extensive use of CGI (computer generated imagery), visual effects, green screen and animation will need more time to edit to create a more realistic and immersive film.

My A2 production film trailer is for a sci-fi and adventure film, and therefore requires a multitude of visual elements that are convention in that genre. This included CGI robots, spaceships, portals, cities and shots from space. During the post-production process for my trailer, I used a handful of programs to create these visuals. The programmes included Photoshop, After Effects, Cinema 4D and Premiere Pro. Almost all the visual effects were made in Cinema 4D and edited in After Effects; this was a video composition programme which means it layers all the clips to create a shot with many visual elements. After adding the visual effects and CGI to all the clips that were required, I used the video editing programme, Adobe Premiere Pro, to edit all the footage together to create the trailer.

The image above is a screen shot of the editing timeline for my film trailer production in Premiere Pro. The use of different ladled layers in the editing timeline for Premiere Pro makes the editing process easier because any clips and sound effects that need tweaking can be located easily.

The ‘Video 1’ track contains all the footage and edited clips with CGI. Above the ‘Video 1’ track layer, there is an adjustment layer names ‘CC & CG’. This stands for ‘Colour Correction & Colour Grading’. I used this adjustment layer to colour the colours in the image by using effects such as ‘levels’, ‘RGB & Lama Curves’. This made colours in all the footage equal, and flat meaning it was easier to colour grade. Colour grading is the process of adjusting the colours in a clip to represent a different mood or feeling. In my AS Production for a 2-minute opening, I researched and analysed the use of colour correction and colour grading (HERE - http://shonamshahig321.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/color-correction-grading-tutorials.html). I’ve bought over these skills from my previous production into this project, and had helped me achieve a specific feel to the film.

Conventionally, sci-fi and adventure films contain teal blue and orange colour scheme – such as in Zach Snyder’s, Man of Steel, and Michael Bay’s, Transformers. I used this adjustment layer to add this teal blue and orange colour scheme, as well as a bit of contrast to make the colour more vibrant. On-top of the adjustment layer, I’ve added a grain layer, which adds grain to the final image. This simulated what it will look if the film was shot on film rather than digital. The grain only adds a small effect however I chose to include it to make my trailer seem more realistic and conform the conventions of film.
Below are examples of before and after images of the edited footage. Image on the left is the edited footage, and the image on the right is the edited footage with colour correction, grading and a film grain layer overplayed over the image.

Sound

The use of sound is also important therefore it required a lot of attention during post production. In my trailer, I used a combination of sound effects, voice overs and soundtracks to conform to the sci-fi and adventure genre. These genres usually contain orchestral soundtracks so I chose similar background pieces to conform to the genre. From the image of my Premiere Pro timeline, I used many audio effects and tracks to try to conform to the genre. Nearly all audio clip contains an effect. The most prominent is the use of an ‘content gain’ and an ‘exponential fade’. The ‘content gain’ is added to the beginning of an audio clip and is used to raise the volume of the audio from -∞ to a volume that is suitable. The ‘exponential fade’ does the opposite - fading the audio out to nothing. In the audio tracks, soundtrack 3 and Voice Overs, I used Volume key framed to change the volume level of the audio through time. This means I can have the audio start off suddenly loud then face it down, and then bring it back up at the end.

From the image of the sound in the timeline, some of the sound clips are shown with a green, [fx], box which indicates an effect has been applied to it. The voice overs contain a small echo effect, as well as a small bass boost effect. This is conventional in sci-fi film, where the voice overs are made to echo slightly, and is the reason why I chose to use this effect in some of the audio.