Taking care of your post production needs.

POST PRODUCTION TIPS:  Building Your Communication HUB  By: Roberto Cardinas When the director shouts “That’s a wrap!”, it’s only just the beginning for the post production team. Post has a ton of moving parts and deliverables that need to happen efficiently and on time, so it the project can stay on budget. The best way to make sure this happens is to have a solid communications plan and tracking method in place. Here’s a breakdown of the key ingredients of your hub: Deliverables Schedule It’s a tedious job, but someone’s got to create a calendar of ALL of the tasks and deliverables for the project. Every scene, every sound mix, every visual effect, every graphic, every…you get the picture. Be meticulous, be all-encompassing, and be  realistic  about the timeframes needed to get each task accomplished. Roles & Responsibilities Make sure to assign a team member to each task, so you know who is responsible for its forward progress. It is a...

POST PRODUCTION TIPS:  PROTECTING YOUR ASSETS  By Michael French You’ve got your footage, a unique vision, and the right people and equipment in place to bring your project together. Well, you may have overlooked a critical component of post-production. No one wants your project compromised due to a lack of security and protection, so make sure to get the right security protocol in place as well. Below is a list of 15 key measures you should take to protect your assets while in post. 1.   Designate one team member with the appropriate knowledge/capabilities to take responsibility for ensuring security of the project. 2.   Implement an effective process for secure asset management, transportation, tracking, storage, recall, destruction, and incident management. 3.   Document your security protocol and pass it to everyone engaged in the project, including remote locations and third parties. Foster discussion at the beginning of their inv...

Post-Production Tips: Lower Thirds  10 Do's, 10 Don'ts  By: Michael French  Attention to detail is a must for every service we provide at 16:9 Post. So, we thought we would dig deep into detail on one of the details of post-production…lower thirds.  Whether it’s film, tv, or digital, here are 10 Do’s and 10 Don’ts to ensure your lower thirds add to your story without distracting from it. DO: 1.      Use a lower third when a person’s identity would not be known without seeing their info in text. 2.      Use a lower third when you need more information than visuals and sound provide to complete the story. 3.      Base your lower third graphics on the style of other graphics already used in the project. 4.      Ensure that there is ample contrast between the lower third and the background. 5.      Choose colors that complement the c...

Post-Production – Trailers That Deliver  12 Tips for Success  By: Roberto Cardenas Your project may be Oscar-worthy, but without an attention-grabbing trailer you won’t have an audience. So, take in a few tips for building out a trailer that will bring in the crowds. 1.      Seek out the “defining moment.”  What is the moment in the movie that demonstrates the film’s logline? That moment of purpose, the dialogue that cuts to the core, the instant conflict begins…get to the point of what drives the film. 2.      Tell a story.  Remember that the trailer is a narrative, just like the film – albeit abridged. Viewers need to understand the story, not just the “vibe” of the film. Have a through line and a three-act structure, in which you introduce characters, the situation, the inciting event, and their struggles into resolution…but don’t show the resolution! That’s just not cool, man. #spoileralert 3. ...

POST-PRODUCTION TIPS: Smooth Sounds  By: Michael French One thing we have found is “picture perfect” isn’t always top priority. If you have to pick between a cut with good audio and a cut with good picture, go with the audio. Yes, in an ideal world, you want your picture to be beautiful. But viewers can be forgiving in that area…and can chalk up blurry or shaky shots to artistic choice. They will, however, lose patience and bail if they can’t make out what your actors are saying.  What happens if your only audio choice is not ideal? First, think twice before hiring that sound guy again (just kidding…it’s not always their fault…but then again, sometimes it is  🤨 ). Then, take a look at these three tips for smoothing out your sound. Put Ambient Sound To Work – Sometimes you have audio recorded in different locations, or with different mics, that you want to use in the same scene. In all likelihood, they will have different ambient sound in the background...