The lap dance of post production is exciting because it’s never the same twice and you really never know how good or bad it’s going to be each time.
You’ve seen what you filmed happening on location, but once you move into post production you really see what you filmed.
It is one of the most exciting and also anxious times for me as an independent entertainment producer.
I’ve been through post production and it never stops being an interesting part of producing entertainment for distribution.
I’m sitting there in chair looking at everything filmed in its raw natural form. All the flaws and imperfections filmed are right there in front of your face.
The other side of the coin is along with the flaws and imperfections filmed during production are the beautiful takes and scenes you were able to film.
It’s nice when you smile watching a raw untouched scene knowing that post production is going to make it even look better for viewers.
In the entertainment business I believe what matters is you give viewers the most bang for their buck. Shake your creative money maker so to speak.
I know I have a creative soul that needs to be feed too, but I try to produce entertainment for viewers first.
If I really just wanted to produce entertainment for myself I wouldn’t waste people’s precious time and money.
I would grab a camera and shoot a home movie and watch it by myself not thinking of post production, movie distribution or movie viewers.
You really get to learn a lot about yourself as an entertainment producer when you get tested in post production.
From talking to other independent entertainment producers post production is where projects die the most.
Some of the common reasons I’ve heard firsthand are producers run out of money (post production is something you need to budget for big time), try to make a project too perfect (indecision on the cuts), it just won’t cut together (scenes are garbage) or producers get nervous about releasing their product to viewers.
Post production is humbling and tests you every step of the way as an independent movie producer. The lap dance of post production from a producer’s eyes can be good or bad.
It is where your entertainment project is made good enough for distribution to viewers or never makes it out of there. Post production can also be nice.
When you’re cutting a movie with people that truly believe and trust in the project it seems to work out great. Egos in the editing room disappear and the post production team seems to work seamless.
You look at whatever type of entertainment you’re producing on the cutting timeline and make the cuts viewers want to see. Overthinking in post production kills projects and underestimating the cost of post production kills projects.
Even the worst produced entertainment seen by viewers and panned by critics beats the hell out entertainment that never makes it out of post production and is never seen by viewers.
Unfinished projects that don’t find distribution are hard to deal with. I always take advice from producers that have lots more experience and IMDB credits than me. They’ve earned their place.
I still remember my first lap dance of post production. I was nervous, excited and wondering what the hell I was going to see on the editing timeline.
There were flaws and imperfections. I was also very thankful I had an old school mentor on board that helped out in post production looking at it all. Mentor had been through post production on many shows.
Next time I was in post production I was able to take their advice and make the entertainment better by working with people that trusted and believed in the project and not just people there collecting an hourly rate to cover their overhead.
In my experience if you end up having to work with people you really don’t know in post production keep an eye out for inflated costs. It could save your project from going unseen. This indie filmmaker Sid Kali typing FADE OUT
