The Process of Film Making

Once the film is fully shot, the footage will need to be placed in chronological order to tell the story. Editing the footage together means a lengthy process will ensue, but ultimately resulting in the desired final product. The director will share the vision of the film to a hired editor, and may even assist with the edit. The editor will get a copy of a script, copies of the footage, and piece it all together to make the script come to life. The editor will watch through the footage, import it all to their computer to edit, and begin bit by bit with the story. An important aspect to make note of, the editor cannot necessarily edit the story however they see fit; the editor must usually adapt to the director’s storytelling style and incorporate their vision into the editing process. Meaning for the editor, updates to the director on overall progress, rough cuts allowing the director to give their input on the direction of the edit, and music suggestions to accompany certain scenes. If desired, sending certain footage off to other film editors or animators to achieve special effects will need to happen. Pacing the events in a film truly poses the more challenging aspect to a film editor. Once the story is roughly pieced together, the editor must commit more hours watching through scenes, fine tuning hundreds of clips to pace each scene just right. That way it serves to build up the pace of the film in accordance to the stages of the film’s story. Even once the director gives approval on an entire rough cut of the film, much more work still must occur before arriving at the final product. Two of the more important processes include color grading and sound design. Color grading adds flavor to the footage and contributes to the sty...

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...he story mark the beginning phases throughout the films creation. Once preparations take place, the shooting of the film can occur and bring alive the vision for the film. When all scenes are shot, the footage must now get pieced together to chronologically convey the story. Putting the footage together, pacing it, color grading, and sound design all highlight the necessary editing steps. When the film gets approved by the director and producers, it can then reach the final stages of deliverance. Marketing for the film, and distributing it through a movie theatre, DVD or Blu-Ray disc, or even online will ensure the film will get viewed by the intended audience. In the end, the purpose of film making serves to share a vision of someone’s story on a large scale, and while involving much work, the resulting standing ovations please directors and all involved with film.