Unlike a live performance such as a play where you get to witness a single, unbroken performance, a video performance is almost always a sampling of many performances or "takes" that are invisibly stitched together and made to appear seamless. This is great because it means that if the actor (or "talent" as I'll refer to them from here on out) does an amazing job on one section of the script but flubs in another area, you don't have to throw out the entire performance, but rather you can pick and choose the best bits and then do another reading to get the section you may have missed. So if you are fortunate enough to have some really good talent in front of the camera, don't sweat it if they miss a line here or there. We can fix that in post, no problem!
Let me clarify: there are small things that can be done to improve a bad performance, but in most cases, if the talent just stinks overall, there is no miracle cure that your faithful editor can conjure up that will suddenly make that performance powerful and memorable. Choosing talent, especially for interviews when you are usually dealing with non-actors, is a tricky hurdle to get over, but it is absolutely imperative that you remember that post-production cannot turn a monotone bore into a thrilling storyteller. Choose your talent carefully.
Background noise is a lot easier to remove than most people realize. For the audio editor, isolating the specific audio frequencies that contain the offending noise and then removing those frequencies is routine practice and not something to fret about on set. Of course, every situation is different so I don't want anyone to think that the following examples are always fixable, all of the time. But generally if you've got a bit of:
...then you shouldn't be too worried. Of course, eliminating background noise on-set (such as unplugging the fridge) is always helpful and appreciated, but post-production people understand that this isn't always possible. On the other hand...
Soft crowd chatter is one thing, but if you are interviewing somebody at the Superbowl and the crowd is going wild and the talent is having to shout to hear her own voice, I'm sorry, but no amount of expert audio engineering will be able to make it sound like she's inside of a closet. Ditto for train horns blasting, rockets roaring, etc. Cicadas are another prime offender because they are loud, irritating, and their screeches are always slightly changing so you can't ever seem to remove them by removing a small fraction of the frequencies. They have a way of oscillating across the spectrum and ruining everybody's day.
Along the same lines, while it is beyond easy to add echo and reverb to a voice in post-production, removing those effects is basically impossible. So if you're shooting in a tunnel or a cathedral and you don't want the talent's voice to be bouncing off every surface, don't expect the sound mixers to pull off any miracles for you. You'll need to fix that problem on set.
For example: if there's a bit of shaking in your footage, we can stabilize some of that in post. It won't look as good as using something like the MōVI, but small bumps and jostles can be smoothed out easily, especially when you're shooting in 4K or 5K as we do. Having extra high-resolution footage allows us to zoom in and correct issues without losing any final resolution.
Color correction is another crucial part of the post-production process where, in addition to making creative "looks" for the project, you can also fix minor slip ups on set, such as overexposure and underexposure. The RAW capabilities of cameras like the Red Epic give colorists even more leeway to adjust settings that weren't quite nailed during production. So don't fret if the color doesn't seem quite right or the camerawork gets a little too shaky towards the end of the day when the operator's arms were wearing out.
Accidentally deleted one of your media cards before you were able to back it up? Sorry. That's called "having a dreadful day". Overexposed totally beyond recognition? That's an amateur cameraman problem that not even a brilliant colorist can remedy. Or perhaps you want your Blair Witch Project shaky-cam footage to look like a silky Steadicam masterpiece? I've got bad news for you.
The verdict here is: you don't need to get it perfect, but it does need to be in the right ballpark.
There is a spectrum to everything discussed here. Obviously, every situation is different and no two problems will ever be exactly the same. But hopefully this article has given you a little perspective on the kinds of things you can expect to be able to fix later.
As bad as it is when productions skim over problems that really ought to be corrected in the moment, an equal kind of travesty occurs when valuable production time is squandered trying to repair or prevent a problem that could be remedied much easier later on in the process.
Want to learn more about post-production? Check out my article about why it pays to have a professional editor putting your content together!
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