Post-Production Lingo

General Terms

Post-production - Any production process that comes after the initial recording.

• Includes: Picture editing, sound editing, music, VFX, titles, credits etc.

Data wrangling - The process of copying audio and visual media from your acquisition cards onto a server or drive.

• Ensuring the media has copied over in full and properly is extremely important.

Edit - The result or process of transferring desired segments from shot footage into a sequence.

Codec - Standing for “Compression Decompression”, it is the method used to write your video and audio into a file. The codec most commonly used on Premiere Pro when exporting at Curtin is H.264.

Continuity - Ensuring a logical succession of the project, and keeping all necessary elements of the scene consistent. e.g. Positioning of characters & progression of time.

• Continuity whilst shooting is important in ensuring effective continuity in post-production.

Montage - A series of seperate, often juxtaposing shots that are edited together to create a sequence. They allow filmmakers to show much more over a shorter time. They can also be used to intertwine multiple storylines.

• Commonly used techniques used in a montage include: Music, quick cuts, voiceovers, no dialogue & repeated camera movements.

Rough Cut - Early edit of footage, where the approximate sequence is establish. Rough cuts are essentially drafts of the edit that aim towards the final product.

Timecode - Sequence of discrete numeric codes given to each frame of a video. This makes time accurate editing and synchronisation possible.

Raw Footage - Original, unedited footage that hasn’t been modified.

Computer/ Software Related

Aspect ratio - The ratio of an image’s width to its height.

• 16:9 is the standard aspect ratio for HD video.

fps (Frames per second) - The standard for measuring the rate of video playback.

• Anything 15fps or lower can appear jerky to a viewer.

• 25 fps is the most commonly used at Curtin.

Render - The process of generating a final video product, utilising all the different applied elements. E.g. video footage, sound effects, digital effects, transitions and graphics.

Timeline - Interface that lays out footage in a linear fashion.

Scrub - Moving the playhead across the timeline. Scrubbing is a quick way to navigate across a file.

Slide - Moving a clip in the timeline, whilst the surrounding clips automatically accommodate to the change.

Ripple edit - Automatic movement of a clip in the timeline in relation to an inserted or deleted clip. This is effectively used to close gaps on the timeline.

Dropped frames - Missing frames that are lost through digitising or capturing video.

Letterbox - Preserves original aspect ratio of the footage, by adding black bars to the top and bottom.

‘Fix it in Post’ & VFX

CGI ('Computer-generated imagery') - Using imaging software to create a still or animated visual.

VFX ('Visual Effects') - Imagery is either manipulated or created outside of the live-action shoot. It often uses a combination of CGI and live-action footage to create imagery that is realistic.

Compositing - Combining seperate sources, to create a single image. Multiple visuals are layered, often to give the illusion of a single scene.

• Associated terms include ‘chroma keying’, ‘blue screen’ & ‘green screen’.

Mask - Secludes a certain area of an image so that changes can be applied to only that area.

• Track mask - follows a moving subject.

Keyframes - Start and end points for animated effects.

Transitions & Cuts

Transition - Visual changes that allow the editor to move from one shot to the next.

Cut/ Hard cut - Going from one shot to the next without a transition. This is used all the time.

• E.g. Two characters having a conversation - shot, cut, reverse shot.

Cutaway - When you ‘cut way' from the main action in a scene to see a supporting shot. This shot is used to reinforce the main shot.

Cut-in - Cutting from wide shot to close-up.

J Cut - When the sound of a shot or scene starts before the associated vision.

L Cut - When the sound of a shot or scene continues after the associated vision.

Match Cut - Using elements from one shot or scene to transition to the next.

• Graphic match cuts - when the visual composition of one shot matches the visual composition of the following shot

• Match on action - when the action of one shot matches the continuation of a similar action in the following shot.

• Sound bridge - When the audio in one scene matches that of a similar audio in the following scene.

Jump Cut - A cut that breaks a single shot up, with bits removed to create the effect of jumping in time. They are not seamless and often draw attention to themselves. Effectively used in montages and to show passage in time.

Invisible Cut - Intended to hide the fact that a cut has occurred. This makes the film appear to be only ‘one-shot’.

• A good example of this is Alfred Hitchcock’s film Rope.

Crosscut - Going back and forth between two shots, suggesting the two actions are happening simultaneously in the story. This is not easy to accomplish effectively in post-production unless previously planned and shot with the intention to do in the edit.

• Christopher Nolan’s work often uses cross-cutting in a powerful way (e.g. The Dark Knight).

Cross-fade - One clip fades in, as the other simultaneously fades out.

Fade - Shot dissolves to or from black. Many films begin with a ‘Fade in’ and end with a ‘Fade out’.

• When using a ‘fade out’ to close out a scene, be cautious as the audience may think the story is over.

Wash - Similar to a fade but instead of black it uses other solid colours. Often used when a character falls unconscious or dies.

Cross-dissolve - Gradual transition from one shot to the next.

Ripple-dissolve - Wavering effect which goes from one shot to the next. Most regularly used to take the audience from the present into a flashback.

Wipe - One shot replaces another by moving in from one side of the screen to the other. A wipe can be up, down, left, right and can be done using a shape.

• Star Wars is a franchise that regularly uses wipes as a transition.

• Natural Wipe - similar to an invisible cut in that it aims for a seamless transition into the next shot.

Morph - Turning one object into another. Most often used to age a character, or have them turn into a monster.

• There is a good example of this in Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan.

Insert Shot - Used to to focus on a specific element of a scene. E.g. Cutting to a shot of a photograph in a character’s hand.

Graphics

Crawl - Text moves right-left of screen. (Usually seen at the top or bottom of screen).

Roll - Text moves from the bottom to the top of the screen. (Used primarily in end credits).

Colour

Colour correction - The process of correcting the colours on your footage to make them look as they should.

Colour grading - Once colour correction is completed, a colour grade is done. This is where you manipulate colours to make your footage stylised in a certain way.

e.g. Cold colours (blue, green, purple) often convey sadness and warm colours (orange, red, yellow) often convey joy.

LUT - ‘Look up table’ - LUTs can be applied to your footage to add colour and specific looks to your footage. A conversion LUT converts flat (LOG or RAW) footage to typical colours - it brings colour back into the footage. A creative LUT is used to give your footage a more specific look.

Log - ‘Logarithmic footage’ - Log is flat footage that has more details baked into it - capturing the highlights, shadows and whites with the highest possible precision. This provides more flexibility and options when it comes to colour grading. Log footage is not intended to be used without editing.

Hue - The distinction between colours.

RGB - Red, green, blue. The three primary colours used on a computer or TV.

Sound

Sound Effects - Artificial sound that is incorporated into vision to resemble a real circumstance. Sound effects are often pre-recorded.

• Foley - sound effects created to replicate everyday sounds (added in post-production).

Lip sync - Ensuring precise synchronisation of audio with video. This means when a character speaks, the sound of their dialogue matches with vision of them talking.

Voiceover (VO) - Audio that accompanies a video, but is coming from an unseen character/ narrator.