Round 5- Surviving Post in the 48HFP

Uh huh. So you've shot tapes, maybe you've run tapes over to your editor or assistant. What now?

SURVIVING THE 48HFP- IT ALL COMES DOWN TO POST
Ok, I'm biased, but we all know it comes together in the editing room.

- Make sure your editor is only editing and doing nothing else. Alternatively, if your editor must do something else (not that I’m saying I know anything about this…), make sure you have an assistant editor who can digitize while the editor is doing their other job.

-Have your editing team make up a schedule. It’s generally ideal to have everything digitized into your system before midnight. A rough cut by 6am. And polish the cut before you hand it in. Also having more editors than you think can be good (one can work on graphics, another on spiffy end credits, another on helping you edit a scene when the shit hits the fan and you won’t finish on time).

- If you have more than 1 editor, 1 fx person, 1 music person, etc, consider having a Post Production Supervisor. If you have an extra producer, AP, whatever, have them be the line of communication with your post team. They can keep an eye on the clock and push people for what’s needed rather than putting that solely on the editor’s shoulders.

- If your post team can be by themselves, make sure it happens. When you have less than 24 hours to put this whole she-bang together, nerves really start to fry. Having a quiet post environment helps keep the calm people. Be zen, be very zen.

-Figure out who’s making the tape drop (or tapes, remember, you are allowed to drop off 2 tapes and you should). He who drives the tape should know the city fairly well. You may be coming down to the line on that.

- I said this before and I’ll say it again. DO NOT HAND IN A DVD. DVD=COMPRESSION=BAD PROJECTION IN THE THEATER. Come on now people, don’t be a dunderhead. Submit a mini-dv.

-No theater can really project HD. Deal with it. Your project has to be submitted on a mini-dv readable by the most common mini-dv decks out there (most likely) so don’t get all fancy-pants on the 48HFP people. If your tape cannot be read, has a glitch, etc, you will be called to submit another. However, you are then considered “late”. And late sucks.

-If you are going to be late, be late. Don’t be late and be in car accident too. It’s a film festival. It’s not the end all and see all of life. You’ll get it on time next year, right?