The post-production workflow is cumulative.  An editor can’t move forward with the assembly until the dailies have been properly merged.  Thus, you should plan to show your professor three to four drafts of each assignment while there is still time to revise them.  A single missed deadline tends to delay successive assignments, all of them incurring a costly late penalty.  Maybe you’re not explicitly listed as a person of ultimate responsibility below; but the nature of group assessment makes it your business to actively aid those who are.

Dialogue Edit

Objective: To improve performance clarity, enhance creative messaging, balance levels, and conform to technical parameters, a sound editor will organize, edit, and mix, the film’s dialogue stem.
Assessment:  Pass/fail.  The group grade will be averaged with other quiz & assignment scores.  The successful dialogue editor will demonstrate competence in three areas (performed in this order):

  • Project Organization.  Organize Adobe project for dialogue editing
    • Export single video track windowburn to improve playback speed
    • Use markers to denote individual scenes.
    • Replace unusable takes with alternate takes or ADR.
    • Separate/checkerboard dialogue by character
    • Color code tracks by character
    • Assign each character his/her own sub mix track
    • Route all character sub mix tracks into a single dialogue sub mix stem.  The dialogue editor should not adjust levels of any sub mix stem.
    • Route the dialogue sub mix stem into the master mix track.  The dialogue editor should not adjust levels of the master mix track.
    • Disable irrelevant tracks. Hide disabled tracks in the audio track mixer panel.
  • EQ and Processing.  Essential Audio processing
    • Loudness match all of a character’s clips in a given scene, employing clip gain where necessary.  Repeat for each character.
    • Add micro fades at the beginning and end of each clip. This process may be automated using the default audio transition function which may be set in the preferences timeline menu.
    • Apply dynamics and other processing (paying special attention to noise and reverb removal).
  • Level Mixing.  Remembering to adjust levels to account for microphone perspective and apparent distance from camera (i.e., long shots should generally sound farther away than close-ups), mix/keyframe to boost levels and remove peaking (in this order) from:
    • clip
    • track
    • character sub mix
    • To test the edits’ seamlessness, add a temp track of roomtone to each scene (to be replaced in a successive phase of post-production by Foley, Effects, and Atmospheres).

Foley, Effects, and Atmospheres

Objective: A sound editor will create, organize, edit, and mix, an effects stem to enhance the film’s soundtrack.
Assessment:  Pass/fail.  The group grade will be averaged with other quiz & assignment scores.

  • Make a windowburn of the visual lock as a timecoded guide for synchronizing effects with action.
  • Consult with the director to “score” the film, creating a spreadsheet of needed effects with their respective timecodes.  Indicate which effects need to be recorded and which might be secured from sound effects libraries.
  • Research and audition effects libraries.
  • Record discrete performances of each effect, maintaining an accurate footage log and backup files (to a personal computer or online storage site).
  • Import recordings to the post-production server and project, organizing, accurately labeling, and color-coding clips, tracks, and bins.
  • Add micro fades at the beginning and end of each clip. This process may be automated using the default audio transition function which may be set in the preferences timeline menu.
  • Route the effects for each scene into the following sub mix tracks:
    • human movement (includes cloth and footsteps)
    • props (includes any noise-making object held or used by an on-screen character)
    • effects
    • atmospheres
  • Route the effects sub mix tracks into an cumulative effects sub mix stem.  The effects editor should not adjust levels of the any sub mix stem.
  • Route the effects sub mix stem into the master mix track.  The effects editor should not adjust levels of the master mix track.
  • Remembering to adjust levels to account for microphone perspective and apparent distance from camera (i.e., long shots should generally sound farther away than close-ups), mix/keyframe to boost levels and remove peaking (in this order) from:
    • clip
    • track
    • sub mix
  • Forward to the producer all necessary effects clearances and the (correctly-spelled) names or institutions to be credited in the final film.

Score

Objective: A music editor will work with a composer to enhance the film’s soundtrack with non-diagetic music.  The sound editor is also responsible for obtaining any necessary music clearances.
Assessment:  Pass/fail.  The group grade will be averaged with other quiz & assignment scores.

  • Contract with a composer to write original music for the film’s soundtrack.
  • Provide the composer with a windowburn of the visual lock as a timecoded guide for synchronizing musical cues with action and dialogue.
  • If the score is pre-recorded:  The composer delivers a .wav or other digital file for import into the timeline.  Ideally, the music should be delivered in multiple tracks to allow for mixing by the sound editor.
  • If the music editor is to make a multi-track recording, s/he must:
    • work with the composer to contract with musicians to perform the score.
    • lay a click track – a metronome in the proper time signature and tempo
    • record a scratch track – a low-quality recording of all instruments into the same track, played to the tempos of the click track.
    • record discrete performances of each instrument (using the scratch track as a guide), maintaining an accurate footage log.  No fewer than four good takes of each instrumental performance are expected.
  • Add and synchronize the music tracks to the film, editing to improve performance, combining the best components of multiple takes.
  • Mix/keyframe to raise or lower instrument levels (in this order) from:
    • clip
    • track
    • sub mixes (usually by instrument family, e.g., “percussion,” “brass,” “strings”)
  • Route any music sub mix tracks into a cumulative music sub mix stem.  The music editor should not adjust levels of the music sub mix stem.
  • Route the effects sub mix stem into the master mix track.  The music editor should not adjust levels of the master mix track.
  • Work with the film’s producer to secure personal releases for all musicians.

Audio Mix

Objective: A supervising sound editor will balance dialogue, effects, and music in a final mix of the film.  The editor will conduct a final check of all levels to ensure they fall within industry-standard technical parameters.
Assessment:  Pass/fail.  The group grade will be averaged with other project scores.