Matt Crum Talks the Nuances of Post-Production
Posted on: Jun 24, 2025
Photo Credit: Dragos Condrea / iStockWhile the excitement of filmmaking often lies in writing and shooting, many projects encounter significant challenges in post-production due to poor planning and a lack of understanding of the post-production process — often leaving editors and supervisors to salvage what they can.
I spoke with Matt Crum, owner of Motionmaker Studios, to explore the nuances of post-production from an editor’s perspective. While the specifics may vary by the type and length of the project, this is a general guideline to help filmmakers and producers understand the process.
Insights from Matt Crum
- Always plan your shots, B-roll, and coverage with the final edit and deliverables in mind to avoid missing footage and ensure flexibility during post-production.
- Double-check that all release forms are collected and that your camera settings are consistent to prevent unusable footage and color correction issues later.
- Use a video village setup when possible to catch continuity, framing, and exposure problems on set, saving time and trouble during the edit.
Pre-Production and Production Tips for Smooth Post-Production
Good Post Starts with Good Planning
During pre-production, consider your story points and schedule enough time to get plenty of B-roll coverage to create an engaging edit that will tell your story visually without having to rely on talking heads. Consider your final deliverables, such as vertical, widescreen or both, and plan your shots accordingly.
Release Forms
Gather all release forms for locations, talent, extras or real people that appear in the background. Failure to do so can result in footage you can’t use.
Coverage and B-roll
Consider coverage and B-roll that will support your dialogue or interview content, allowing for flexibility during the edit. Editors can’t invent footage. Plan for a variety of shots, such as establishing, medium, close-up, B-roll and cutaways.
A shortage can severely hinder any project. Consider that during commercials, shots may last 1-2 seconds. During unscripted and documentary, shots may last 4-5 seconds. If you are creating a 10-minute documentary video, and over half of your video is B-roll, that’s a lot of footage to gather.
Be conscious of time, and don’t overshoot. Get a handful of usable shots for each scene or action, and move on.
Movement, Coverage and Angles
Adhere to the 180 rule regarding movement, eyelines and camera placement. Move the camera. Dolly, tracking and handheld shots, generally speaking, are more dynamic than static shots. If using a static shot, make sure objects in the frame are moving.
Camera Settings
Use consistent settings, and remember that auto settings, such as white balance or ISO, can be problematic during color correction and shot matching. Double-check settings for white balance, ISO, exposure, picture profiles, and other necessary settings to ensure consistency across all cameras before shooting.
Copyrighted Material
Look out for objects in a frame that may not be cleared for usage and would have to be blurred in post or cut entirely, including product or brand logos, artwork, posters, book jackets, etc. If in doubt, it’s always best to avoid showing it.
Use a Video Village Whenever Possible
Video village allows director, producers, production designers, HMU (hair and makeup) teams, and others to have an extra set of eyes during filming, enabling them to catch issues such as continuity problems, inconsistent framing or exposure across cameras, unwanted objects in shots, and hair or makeup touch-ups.
Steps of Post-Production
Post can vary based on the type of project, and processes will be different for narrative versus unscripted. Each editor or post-production team may have their own methods, but here are the general steps a project may go through in post that should be considered from the beginning:
Organization
Organizing your files can be one of the most critical steps for smooth editing, but each editor will have their own system. During this stage, the post team will create folder structures that make sense on their drive and in their software. They’ll label files and import the footage from cameras and audio to sync.
Tip: Match your project folder structure in your editing software to your drive to make relinking easier.
Telling a Story
Once your files are organized and loaded, it’s time to start thinking about the story. Transcription is a useful tool — especially for unscripted.
This is where the team will begin assessing the visuals and creating a list or system to determine what cutaways and B-roll they have to work with, as well as identifying any other needs they have for music, graphics, and animation. While assessing, they’ll be mindful to check files for errors in information or potential continuity issues.
Tip: Mark up transcriptions with strikethroughs and color-coded highlights for best and backup soundbites. Some editors find it helpful to sort elements in mind mapping software or physically print out and cut up transcripts and shot lists to sort on a table.
Creating the Rough Cut
Creating a rough cut is the first skeleton of the finished product. It’s up to the editor, but the rough cut may not include music or more final decisions, such as graphics, if it would mean a lot of extra work when revising for notes from the client or director/producer.
Tip: For client projects, some very light audio clean-up or color correction can be useful on footage that requires it, enough to avoid distracting from the approval of the story and overall cut.
Color Correction
Once a rough cut is approved, the team will refine the exposure, contrast, and white balance to ensure consistency across shots in the final cut.
Create Visual Effects (VFX)
VFX encompasses modeling, stock animations, CGI generation, green screen and background creation, motion tracking, and compositing.
While some of this can be done during the rough cut, some of the effects would need to be redone if changes were made to the scene, so it’s best to wait. This is also where footage would be cleaned up for wires and imperfections.
Titles and Graphics
Titles, credits, lower thirds, animations and other graphics or overlays can be added once all the other visual work is complete and you know where you have the space for them. They match the project’s emotional tone and work well with the color scheme. The text should be easy to read, and the pace of the animations should match the vibe.
Taking Care of Sound
Once the visual work is done, attention can turn to the sound for cleanup of undesirables, adding room tone, and ambient sound. Sound design will add in recorded sound effects or any necessary ADR (automated dialogue replacement).
Musical Score and Final Mix
Since the emotional score should complement the visuals, and now that all of the elements are in place for the final copy, a musical score can be added to complement the visuals and increase impact.
The project may use licensed music or a custom score that is timed to the visuals. A final mix to balance all the audio elements will ensure they are blended harmoniously.
Color Grading
The project is now ready to begin its final steps before exporting.
Your visual corrections have smoothed out your videography, but grading will stylize your project to evoke the emotional response you want. It will also enable a more thorough repair of color differences. Grading may be done using a pre-made grading LUT (look-up table) or manually.
Final Conform, Mastering, and Distribution Deliverables
It’s finally time to make the project ready for sharing.
The final conform and mastering allows you to ensure that you export the project with the desired resolution, aspect ratio, frame rate and color space, depending on where it will be distributed. At this time, the team will also create essential accessibility features (such as subtitles, closed captions, and audio description), any localized M&E (music and effects) tracks, and accompanying materials like trailers, teasers, video stills, and other marketing assets.
Successful post-production starts long before the footage hits the edit bay. By making smart choices during pre-production and shooting, you set your team up for a smoother, more creative edit. Here are the key takeaways to keep your next project on track:
- Plan your shots and B-roll coverage with your final deliverables and edit in mind.
- Gather all necessary release forms and keep an eye out for copyrighted materials in your frame.
- Maintain consistent camera settings to avoid headaches in color correction and shot matching.
- Use a video village when possible to catch continuity and technical issues during filming.
- Stay organized with your files and footage to streamline the editing process later.
Jessica Mathis (AKA Divinity Rose) is an award winning screenwriter/performer/producer from Louisville, Kentucky. She is the CEO of She Dreams Content Development and Production, which focuses on female forward projects in comedy, docustyle and genre entertainment.
Browse thousands of jobs and find your next gig! Sign up or login to Staff Me Up and get on-set today!
You may also like: