Kia Ora and Welcome!
This online resource outlines Workflow best practice for editors and producers who are working on productions that require external post production houses, larger budgets and longer schedules to ensure a trouble-free post phase for your production.
Why have we developed this resource?
Have you been in the situation of receiving media which is at the wrong frame rate, format, missing essential metadata, timecode that doesn’t match, file names that don’t link, sound files you can’t figure out what they refer to? When you handed over to Sound Post or Picture Conform, did it take much of your post house budget just to get your sequence loaded because nothing linked properly and you didn’t know what on earth could have happened?
It’s an awful situation for everyone involved, stressful with frayed tempers, but the worst thing is that it blocks creativity and time, and wastes budget and energy that could have been spent on creative progress.
Sound familiar? Well, it doesn’t need to be that way. That’s why we’ve developed this Workflow Best Practice Guide as a living document, changing as our industry changes.
Sound editor John McKay mixing (Courtesy of POW Studios)
Who are ‘we’?
A group of senior editors, 1st assistant editors, sound designers, online editors, VFX artists, post production supervisors, post houses and producers working together on this Directors & Editors Guild of NZ initiative. You’ll find us listed below.
Endorsed by
So, the script you love wants to be made. Well, don’t wait – get started well before the film is funded, when the producer and post HODs (editor, sound designer, composer, VFX, graphics, etc.) are casting their teams and identifying their needs: who is in their team, what equipment, what consumables and most importantly – how long will this film take at each phase of post?
Start talking – to everyone who will impact post because they hold the information you will need. It all runs on relationships and those run on mutual respect for the function for which each of you is responsible. This is the most important time to begin building that respect. Professionalism, courtesy and respect are not budget dependent.
Talk digital technology – you’ll need to know specifics in order to set up a robust workflow, and the editor is the critical centre of the workflow, receiving all footage into one platform, and distributing to many platforms. Editorial is the skinny bit of a Victorian corset and it can get very uncomfortable in there if it hasn’t been fitted well.
Talk schedule – you’ll need to know when media comes in and when it goes out and what you need in order to make that happen.
Poor relationships, ignorance of technology and unrealistic delivery schedules impact on budget and creativity, and post houses then have to clean up the mess.
So those are the General Principles to look after – Relationships, Technology, Schedule, Budget & Creativity.
And it all rests on Talking.
Keep talking in pre-production
A Workflow meeting and test is essential. Don’t skip it – it’ll cost the budget big time later if you do.
Keep talking during the shoot
Editorial has responsibilities to crew, director and producer.
Keep talking in post production
As the film shapes up, post houses need information and Editorial holds that.
Bellbird (Photo: Blueskin Films Ltd)
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Key Principles
- Relationships
- VFX – Production Workflow
- Archival – Production Workflow
- Specifics/Technology
- Schedule
- Budget & Creativity
- Pre-Production – Workflow Meeting & Test
- The Shoot – Editorial Responsibilities
- Post Production – The Edit
- Post Houses Need Information
- Sound Reconforming
- Resources
- Glossary
About the Guide
The DEGNZ Workflow Best Practice Guide for Editors and Producers is an online resource that covers the full production Workflow, from before budgeting and seeking funding, through pre-production to DCP delivery. Once you have a script, where you want to finish up is where you start.
Both Avid and Premiere Pro are covered.
The online resource includes examples, downloadable templates, timeline charts, screenshots, a glossary, useful contacts and some of the main post house Handover Specifications. You’ll find these under the relevant sections and listed in Resources.
Download the Quick Reference
Workflow Best Practice Guide
Includes
- Our key tips & principles to enjoy your Workflow journey
- Useful links to the full online Guide
Follow a manual added link
Free Download
It’s invaluable to have access to resources that provide guidance and key information for emerging – and not so emerging – practitioners in our screen sector. The group has distilled their insights, expertise and knowledge to develop a Workflow Best Practice Guide that is both comprehensive and easy-to-follow – it’s sure to be a ‘go to’ resource for many years to come.
Sandy Gildea
Executive Director, SPADA
DEGNZ is to be commended for your fine work in pulling together a cross section of experienced industry practitioners in the creation of the Workflow Best Practice Guidelines. We will recommend all successful production applicants use the guidelines and will share a link on our website and in our funding letters.
Cameron Harland
Chief Executive, NZ On Air
Screen Music & Sound Guild of New Zealand endorse the Workflow Best Practice Guide and encourage members to share the Guide with prospective clients.
Marshall Smith
Co-Chairperson, SMSG
Acknowledgements
With sincere and heartfelt thanks to the following for their valuable contributions to this resource, for their advice, their support and the generous sharing of their skills and experience:
Alastair Tye Samson – The Finishing Suite
Amanda Heatley – Park Road Post
Alex Boyd – Editor
Annie Collins – Editor, Moa Films
Ben Sinclair – Sound Design, Images & Sound
Catherine Fitzgerald – Producer, Blueskin Films
Dan Best – Editorial Manager
Dan Kircher – Editor, dankircher.com
Dean Watkins – Park Road Post
Dick Reade – Reade Audio
Dione Chard – Editor & 1st Assistant Editor
Francis Glenday – Editor, Digital Scissors
Greg Junovich – Native Audio
Howard Taylor – Director
James Brookes – Department of Post
John McKay – POW Studios
John Strang – Dusk NZ
Jon Baxter – Perceptual Engineering
Margot Francis – Editor
Nick Burridge – Halcyon Digital
Onehou Strickland – Editor
Paul Klement-Smith – Images & Sound
Peter Skarratt – Editorial Manager
Phil Burton – Underground Sound
Ray Beentjes – Dialogue Editor
Sharon Lark – VFX Producer
Tema Pua – DEGNZ
Toby Donald – National Park
Tony Pratt – Park Road Post
Tui Ruwhiu – DEGNZ
Tweedie Waititi – Producer, Kokko Media
Vedat Kiyici – Envy Studios
Wattana Moeung – Park Road Post
Thank you to editor and DEGNZ board member Annie Collins for compiling this work.
Contact
For general queries about the Guide, email admin@deganz.co.nz or call us on 09 360 2102.
For specific questions, talk to your post house.
Last updated on 11 January 2022
Top Header: Cast and crew filming a stunt on Daddy’s Girl (Kōtiro) (Credit: Amanda Aitken Photography)
Header 2: The Ways to See camera department (Credit: Jen Raoult)
© Directors & Editors Guild of NZ 2020. We grant permission to reproduce the content in this guide for personal and educational use only. Commercial copying is prohibited. We retain the right to be identified as the author of this work; please credit ‘Directors & Editors Guild of NZ’ whenever quoting from or reproducing this guide.