PICTURE LOCK
another big step in the filmmaking process
we have picture lock!
you may have seen a post on social media already, but last friday, we finally reached picture lock with “the darkness rolled over her”.
what is picture lock?
when editing a film, we edit based solely on the picture, the film/video portion. while there is some light dialogue editing along the way, it’s just to make it watchable while editing the picture. the same goes for any temporarily-added music or sound effects. using only the picture, we get the film the way we want it, choosing every shot, every cut, making sure it not only makes sense and feels fluid, but that it also emotionally impacts the way we intend.
once we have the film the way we want it, we call the picture part of the edit “locked”, meaning no more changes will be made. there is still a lot of work left before the film is done. but what this means is the storytelling is complete.
yes, the sound design, music, visual effects, and even the color are all part of the storytelling. but having the scenes all cut together and finished solidifies the decisions made about the scenes. actor’s performances have been chosen. camera angles have been decided upon. everything that remains will serve the decisions that have been made to this point, which are now “in stone” thanks to the “picture lock” declaration.
what’s next?
before picture lock, you don’t want to do any serious sound effects editing, music scoring, color correction, or visual effects.
it’s good to build a sample palette so everyone on the team knows what to expect, what to imagine even though it’s not there yet. we used the editing of the trailer as our way of creating this palette. but you don’t want to do any actual work in these four areas until after the picture is locked.
sound and visual effects take a lot of an artist’s time, and if a scene were to be cut or cut short, it would waste a lot of that valuable time. or if a scene were to be lengthened, a technique that may have worked for the shorter scene may not work for a longer one, and the work would have to be restarted from scratch.
likewise with music, writing a piece of music will make it a particular length, and shortening or extending a scene would mean the music would have to be rewritten — and re-recorded if live performers were used.
and while i have done a lot of color work on the front end so i could get the film close to what i want, it’s really impossible to have the color be consistent until your edit is done. you have to see the shots together next to each other and make sure it flows from shot to shot.
but now that we’re locked, not only can all four of those processes begin — sound design, music scoring, color correction, visual effects design — but they can be done simultaneously. Noah is diving into the visual effects. Shane will begin working on the score soon. and i’m getting the film into Logic Pro for the sound design and back into Davinci Resolve to do the color correction.
to show you the complexity of what we’re working with, there are already 76 tracks of audio in the Logic Pro project after importing from Final Cut Pro, and i haven’t even begun the sound design yet. between sound design and music, there will be hundreds of Logic Pro tracks needed to finish the film. wild!
“when will the film be done?”
no idea. and i appreciate that this is your number one question about it. it’s mine, too. and to be honest, this question stresses me out a little bit, because i wish it were done already and out there. but we have a lot of work left. so please keep that in mind if you see me in person.
but every time someone says, “i can’t wait to see it!”, that gives me hope the film will do well once it’s done and out there. and when someone says “i’m looking forward to seeing the finished product,” i always respond in kind: “me too!”
back to work…
I can’t wait to see it!!
I’m looking forward to the finished product!!