Pros And Cons Of Post-Production

POST-PRODUCTION

The post-production phase of movie making consists of creating and adding special visual effects and titles, adding music and sound effects, and, finally, processing, editing, and printing the finished product in the motion picture laboratory. Special visual effects using models have become well known through such movies as "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Star Wars." Contrary to popular opinion and some press reports, special-purpose, hard-wired machines, not computers, were used to control cameras and models in these and other recent movies. Not until 1979 with the release of "Buck Rogers" (Universal), "The Black Hole" (Disney), and "Star Trek" (Paramount) will the public view special effects created with the aid of computer-controlled

For the time being, however, musical scores for movies are still totally created by composers and arrangers. The use of original music always introduces the possibility of copyright infringement. To minimize the problem at Universal, new scores are translated by an operator into codes which are matched against a stored database of copyright music. Matches exceeding the legally acceptable number of bars are flagged. Sound editing, like film editing, is a particularly tedious, time-consuming and therefore costly task. The sound editor views a reel of film, noting the sounds and footage required.

From a library index, he selects a tentative list of sounds. A technician retrieves the sounds and transfers them to tape. The editor then begins the cutting and modifying process. If the sound he needs is too short he must create a physical loop of the tape so the sound repeats without obvious repetitious characteristics. Synchronizing the sound to the film is literally a cut-and-try process. The assembled edited cuts are mixed down onto a final track and then mixed with music and dialogue. Sound quality is degraded with

The Automated Computer Controlled Editing Sound System (ACCESS) developed by Mini-Micro Systems, Inc. for Neiman-Tillar Associates eliminates manual handling of tape and allows electronic synchronization. It provides immediate availability of sound effects which have been digitized and stored on magnetic disk packs. Sounds may also be modified via computer-assisted controls. While cutting editing time by 80 percent, use of ACCESS has also improved the quality of sound produced. The microcomputer-based system was used for the sound editing of "I Want To Hold Your Hand," "Sorcerer," "The Island of Dr. Moreau" and other feature films. Final print production involves cutting the original negative, adding special optical effects, and performing color correction. Computers probably first entered the motion picture production cycle in the film processing laboratories which perform these functions. Academy Awards for contributions to movie making that involved the use of computers were first earned by these labs. In 1972 DeLuxe General, Inc. received a Class III (Technical Achievement) Academy Award for a computer system that performs color positive process analysis. Using photographic test results and considering interlayer effects. the system compares sample densities to the laboratory reference densities. In the same yertr non solicited Film Industries received a Class II (Science and Engineering) Academy Award for the