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Glossary

Post-Production.Where Raw Footage Becomes a Film.

Post-production encompasses all processes that occur after principal photography wraps, including editing, visual effects, sound design, color grading, music composition, mixing, and mastering.

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Definition

Post-production encompasses all processes that occur after principal photography wraps, including editing, visual effects, sound design, color grading, music composition, mixing, and mastering. It is the phase where raw footage is shaped into a coherent story. Post-production can take longer than the actual shoot and is where many of the creative decisions that define the final audience experience are made. Understanding post-production workflows during pre-production and storyboarding helps you plan shots that will cut together effectively. M Studio supports export workflows designed to feed into post-production pipelines.

In practice

How “Post-Production” shows up on screen

Visual samples from M Studio.

Script → board
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Script → board

FAQ

Common questions about post-production

For a feature film, post-production typically takes 4 to 12 months. A commercial might need 2 to 6 weeks. A short film might take 1 to 3 months. VFX-heavy projects can extend post-production to 18 months or longer. The timeline depends on the complexity of effects, sound, and the number of revision rounds.

Picture lock is the point in editing where the visual cut is finalized: no more changes to shot selection, timing, or order. After picture lock, VFX artists, composers, sound designers, and colorists can begin their work against a fixed timeline. Changes after picture lock are expensive because they cascade across all downstream departments.

Sound design is the creative process of building the film's sonic world: creating and selecting effects, ambiences, and foley. Sound mixing is the technical and artistic process of balancing all audio elements (dialogue, music, effects) into the final soundtrack. The designer creates the ingredients; the mixer combines them.

Cinematic storyboard preview

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