Post-Production : Ask Me Anything (AMA) Wednesday 9/11 to Thursday 9/12- Streamlining Your Post-Production Workflow by Joshua Young

Hi Joshua Young! Thanks so much for spending your time with us and having the AMA. Question: How does the post production process differ between live action and animation? Thanks in advance!

heyy Joshua Young this is actually just what i needed !!

so i wrote this thriller script and its simple but its gonna need alot of edits and also cgi , how does someone that has no clue about that stuff even calculate a budget for things like that ? also does that mean more of my budget should go towards the editor/computer guys?

Hope you're doing great, Joshua Young. Thanks for having this AMA. What are some major things that a filmmaker could do in production to make post-production go smoother?

Hi Leonardo. It’s my pleasure! The process between live action and animation is similar in that you get media in, edit it, and send it out. However, there are many stages and a lot more departments with animation. When you get footage for live action, that’s what was shot. So whatever they shot, that’s what you have to edit. For animation—and some studios differ in their processes—the typical scenario is: we get the voiceover first and edit that into what we call a radio play. We estimate the timing of the characters’ movements and, in some cases, even add in temporary sound effects. This radio play then gets sent to a storyboard artist as a guide for the episode, who takes the script, the director’s directions, show designs, etc., and creates storyboards. For a children’s 11-minute show, for example, an editor may get around 11,000 .jpg or .png images that they now have to edit together using the radio play they created. It’s approximately two images per second of video.

And this is where the art comes in. You work with the director to define character movements in terms of speed, suggest additional actions, or even offer ideas for the characters’ performances. You collaborate with the director and storyboard artists for about a month, sometimes less. Then, once all that’s done, it goes off to the animation team. Even that has other stages: layout, animation, and rendering. So you’re constantly evolving the show, moving it from storyboard to final render—or final animation.

Your job evolves from being more artistic and media-management focused to more quality assurance and still media-management focused in the final animations. In summary, there are a lot more departments and stages involved because instead of it being strictly post-production, animation really is…production.

Hi Chase! There’s a great quote—though I forget who said it—but it goes, “Don’t fix it in post, fix it in prep!” That’s something everyone should chant on every production moving forward. So, you’re doing the right thing by not only determining the budget but also considering every potential cost.

When creating a budget—and this is my producer hat I’ll put on to help with this answer—it’s crucial not to get into the weeds right away. Start with the macro and work your way into the micro. Isolate the scenes in your script that you know will need more than just editing; these are the ones that will require CGI. Pull those aside and create a list of every CGI element you think will be needed. If you’re unsure whether it’s something a video editor can handle or if you’ll need a VFX artist, assume you’ll need a VFX artist for now and put the item in that category on your list.

Once you have your list, consult an expert. You’d be surprised how many professionals you can hire for an hour to go over these scenes with you and tell you exactly what you’ll need. Even just $30 - $50. If you’re new to post-production, I’d suggest starting with an experienced video editor. Check their IMDb credits to confirm they have the right experience, either in the genre you’re working in or with enough credits to show their expertise. Studio experience is ideal. Pay them for an hour to consult on those specific scenes—ask them what they can handle themselves and what they think will require additional specialists.

Video editing often overlaps with VFX, so an editor will know if you need someone with Unreal Engine experience, someone proficient with Blender, or if there’s a cheaper alternative like stock VFX from Motion Array. They’ll help you refine that list, and if needed, guide you on the next expert to consult. I use LinkedIn all the time to find VFX professionals, but remember to do your homework first. Make your list is organized and detailed because the more work you’ve done ahead of time, the less costly it’ll be when you bring in the experts.

Hi Maurice! Great question! To be honest, most filmmakers don’t realize that the success of both production and post-production is rooted in pre-production. You really can’t over-plan. During production, the size of your crew plays a role, especially if you’re working with an indie team where some people are new or junior in their roles. It’s critical to ensure they hit key targets that might be assumed in larger budget projects.

For example, I once edited a project where they used tail-slates, and 25% of the time, a flashlight was shined directly on the slate, making it unreadable, and the audio was muffled. So I had no idea what take or scene number we were on. This made it incredibly difficult to sort through footage and ended up being far more costly in post-production. Simple things like ensuring proper slating can prevent costly errors. The camera person should have caught this, and the director—who was new to features—allowed it to be pushed to post, which caused unnecessary complications.

Two of the most overlooked yet crucial positions in indie productions are the Continuity Supervisor and the DMT/DIT. A good Continuity Supervisor tracks script changes and ensures consistency, while a skilled DIT handles media transfers properly, checking for corruption and keeping everything organized.

In summary, the key to smoother post-production is organization in pre-production for the production stage. It’s easy for productions to fall into bad habits, especially when pressed for time, but excusing mistakes with the idea that they can “fix it in post” only makes things worse. Once a habit starts, it tends to continue throughout the shoot.

One last example: One common misconception I see is with productions filming in 4K for a final output in HD, assuming they can punch in for extra shots. While this works in theory, it creates issues: the lighting wasn’t designed for the tighter shot, and the colorist has to spend extra time making everything match. This is why sitting down with your editor before production is so important. An hour or two with them can save you a lot of headaches later on by identifying potential issues upfront.

ok !! that was perfect thank you , Joshua Young

even on my script i will highlight areas where i think would need those guys , just to get an understanding and also time is money i don't want to waste someones time reading and reading just to get to the point with the robotic chimp lol !! its here highlighted on page 15

preparation really is key and focus in on what is what and like you said macro micro

Joshua Young With animation, I've never heard an explanation that is so clear and one that I can picture in my mind as yours. You're awesome for taking the time to make it this clear. I do have a follow up question, if I may. I've heard it said that in order to direct an animated feature you absolutely must be an artist. When I wrote a graphic novel, I worked with an artist for the release and the process worked fine. I'm wondering if it is indeed true that a director must be an artist in order to director. From your clearly-laid out explanation, it doesn't seem to be the case. Thank you so much Joshua in advance but again, thanks for your clear answers. Really appreciate it!

Chase - And if there's a robotic chimp in a live action, check out services like Mixamo.com. For a 3D character in a live action, there are a few stages depending on where you are starting. If you are doing motion capture, it's a bit different than how I'll describe, but if you're starting with straight forward a 3D animated character, your workflow goes like this -> 1. Design: someone, usually the same person that can render the character 3D does this, designs what you want based off of photos and examples you provide. 2. Building the 3D model character 3. Rigging it - They actually have to add joints so help determine how it moves. There's a lot of automatic rigging programs out there however so you can save money that way potentially. 4. Animation.

Leonardo - Thanks for the compliment! It’s funny—when I was first hired as an episodic director for an animated series, I read every book on animation I could. In Creativity, Inc., Edwin Catmull wondered how live-action directors transition to animation, seeing it as a steep climb. Having made that leap, I can’t imagine it any other way.

Most animation directors start as storyboard artists, and I’ve noticed habits in animation that wouldn’t fly in live-action. For instance, when a shot needs fixing, artists work hard but often end up with something “good enough” due to time constraints. You rarely hear, “This is great!” It’s more like, “It’s fine, let’s move on.” While some live-action directors are like that, in my experience, they tend to act as cheerleaders for their productions. One animation director told me, “Most people don’t get into animation to direct.” There are a lot of introverts, and leadership skills are needed just as much as technical ones. I've met incredible animation directors, but it shouldn't be your natural character. There should be training programs to help those transitioning into leadership roles.

As for drawing, I’ve never been great at it—mostly stick figures. But I practiced by copying storyboards, which improved my skills. My simplicity actually worked in my favor; storyboard artists liked the creative freedom it gave them. And I still gave them examples of framing, told them how I want a character to move, the mood they are in etc... It’s similar to what a cinematographer once told me. I mentioned I was going to take a lighting course to communicate better with my cinematographer, and he said, “Don’t learn the technical terms. Just tell me the mood and intention of the scene, and I’ll handle the rest.”

One last example—thanks to the coffee!

One day in the animation studio, a production coordinator forgot to tell me about a 9am meeting with a remote storyboard artist to review an entire episode. Since I didn't know about this meeting, I wasn’t prepared, but what surprised me was how much time the other directors spent preparing for these meetings—hours analyzing storyboards. In live-action, we’re used to making decisions on the spot during filming, and I’d been doing that for over a decade. The storyboard supervisor almost canceled the meeting, thinking I wasn’t ready. But I said, “Let’s do it.” Despite not prepping for hours, I walked the artist through everything smoothly. The supervisor even thought I was joking when I said I hadn’t prepared—because in live-action, it’s just like a second take.

That said, in later production stages—layout, animation, renders—you’re not just there to approve things; you need to offer creative and technical solutions since animation teams often have a mix of experience levels. Having an animation background is crucial. I know one animation director who’s unbeatable in those stages because he knows the programs the animation teams use better than anyone. But his challenge is always hiring managers who treat their crews poorly, despite getting the job done. You see this in live-action too, but I’ve noticed it more in animation. A "Yes they are not a good manager for morale, but they get the job done so we'll keep them," attitude. So, for anyone wanting to direct animation, start in an area you’re comfortable with. If you don't have technical skills, junior production manager or coordinator roles are great entry points.

I'm about to grab my second cup Joshua Young so I'll offer up a "cheers" for you in humble gratitude. I'm not a fan of someone being kept in the job because they can do it. I've been in too many situations like that to where it becomes abusive so I agree with you, best to go the entry point route and learn how to be an encourager in that setting. Thanks so much Joshua. This is great info.

Thanks for the in-depth answer, Joshua Young! I’ve heard filmmakers talk about continuity, but I’m not sure if I’ve heard of a Continuity Supervisor. It sounds like a smart move to hire one. I like to go through my scripts as a screenwriter and check for continuity during rewrites. I think it’s something filmmakers should do in pre-production to avoid continuity issues in production and post-production, like you said, “To be honest, most filmmakers don’t realize that the success of both production and post-production is rooted in pre-production. You really can’t over-plan.”

My pleasure Maurice - They are also known as a Script Supervisor, but their job is essentially continuity of the script to screen as well as marking any changes. They are the ones who keep track of updating the script as the shoot goes to make sure the editor knows what's changed, what takes the director likes and so on. To me, they are 100% essential no matter the budget or lack there of.

Hi Joshua,

Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions.

I recently edited a short film that is under five minutes. Could you please share some of the techniques you use to handle missing key transitions in the footage when reshoots aren't possible?

Also, how did you start editing, and what steps did you take to improve your editing skills?

Hi Gisele. My pleasure! I’ll go with the last question first. I started editing when I worked for the cruise ships, actually. I was an Entertainment Host and saw filmmakers going around the ship and thought, “I should try that.” So I volunteered in the beginning. When I got back to land and retired from the cruise ships a year or so later, I realized the #1 mistake people who want to be video editors as a career and work in the studio system make: they don’t start as Assistant Video Editors (AVEs). They were all trying to get video editing jobs at studios and production companies and refused to be Assistant Video Editors when there was a need. I saw this as an opportunity to work under veteran editors with 20 or 30 years of experience under their belts, and it taught me technical expertise I still use today! While I was an AVE, I worked on other people’s short films, music videos, and more, continuing to build up my reputation. And that’s how it all began!

PART 2 – For missing key shots, you have some options. It’s all dependent on the context of your short film, but here are some general techniques:

1. Cut to black, but keep sound, music, or both. This leaves it to the audience’s imagination.

2. B-Roll – You might not have anything left, but if it’s generic enough, services like Motion Array may have some stock footage you can use. I’ve also used Pexels.com, though not often. You’ll have to play with color grading to make a lot of their videos look more cinematic, but it’s an option worth considering.

3. Jump Cuts – We live in a world of jump cuts nowadays—thanks, TikTok! You may discover that the style of your short film could work with jump cuts. Watch an episode of the TV series What We Do in the Shadows (not the feature film). You’ll see they jump around quite a bit. This is due to improvisation and the documentary feel, but it can translate to other genres and styles.

4. Revisit your footage – Think about the shots you initially discarded, like takes where the acting wasn’t quite right. For example, right before the camera dollies, you may have a good four-second wide shot of the room. If you’re shooting in 3K or 4K, you can punch in by 30-50% if your final output is HD, creating a new insert shot.

Thank you for sharing, Joshua. It sounds like a great approach, learning by doing and under the guidance of experienced editors.

This brings me to another question: Is it common for a newcomer editor to assemble an episode of a series and then have a professional editor take over for the final edit? Do both editors receive credit in the end?

Thank you for the tips. The idea of cutting to black and leaving it to the audience’s imagination sounds interesting. I’ll definitely keep these four techniques in mind for future projects. I’ll also check out the TV series you mentioned.

Can I ask you something else? I’m trying to convert a vertical video into landscape format. I used Photoshop for generative fill and was able to extend most of the clips in Premiere Pro, but I still have some clips (one with a person walking and two other clips with camera movement) where image generative fill didn’t work well, probably because of the camera movement.

Do you know of any techniques to convert these clips into landscape?

For your first question: Every studio can have its own approach, but new editors, as well as some assistant editors, are often known to put together a rough cut. Then experienced editors, or just more senior, they get more of the credit and do more of the fine cut and final cut. It makes sense if it's an ongoing client the studio is editing for, assuming the studio isn't also the client. The more senior editor has a relationship with the client and the director and knows how to navigate the politics. Going from video editor to senior video editor means you know how to edit in a room with a director for your studio and a client. And when they have a disagreement, you know how to play ambassador.

Your credit in the end is whatever you’re contracted for, which can be tough. I literally edited three music videos for a children’s cartoon series, only to find out I wasn’t getting any credit for them because the larger studio that hired the studio I was working in had that in their contract. So, always read your contract when working with a new studio. And if it’s a long-term commitment, these days a year or more, hire an employment lawyer for an hour to go over your contract.

To your second question, Adobe Premiere Pro is coming out with a new feature later this year or early next year called, I believe, Generative Expand. It will do what you're asking if the advertising is correct. This is one pet peeve of mine, however, when filmmakers shoot vertical 'cause they are convinced they will never need landscape. Just shoot landscape and then crop to vertical so you have both options! Grrrrr some filmmakers haha. My only solution for you at this moment in time, until technology gets better, and you're not gonna like this, but if you can't zoom in without loss in quality, then you could still use Photoshop's Generative Expand, but frame-by-frame. If it's just one shot, that's what I would do. Here's the workflow for Premiere Pro: 1. Mark your ins and outs for the one shot 2. Go to export. 3. Export as TIFF 4. Be sure to click on "Match Source" so the quality is correct 5. Make sure "Export as Sequence" is checkmarked - Then export. You'll get an image for every frame of that shot. 6. In Photoshop, use generative expand for each image. 7. Once done, save each image 8. Import them back into Premiere pro and reduce their length to one frame. 8. Bonus - If all works out, highlight all the TIFF one frame images and right click on them once they are all highlighted and left click "Nest" so they are treated as one shot. -> It's time consuming, possibly 2-3 hours. But if you just have one shot, it's worth a shot...pun intended.

That’s not right that you weren’t duly credited.

I didn’t know there was a Premiere function that exports all frames from a sequence at once. Thank you for the detailed explanation. Unfortunately, I have three clips that I would need to convertm but it is a possibility. I wish Premiere Pro would launch those new features already!

I’m new at editing, but I can see that it’s a lot of work. Watching footage and B-rolls, and carefully putting a film or an entire series together must be tiring but also incredibly rewarding when you see how your editing decisions contributed to the final look of the film.

Thanks again for taking the time to share your experience and tips with us.

Gisele Orellana , it definitely can take its toll, especially in the children’s animation world. Ever listen to the intro music of a children’s cartoon about 80 times? Haha. That being said, the key to sanity, and a strong workflow, is to NOT get into the micro right away, but the macro. Whenever I start a new project, whether it’s a docuseries, children’s cartoon, or a trailer for a movie, my process is the same. I create three folders, or ‘bins,’ in Premiere Pro (or whatever editing software I’m using, since some studios prefer others), and the three bins are: Footage, Audio, and Old Sequences. I will have subfolders in Footage and Audio, of course (for example, a sound effects subfolder). Every day, without fail, I duplicate the previous day’s sequence, which has the date in its name, and put the previous day’s version in the Old Sequences folder. I then rename the duplicate to today’s sequence. That way, if you change your edit and the director or producer says, “Oh, I loved how we used to do it,” you can always go back.

What also speeds up editing is mapping your keyboard. I make sure I never have to look at my keyboard. All the keys I use—zoom in, zoom out, razor blade, or at least most of them—are on my left hand, while my right hand handles the mouse. I’m eventually going to teach a beginner’s course on efficiency in editing, no matter the production, because all these methods are essential, whether you stay freelance or want to work in a large studio system. Hope this helps!

I know what you mean. When you listen to the same track over and over when you are editing.

In the beginning, I organized everything into two bins, one for footage and one for audio where I added the preselected clips. But when I started adding more clips and sounds later on, I completely forgot about the bins and just dumped everything into the left panel. It’s a mess, I know.

Doing a third bin for old sequences sounds great because I duplicated sequences with previous versions but sometimes struggled to find them. Mapping my keyboard... I will look into that. As you can see, a course on efficiency for beginner editors is much needed.

Thanks again for responding to our questions thoroughly and your helpful tips, Joshua.

We’ve all been there—starting with YouTube is great, but keep in mind, most YouTubers are freelance video editors without studio experience. Popular videos like “Why I don’t use Adobe Premiere Pro anymore” or “Why Capcut is the one you should use” are common, but don’t take them too seriously. Studios have their own preferences, and the top two are Adobe Premiere Pro and Avid Media Composer. Final Cut is also used, mostly in smaller studios. The main difference lies in how each software handles media management—Avid is favored by IT professionals for this, though I find it clunkier than Premiere Pro. As a video editor, you should learn multiple tools, including DaVinci Resolve, which is popular in independent studios. But more user friendly editing tools like CapCut aren't designed for medium to large studios that need the media to sit in file servers for both media management as well as insurance reasons.

Yes, I've seen those videos.I hope to invest in an editing course from a professional editor in the future.

Thank you for mentioning the programs. I like Premiere Pro, but it takes up too much space on my hard drive and I wish it were a one-time payment.

One last question: Do you know the cheapest way to convert a video to DCP? I’ve seen some professional services, but I wonder if it can be done through Premiere Pro. I heard somewhere that the DCP feature in Premiere doesn’t work well.

I'd say most are moving to a subscription model so we're pretty much there anyways unfortunately. As far as hard drive space goes, that's another good point. So if you go to any mac store and tell them you're a video editor, they'll say, "Oh you need the biggest hard drive available." You don't. You need strong and fast USB-C external hard drives, assuming you're doing freelance work. I have a 1TB internal, but all my projects and premiere pro files sit on an external hard drive and a back up drive that isn't USB-C or fast. The backup can always be just a massive storage device. And people at the Apple stores are just trained to say that without any real world experience. Western Digital is a good brand, but I'm a big fan of the SanDisk 1TB Extreme Portable. They are expensive, but very much worth it. - As for DCP, one thing I've heard of multiple times is not so much exporting from Premiere Pro is an issue, it's creating a DCP using a Mac. However there are some good videos out there that suggest DCPoMatic that should resolve all of this. Check out the following - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJj_AAEty1A

We can keep Premiere Pro files on an external drive!

I'm not a freelance editor. I'm a screenwriter who recently produced a short film. Editing it, adding the music, and watching the story I wrote come to life was so exciting, so I would love to learn more about editing.

Thank you so much for the valuable information, Joshua, and for the You Tube link about the DCPoMatic. I'll check it out.

Joshua Young, do you use or recommend any specific programs, apps, calendars, to-do list systems, etc. for keeping organized when editing or when simply project managing so that nothing is missed or past-due throughout the process?

Ashley Renee Smith great question! Keeping organized while editing or managing projects is essential, whether you’re handling it solo or working with a team. Here’s my approach, broken down by budget tiers:

Tier #1 – No/Low Budget:

Google Drive or Dropbox are essentials here, and I prefer Google Drive for its ability to create shared spreadsheets and documents that everyone can update in real-time. Not to mention if it's a smaller project, Google Drive is easy for file transfer. Dropbox's one advantage is if there is an internet disruption, it will continue with the file transfer once you have internet again where google drive will just say upload or download is incomplete. I also subscribe to ChatGPT, not for creativity, but organization, which has been a huge help. For example, I was editing a horror trailer, and I woke up to nine back-and-forth emails between the director and producer about the edit. Rather than manually sorting through those, I pasted the email thread into ChatGPT and asked it to list actionable tasks, who requested what, and highlight any unresolved ideas. That saved me at least 30 minutes—probably more, considering I hadn’t had my caffeine yet!

Tier #2 – Small/Medium Budget:

Here, things get fancier. I love Frame.io for its simplicity. It can be in tier 1 as well. It lets you upload your latest edits, and the director/producer can make time-coded notes directly on the video. No more searching for timestamps or scattered feedback. Frame.io also integrates with most popular video editing software, so you see the notes right in your timeline!

For media sharing and management, depending on the budget, you might start using FTP for secure transfers or MAM systems like Wipster, Axle.ai, or Avid Nexis. MAMs can get complex and are often managed by IT, but they’re great for large-scale media management.

When it comes to calendars, one IT pro told me, “If you’ve got less than 200 people, don’t bother with Microsoft’s infrastructure.” I’ve found that to be solid advice, as Microsoft tends to work better for bigger teams.

Tier #3 – Big Budget:

At this stage, the studio will already have its go-to tools, and you won’t have much say in changing that—they’ve got hundreds of people using whatever system they’re set on. Here you'll find ShotGrid (formerly Shotgun), especially in the animation industry. Everyone hates it and everyone uses it. Movie Magic Scheduling, Asana, and more.

To summarize my go-to tools:

• Scheduling Software: Trello, Monday.com, ClickUp

• Communication Software: Slack, Microsoft Teams, Stack, and Discord (I’m on and off with Discord, but it’s out there!)

As a bonus concluding thought, I want to share something I learned when I project-managed the creation of two smartphone apps. Developers and programmers often follow the principle of the “least amount of clicks possible,” meaning you need to minimize the steps it takes for users to achieve their desired outcome. The more steps—or in this case, clicks—it takes, the more likely users are to lose interest. I’ve applied this same philosophy to post-production workflows, both for myself and for the teams I work with. When we simplify software or methodologies to the point where it feels effortless, people are more inclined to use them.

Take Zoom, for example. Have you ever noticed how when you join a meeting, it opens both a web browser and the home page of the app, before finally loading the actual meeting window? Meanwhile, those unnecessary tabs stay open. It’s a cumbersome process, and frankly, I’m surprised they haven’t streamlined it yet. It’s processes like these that we need to eliminate in post-production workflows.

For Editors:

One of the key ways to streamline your workflow is to reduce repetition. If you’re working on a show where every episode has the same intro, outro, or other recurring elements, create templates for those sequences instead of rebuilding them every time. This saves time and keeps your focus on creative work rather than repetitive tasks.

If you find yourself constantly looking down at your keyboard, that’s a sign that your key mappings aren’t efficient enough. Ideally, you shouldn’t have to look at your keyboard 90% of the time. Taking the time to customize your shortcuts will save you hours in the long run.

Also, stay on the lookout for automation tools. AI advancements, rolling out later this year and into early next, won’t replace editors but will enhance the speed and precision of your work. These tools will allow you to spend more time crafting the story rather than getting bogged down by tedious tasks.

Example tools:

• Generative Extend – Seamlessly extend or adjust footage.

• Object Addition & Removal – Add or remove elements from your scenes without reshooting.

• Generative B-Roll – Automatically create additional footage to support your edit.

• PhraseFind AI – Imagine searching not by file name or metadata, but by simply saying “Waterfall,” and it pulls every video and photo in your library with a waterfall. Gamechanger.

For Production Managers:

Many of the same principles apply to you. Whether it’s repetitive tasks, redundant approvals, or overly complex communication chains, always be on the lookout for ways to simplify your workflow. ChatGPT, for example, is a fantastic tool for managing projects, providing advanced web search capabilities, translating for overseas clients, and serving as a sounding board for brainstorming.

The goal is to automate where possible, freeing up your time to focus on high-level, strategic thinking. Ask yourself: What’s causing unnecessary work for your team, and how can you remove those roadblocks? By creating smoother workflows, you allow your team to work more efficiently and creatively, while reducing burnout.

This AMA has been fantastic Joshua Young. Couldn't thank you enough for all the info and especially for the new connection!

Thanks again for having this AMA, Joshua Young! I learned a lot!

Those ai tools for video sound amazing.

Thanks again, Joshua. All the best with your projects.

Thank you for such a fantastic and informative AMA, Joshua Young!

Joshua Young I have a question, has AI helped with production in any way as in streamlining it? there has been a big deal made of using AI for movies, TV shows, and animation. do you find it helpful? or are there limits to how much it's used?

Great question! Sorry I was late in responding. So there are two types of AI even though fear mongering has created a public perspective that there’s just one: AI as a tool or AI as a Replacement. Both exist and we should, to a degree, resist against the replacement version. I say to a degree because every technological breakthrough results in job loss and job creation. Think of typing pools in the 60s how they transformed having dozens of people, mostly women, into one person with a personal computer, or just a few.

So here are some amazing AI tools coming out and some that exist, as well as my thoughts on some of the scarier ones you see like text-to-video, which is getting closer to perfection every day.

AI Tools That Help Post Production

ChatGPT - Most don’t think of it for post-production, but it’s incredibly powerful. Let’s say you get a bunch of back and forth emails from the client and the director and you don’t want to sift through to figure out what you need to do, what they are still debating about and so on. Copy and paste all the emails and tell ChatGPT to sort them into to-do lists and state who said to do what and make another list showing what is still being discussed. Let’s say you’re a video editor and you’re working on a trailer that is going to be HD, but they sent you 3K footage and you want to know how much you can zoom in on a shot percentage-wise before you lose picture quality. Pump the information into ChatGPT.

Adobe Premiere Pro AI Tools (Current) - Text-Based Editing, Speech to text for transcription and more, scene edit detection, Remix tool (my favourite), enhance speech, auto color…the list can go on.

Note: I use a mixture of ChatGPT and Adobe Premiere Pro as well. When an edit of a video is done, let’s say it needs to go to YouTube, I’ll export the transcript created from the final edit, paste it into ChatGPT and tell it to act as a YouTube and SEO expert and use the transcript to: Create a concise paragraph for YouTube description using popular keywords for SEO that are in the transcript, chapter everything, and give me thirty keywords to use as tags.

DaVinci Resolve AI Tools (Current) - DaVinci Neural Engine, Magic Mask, IntelliTrack AI, Dialogue Separator FX, Face Refinement, Music Remixer FX, text-based timeline editing, Ultra NR…

Both Final Cut Pro and Avid Media Composer have similar or slightly different AIs as well.

Future (as in later this year and next year) AI features coming to many editing systems include: Generative Extend (An AI will extend a video’s length by creating more footage. Yes, you heard right), Object Addition, Object Removal (no more After Effects needed for this), Semantic Embeddings, PhraseFind AI, ScriptSync AI, Conversational Editing…

Text-to-Video AI

This is the big one. This is what everyone is freaking out about, or it’s one of the top ones everyone is freaking out about, and with good reason. Anyone who says we are years away from this being perfected are grossly incorrect. In North America, our progress is slow. In China, the AI MiniMax is incredible. So we are a year away at most because China knows how to dish out new software faster than most countries. The problem is we will get a massive influx of incredible text-to-video online.

Its Current Limitations

Camera Angles / Movement - Currently most, if not all, text-to-video AIs put the subjects in more “presentational” positions with very limited camera movement and camera angles. It’s fine for social media, but not great for telling stories. This will be fixed in less than a year, however, and we’re seeing great strides already.

Cartoon Rigging - If I worked at an animation studio and saw the cartoons people can create, I’d be scared. That being said, we are still a year or two away before someone can simply say to an AI, “make the dog do this instead,” and it will do it perfectly. We’re getting there, but not there yet. So the current limitation with AI is that it creates cartoons that have no ‘rigging’ or ‘bones’ to their character so that a real Animator could make adjustments to fix imperfections or change things around for a director.

Bad Storytellers - At the end of the day, whoever is the pilot of the ship is in command and although we see great visuals, I see nothing but subpar storytelling. Yes, ChatGPT is getting better at telling stories, however, if I’m not a trained storyteller, I can find it hard to tell if a story is good or bad. So the people that would benefit the most from ChatGPT, just as an example, are great storytellers because they have a strong foundation themselves. So at the end of the day, whether you’re a writer, a video editor, a director etc…, if you’re not great at it, you won’t know how to use AI to create something better! If you are great and have a strong foundation, then you can utilize it better. We see this all the time in education where someone with a little bit of knowledge asks limiting questions, but someone with a greater knowledge base for a topic can ask more incredible questions. So it will always end up in the hands of the creatives.

I agree with you on the fact that you can use it for pitch presentations to make short animated storyboards and such, and I see AI as being a tool rather than a crutch or cure-all for things. thanks for answering my question.

Joshua Young thanks for for insight. It seems like we need a AMA Pre-Production Workflow Lounge from taking a script to storyboards to (to the very expensive) to the Linear Editor.

We humans are rarely open to expectations written by a human from another culture much less AI.

I am not worried about AI ever having the craft to write with human emotion, (the expectation of that emotion is it's genre) without that emotion (some people now call that a connection) how will an human audience ever expect to feel something written by AI?

Pre-Production - Absolutely. I feel the film industry is behind the times when it comes to utilizing the latest tools for pre-production. An AMA on that would be fantastic. Like I think I said in a previous comment, "solving it in pre-production is the key."

AI & Human Emotion:

I agree that a part of the soul of the creator is lost, however, given my daily work with AI, I'm sad to report, AI can absolutely mimic human emotion enough for someone to believe it. With the recent issue with Lionsgate giving access to Runway, an AI model, it really is only a matter of a year, possibly two, before someone can simply upload a script and the movie is made by AI. I know how crazy this sounds, but it's technically possible to do it now.

Here's an example right now. I just asked ChatGPT to write a fictional letter from a parent to a child who is moving away for college. Although it's not perfection, you can tell that it's good.

Hey sweetheart,

As you’re getting ready to head off to college, I’ve been thinking a lot about all the little moments we’ve shared. It feels like just yesterday I was chasing you around the house, trying to get you to put your shoes on before school, and now here you are, packing for a whole new adventure. I’m so proud of you, and I know this next chapter is going to be amazing, but I’d be lying if I said I won’t miss seeing your face every day. Remember how every night, when you were little, I’d say, ‘You can take on anything, just don’t forget to come home for dinner’? It always made you laugh, but now I think it means even more. You really can take on anything, and while you’re out there doing that, I’ll be right here, waiting with open arms—and maybe a home-cooked meal too.

Love you more than words,

Mom/Dad

That is good letter full of Human Emotions!