Sam Platner, CRAS AES
This meeting was led by Sam Plooter and he described the world of post production for film. He went in depth about what each job does and where it falls on the totem pole. He described what the difference was between working union or working non-union and he showed us some projects that he has worked on in the past.
The main purpose of the post production job is primarily to tell a story that the film is trying to portray. 99% of the sound we hear in a film is not what was originally recorded on set with the microphones they use. On set they use up to 8 microphones, sometimes more. mostly lavaliere and boom mikes, but sometimes there are hidden mics in the bushes or somewhere on set that the camera can't see. All of this audio from the initial shoot is taken used as a guide track for the post engineers
This sound first goes to the the video editor. He puts in some of his own sounds so that he can reference back a forth between that and the video. Then the sounds goes to the dialogue editor, and the sound designer. This is where all the final product originates from. This is also where the background editor position is. This position is the first job you might be able to get in the world of post production.
Sam went on to talk to us about union vs. non union jobs. Union jobs are more fun because they are larger and actually work on the big movies that come out in theaters. You also get to watch a lot, which is where you learn the most. Non-union jobs tend to be smaller production companies with higher turning over rates, primarily because people move around to the bigger studios from there. But that also means there is a lot of professional growth potential.
"What will help benefit someone going into the post production profession?" To that sam told us to start listening to sound libraries. Listen to professionals and see what it is that they do that makes their sounds so special. Learn to pick it out and start recording some of your own libraries. Basically just listen what sounds good and repeat it. Thats the way of the business.
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