The post-production team plays a vital role in bringing the vision of a project to life. To do this, they need the right tools to make the editing process efficient and effective. Here are our top six tools every post-production team needs:

Crispin editing Nomadic’s recent TV ad for Cove UK

Post-production is a crucial part of the filmmaking process that involves editing and polishing the footage to create a final product. The post-production team plays a vital role in bringing the vision of a project to life. To do this, they need the right tools to make the editing process efficient and effective. Here are our top six tools every post-production team needs:

Non-linear editing software is the backbone of the post-production process. It allows editors to manipulate and rearrange footage in a non-destructive way. Many different non-linear editing software options are available, including Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro X, and Avid Media Composer. Choose the software that best suits your needs and workflow. For example, if you do a lot of work in After Effects, you might want to edit in Premiere to keep the project within Adobe programs. Or, you might prefer editing in Final Cut Pro X and colour grading in DaVinci Resolve, so you might end up using both software.

Colour grading is the process of adjusting the colours of the footage to create a consistent look and feel. Colour grading software, such as DaVinci Resolve, allows post-production teams to make colour adjustments to individual clips or the entire project. This tool is crucial for creating a professional look and feel for your project. We at Nomadic UK have recently switched to using DaVinci Resolve for editing and colour grading over Final Cut Pro X due to the streamlined workflow between the editing and colour grading stages, and it’s been a real game changer for our video output. The Nomads are constantly in pursuit of elevation and the move to DaVinci Resolve has pushed the quality of our work to the next step. Look at the difference between these two stills of the same image:

Before & After: We have seen a significant improvement in our colour grading results after moving from Final Cut Pro X (above) to DaVinci Resolve (below).

One way to add an extra bit of magic to your video projects is through animation and visual effects, and one of the best softwares for this is Adobe After Effects. After Effects is used for compositing video, creating visual effects and motion graphics, and there is so much you can do with it from character animation to some of the visual effects in Iron Man, this software is an industry standard. In terms of visual effects, you can add objects (real or animated) to your footage, remove useless or distracting objects from footage (even pesky skin blemishes!), enhance natural elements, or add a range of additional effects like snow, rain, glow, or magic particles. Also, if you are filming with a green screen, After Effects makes it very simple to remove the background and replace it with whatever you want.

You can also create entire 2D or 3D animations from scratch in After Effects, and can import compositions from Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop to easily animate. This is great for brand films where they already have branded assets created. Text animations are also great to create within After Effects, as you have much more freedom and control than in a typical editing software.

Our in-house animator Vlada working on a recent 2D character animation in After Effects.

One of the best ways to ensure that a post-production team is well-equipped for a project is by getting the pre-production right. If there is a clear vision for the project, complete with a storyboard and script, it ensures that everyone is working towards the same end goal, and ultimately, the vision will be easier to achieve. The production team on set will capture the footage as close to the script and storyboard as they can, and when the post-production team brings that footage into the edit, they can then craft a great finished product. When there isn’t a clear vision to begin with, it can have a knock-on effect throughout the whole process. We’ve worked with companies like Grohanger on projects that involved taking a concept through the early stages of planning, storyboarding and scriptwriting to filming and editing the final video projects. This means that we can handle every stage of a video project.

Sound is just as important as visuals in the filmmaking process. If you’re watching a film and the visuals look great, but you can’t hear any of the dialogue, you aren’t going to have a very pleasant viewing experience!

Audio editing software, such as Adobe Audition or Pro Tools, allows post-production teams to edit, mix, and master the sound for their project. This tool is essential for ensuring the audio quality matches the visual quality of the footage.

The benefit of using a specific audio software is the flexibility in tools inside of it. Using EQ, compression and automation are some of the common ways you would mix dialogue with music. It’s the glueing together that make the final product a lot more immersive.This tool is essential for ensuring the audio quality matches the visual quality of the footage.

Post-production teams often need to collaborate on projects with team members in different locations. Cloud storage and collaboration tools, such as Dropbox or Google Drive, allow teams to share files and work on projects together in real-time. This tool makes it easier for teams to work remotely and stay on the same page throughout the post-production process. Nomadic UK uses Dropbox to collaborate internally and externally, although of course many of the companies we work with have their own preferred software for collaborating on and sharing work. Our approach is always flexible, so we work the way you need us to meaning that it’s easy for us to become a part of your extended team.

Post-production teams work with a lot of different files and assets, including video footage, sound clips, graphics, and more. Asset management software, such as Frame.io, allows teams to organise and manage all of their assets in one place. This tool makes it easier to find and access the assets you need for your project.

As an editor, most of the time you are working to a brief. This is an important document that should be followed to fulfil the clients expectations. A lot of the time clients will have feedback and will need certain things changing to fully align the video with their needs. A good feedback system is an essential tool to streamline the amending process. An email can at times be confusing, or be interpreted in different ways, but a client can give more context and be more specific when using online software such as Frame.io & Vimeo review. These allow a client to pinpoint the exact location of the change and give easy feedback to be amended. The post-production team can even tick off each item as it’s done, and add comments, making it very clear what has been done, and noting why something might have been done differently.

In conclusion, post-production teams need the right tools to make the editing process efficient and effective. Non-linear editing software, colour grading software, audio editing software, cloud storage and collaboration tools, and asset management software are all essential for post-production teams. By using these tools, Nomadic can easily create a high-quality final product that meets the needs of its clients or audiences every single time.