We are now within a week of locking the edit. So, what does that mean “lock the edit”?

The post production process up to this point has been all about editing. Assembling shots and visuals and cutting them together to tell a story. Some visuals are cut for mystery and intrigue. Others are cut together for action and danger. Yet, others are cut for relationships and connecting. Each feel has it’s own style of editing. Action and danger is cut tight, interupted and fast. Yet mystery is cut methodically, slowly and unrevealing at times.

At one point, however, we must lock the edit. That means no more changes. No more additions, no more cuts, no adding or removing frames. You lock the edit so that we can…

1. Start color correcting the shots. A little blue here, a little orange there, a little darker here, a little lighter there, etc. The first step is balance the footage. Then, once it’s balanced, then we use color to increase the mystery, action or romance.

2. Secondly, we need a locked it to start all of the audio work, which includes scoring the film, adding the sound effects and then mixing it all together. This also includes re-recording any audio that needs cleaner sound. This is called ADR (Automatic Dialogue Replacement).

3. Add any special effects to the shots–add gun blasts, remove boom mics, fix continuity issues, etc.

Locking the edit has been a bit intimidating for me. It’s like an artist being told that by 5pm tomorrow, your painting, your art must be finished so they can start framing it.

An artist’s work is never finished, just abandoned.