Preparing for Post

AUDIO FOR FILM, PART 1

Dailies

The first step in preparing the film for post production is to prepare the 'dailies'. Start with processing the film negative to a printed positive. At the same time, transfer the 1/4-inch audio tapes or DATS to sprocketed magnetic film, or 'mag'.

The film editor or assistant will begin to sync up the dailies by aligning the slate impacts. This is done by first watching the film and bringing the picture to where the slate closes.

Next, they listen to the audio mag and bring it to where the audio impact is heard. They trim picture and sound tight to the impact, and put aside the excess.

They carefully check the length of both elements, ensuring they are exactly the same length before splicing the next scene onto the tail leader and continuing.

EDGECODE

After the dailies have been synced, both the picture and sound reels will then have matching edge number codes inked onto them. These numbers help identify the frames, reels etc, assisting with synchronisation later on, during editing.

The footage from the previous day is screened in sync at the dailies. Here, the producer, director, cinematographer, client, and key crew members get to evaluate what was shot. It is very important for the supervising sound editor to attend whenever possible or as needed.

SYNC BLOCK

After inserting the trimmed film and mag into a synch block and attaching a length of leader tape onto the head, the assistant rolls the picture and sound throught the sync block until the end of the scene. They then attach a length of leader tape onto the tails.