Common Problems Faced In Post And How To Fix Them

You’ve captured all your footage and you’re ready to start the long editing process. Whether you’re working in fiction or nonfiction, not much can destroy morale like realizing the shots you worked so hard to get aren’t as perfect as you thought. Though the phrase “fix it in post” is not always the best thing to plan on when shooting, you certainly can fix faulty shots, or at least take your work from “sucky” to “less sucky.”

Here are some common problems faced in post production and how to fix them.

Jump Cuts in A-Roll

The interview shots, or A-Roll, of a package are the lifeblood of the narrative, but once you trim them to fit your narrative, you will inevitably have jump cuts. The best way to fix this is to place B-Roll in between the cuts. Ideally, an interview package should consist of only ten percent A-Roll and the rest should be relevant B-Roll.

If you don’t have access to B-Roll, you can make the cuts less jarring by playing around with the zoom between shots. Zooming in or out slightly alerts the audience that they’re looking at something new and makes the jump cut look like less of a mistake.

To zoom in or out using Adobe Premiere, select the clip, go to Effect Controls, hover over Scale, and drag right or left.

There’s A Click or Pop Sound Between Two Cuts

When there’s audio at the very end of one cut and the very start of the next, the audio will peak and you’ll hear a click or pop sound when playing through the two cuts. To fix this, right click the transition between the two cuts and select “Apply Default Transitions.” This will put a Cross Dissolve on the footage and a Constant Power Fade on the audio. Delete the Cross Dissolve and drag the Constant Power Fade to as small as it can be as to not cut out the audio you want to hear. This should ensure a smooth auditory transition between cuts.

Lighting is Bad or Overexposed

When starting out, it’s hard to know exactly what lighting will translate to in the shot, so you may accidentally “ruin the shot.” The truth is, you can’t fix bad lighting, but you can distract the audience to the point where they don’t notice it.

First, attack the visual problem. Throw a filter on the whole project and the audience may not notice the mistake, or they might even think it was intentional. Sometimes an old timey filter can make your film look vintage and more professional.

Additionally, adding music to the production where lighting is bad may distract the audience from the issue. If you think the pros don’t use this tactic, you’re wrong.

Bad Audio

You can’t revive bad audio, but you can redo it. If the issue lies within dialogue, have your actors come back in and dub over the poorly captured audio using a mic. It’s tricky to match words to the exact movement of their mouths on screen, but a few tries and persistency should do the trick.

If the issue lies within sounds other than dialogue, simply re-record the sound yourself or pull a sound effect from online(royalty free of course).

Though this list is limited, these are arguably the most common problems that you’ll have to fix in post.

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact us.