The Truth About Post

Post People Identify Opportunities, Money Pits, Key Technologies and Attitudes about Their Jobs

By Alison Johns

March 1, 2004    Source: Film & Video

What exactly is a post company? At one extreme it could be a guy with a cell phone and a tricked-out Mac running Final Cut Pro in his living room, and at the other a full-service operation offering everything from film scanning to final copies. In between are "creative editing" boutiques that may be expanding into other endeavors like finishing and DVD authoring, or once-large facilities that have rethought their business models and reformulated as a series of smaller, specialized companies. It could be a new operation specializing in planning workflows and managing data input and output for clients who want to work off-site, or a company focused on servicing an emerging niche at the high end, like digital intermediates. Add audio post and visual-effects design operations to fill out the mix.

Our survey indicates that two trends broadly unify these companies. First, regardless of their particular business models, they face the challenge of negotiating many more alternatives in their workflow process. The spread of nonlinearity and improved storage and sharing are largely responsible for the change at the post end. Second, production and post-production are more closely knit than ever — 90 percent of respondents indicated this reality was shaping their businesses. This is a nod to powerful innovation in electronic cinematography and even consumer cameras and lenses in the last several years. The new fluidity in workflow means more new revenue streams, strategic partnerships, reduced profitability in certain areas and, necessarily, plenty of confusion.

The Big Earners and the Money Pits of 2003

Finishing— telecine, conforming, visual effects and compositing— was rated by more respondents as "very profitable" than any other service offered by post companies in 2003. Forty-five percent rated it a big earner. Graphics, titling and effects design, which could be considered a subset of finishing in some cases, came in second (44 percent) and not far behind was offline, cited by 37 percent.

Growth in finishing is largely fueled by ad agency clients taking every opportunity to perfect their spots and by TV producers looking to add more effects and to accentuate a look in color correction. While Steve McCoy, a longtime commercial editor and president of LA -based FilmCore, does not see an up-tick in "offline," he does see more volume in finishing. "The expectation of being able to make spots flawless through digital manipulation will continue to push 2D/3D, finishing and sound," he says.

Heidi Habben, executive VP at Crash & Sue in Minneapolis, runs an operation that is long known for its color-correction, graphics and finishing, but also sports Final Cut Pro editing as well as Discreet finishing tools Inferno, Fire and Flame. "Many times, if we’re in a time crunch with an effects-heavy job, our offline becomes our online and we’re finishing in our Final Cut suites, which have [Pinnacle] CinéWave cards." It goes the other way too. "We’ve also done a creative edit in Fire."

Visual effects work will edge out creative editing for sheer profitability in 2004, according to Michelle Brunwasser, who recently joined Sideshow Creative in Manhattan as GM and head of business development. "We’re finishing in Flame and Smoke because graphics and effects are so prevalent in so many of the boards we do now," she says. ( Sideshow offers concept through finished production services.)

The second issue in the pipeline dilemma is a profusion of formats from consumer DV to HD. (Don’t laugh— the first pilot using JVC’s single-chip JY-HD10U camera is already in the can, at a reported savings of several hundred thousand dollars.) We asked post-production companies if clients are more demanding of custom pipelines that mix and match multiple formats from mini-DV to HD. Eighty-four percent of respondents agreed either strongly (34 percent) or somewhat (50 percent).

Offline: Will Clients Be Doing It for Themselves?

Offline, or creative editing was considered to be the second most profitable service post companies offer and also one of the biggest revenue growth areas in 2004. Are these companies underestimating the effect on their business of clients running Avid Xpress DV or Final Cut Pro on their laptops and cutting on the plane, train or at home? Probably not. Seventy-eight percent indicated that they expected their clients to do more of their own nonlinear editing.

It’s inevitable that the FireWire crowd will change the approach of creative services editing companies. Crash & Sue’s Habben reports, "We see a lot of clients coming in with Final Cut Pro, and they’re going to keep doing it. We’re trying to make it so that their EDL translates very smoothly."

While the migration of technology to accessible laptop versions is unnerving to editorial house executives, most of them find solace in the old joke, "What’s the difference between a receptionist and an editor?" The punch line is "clients," and ultimately they’re attracted by craft.

"Nowadays the offline technical ability is available to everyone," says Jonathan Hinman. "I’m not saying that offline is dying for us. It’s not. Our clients have access to offline technology, but they still come to us for the talent."

In fact, servicing the FireWire crowd could create new jobs. "There’s going to be a bigger demand for data services," says Post Group Chief of Technical Services Joe Ralston. "A lot of clients are working at home and doing a lot of graphics on a G5 and will need us to take the DV data off their FireWire drives and go to high-def or SD DigiBeta." Data needs to move the other way also, he notes, from the Inferno back to the G5. "That requires a data manager." Ralston says.

Talent: Psyched or Stressed?

"Technology has unchained people," says Steve McCoy of FilmCore, an LA -based member of the Ascent Media group, "at the same time it’s put a greater set of demands on them." Eighty-nine percent of our respondents reported that their jobs had changed, either radically or moderately, due to technical innovation in the last several years.

The effect of technology on the jobs of post workers has been overwhelmingly positive. Sixty-three percent told us they were satisfied at new creative challenges. Half indicated they were pleased at expected career growth and increased earning potential.

But the forward momentum of technology has not been without some more challenging effects. Stress is the most frequently cited downside of technical progress. Nearly half indicated that they were expected to do more in the same amount of time. Concern about job security was on the minds of nearly one-quarter of our respondents.

The higher-end the company, the bigger the gulf becomes between stress at "being able to do more in less time" and contentment about career growth. The stress factor is double at companies that make big capital expenditures on technology, reflecting the pressure to innovate.

Job satisfaction is higher at smaller companies with less of an investment in technology— perhaps because the expectation to learn new technology is less pressing. Only 34 percent of respondents at companies planning to spend between $51K-100K on equipment and software in 2004 indicated that they were more stressed as a result of technical innovation in their jobs. Compare that to 100 percent registering anxiety in the $501 million category and 86 percent in the over- $1 million group. Frequently a very high percentage indicates that they’re also happy about the career growth facilitated by technical advances in their tools.

It’s not only the editors, VFX designers and colorists who feel the effect of technology. Management is feeling the pressure to be more up-to-date on the technical details that could affect how projects move through the pipeline. "I’d say that it probably affects the producer the most, because he has to determine the best workflow," says Phoenix’s Hinman. "It used to be that a job could come in and a producer would know exactly what pipeline to send it down. Now every project requires that a producer meet with the editor, the effects director, the graphic designer, and the online editor in order to figure out how to execute."

The producer is not only under pressure to understand more granular details of boxes along the pipeline, he’s also least happy with his compensation. Thirty-six percent of producers indicated that they were dissatisfied with their salaries. Editors and graphic/VFX designers had a much lower rate of feeling under-compensated, with only 23 percent in each group indicating they were not happy.

Another question for the producer or management is whether or not to let a newly empowered editor handle a specific task just because he can. "One of my struggles," says Crash & Sue’s Habben, "is to tell a Fire editor or an Inferno person that something isn’t their area of expertise."

It seems that many are uneasy with the gradual loss of specialization in post jobs. Most of these crafts are becoming more inclusive, tentatively pushing at responsibilities handled in the past by people sitting in other rooms. "The world of the single-task box, like the telecine, is evaporating," says iO’s Mullican. "And that goes hand-in-hand with the single-task person. The role of the straight-up colorist, for example, will be greatly diminished." Mullican feels that the environment of the digital intermediate will be best inhabited by someone with the abilities of an editor, a colorist and an effects designer.

What Keeps Them Up at Night?

In aggregate, post companies are equally concerned by how to land the next job (53 percent), the economy (50 percent) and building new revenue streams (45 percent). Developing new sources of revenue becomes more of a concern at companies spending over $1 million for technology in 2004. Weathering a still-tentative economy is of greater concern to smaller companies. To reinforce their operations this year, post facilities are expanding to offer more services (35 percent) and building partnerships with other service providers (22 percent). Very few companies reported downsizing, with only 5 percent cutting jobs recently.

One of the occupational hazards of the post business is that few people are spared steep learning curves, whether they’re in the financial end of the business, engineering or the darkened editing and graphics suites. Some years are tougher than others, but this year the readiness of clients to move decisively to slow-brewing technologies like HD and digital intermediates and a gradually recovering economy combine to suggest that 2004 may be a strong year for the diversified world of post.