The third and final chapter of my On Client Relations series is here! I know you’ve been waiting with baited breath.

Post-production is in some ways simpler than pre-pro and the process of a shoot. You’ve done the work of coordinating dozens of people and making them understand and work towards a shared vision. In the type of low-budget commercial, TV, and feature film work I’ve done, the pipeline narrows to include only a few: the editor(s), the animators/VFX artists (if applicable), the colorist, the audio engineers, the post-production supervisor, the director, and the client.

In other ways, it is the most complicated part of the video-making process. It’s often the period when client relations become the most strained, and the long hours editors and other specialists must put in are grueling. It’s also the period where timelines get the most compressed, the most often. Even more so than the rest of production, people outside of post tend to underestimate how difficult it is, and therefore create opportunities for failure.

Now, I can only speak about my personal experience as a freelancer and a former member of the team at ECG Productions. Other post houses likely do it a little differently, and certainly the budgets can vary wildly. But luckily, this series is about client relations, not the whole of post-production, so I’ll try to focus on what I believe makes any post process the same, rather than opening the can of worms containing all the factors that make them different.

What Makes Post-Production So Hard on Client Relations?

*“It’s not you, it’s your choice of stock music.”*

Well, I’ll start with the disclaimer to get it out of the way: Most of the time, it isn’t. If you’ve done your job up to this point and your client is a reasonable human being, post isn’t any more difficult on client relations than any other part of the process. However, what we’re interested in here is how and why it can go wrong and the steps we take to avoid those scenarios.

Alignment of Vision

So, why is post such a hurdle? In essence, I believe it’s because the first version of a video that you send your client—called the R1 or the V1—is the first real test of your alignment with your client’s vision. Despite everything that came before—the pre-vis, the style samples, the casting, the test shots, the actual shots—nothing compares to seeing the whole thing put together for the first time.

If you don’t think there are a million different ways to take a video after the shoot is complete, you, my friend, are not an editor. You’re rarely if ever going to 100% nail the video on the first pass. If you’re at 80% alignment or more, that’s great (typically elicits a “Great work!” or “I’ve got just a few tweaks, but we’re right there”). 60% alignment? That’s workable, but worrying (“A good first effort, but we’ve got some work to do”). If that first version doesn’t line up with the client’s expectations even halfway, you could be in for a bumpy ride.

Project Fatigue

*No one looks like this while editing.*

*I’d be more fatigued by being an Arizona Cardinals fan.*

Much like a successful pre-pro process, post relies heavily on the frequency and quality of your communication with your client. Unfortunately, the reality is that by the time post-production rolls around, some folks will be fatigued and just want the thing to be done. Getting a video shot is a Herculean (some would say Sisyphean) feat; it feels unfair to then have to go through another gauntlet that takes just as much time if not more. In pre, the client is fresh. In post, they, like you, are tired.

Seemingly Arcane Practices

*Summoning a familiar or implementing a Rec.709 LUT?*

*You be the judge.*

While the demands of pre-production are many and not easy, they’re often similar to the jobs clients do themselves, especially if they’re a marketing division: We’re making decks, sharing samples, booking talent, etc. No one is asking why the actors need to be available on the day of the shoot—it’s intuitive.

They might, however, be more perplexed about why the animators need their company logos and fonts, and in something called “vector format” no less. “Can’t your team just go to our website and copy the fonts from there?”

I’m not joking. I’ve seen that happen multiple times with major corporations.

“They Do That Stuff in Movies!”

There is a stark difference in post between what’s theoretically possible and what’s possible within the constraints of the budget.

You say, “Isn’t that true for production, too?” And the answer is both yes and no. But for whatever reason, the costs associated with the elements of production are easier for people to comprehend. Why do we have 5 extras instead of 20? More people = more money. Better camera? More money. Fancier location? More money.

There are acceptably finite limits to what can be achieved for a production, whereas the general thought when it comes to post is occasionally that anything is possible—you and your team just need to work harder. If all it requires is one person putting in hours of labor and they’re incurring no hard costs, then they should just do it, right?

Editors and other post-production personnel tend to get more of the “artist treatment,” where people assume you love what you do so much that you should be willing to do it all the time at no additional charge.

So, yes—it’s theoretically possible to mask out Henry Cavill’s mustache in post, but we don’t have the time, the money, or the plugins to do it for a commercial with an overall budget of $30K.

*Personally, I’d replace Henry Cavill with this guy.*

*Zak Snyder, call me! I can fix everything.*

Giving Notes

Giving notes on videos is hard. It’s not the same as saying “yes” or “no” to a prop. There are many things going on at once—sound, color, performance, etc. You usually have to watch a video many times to catch everything. Even then, it can be hard to put your finger on why something is bothering you. I say this from experience as a director and an editor! You can watch a competent edit and know something is wrong, but struggle to articulate it.

This can lead to clients hyper-fixating on details, or giving extremely specific notes without additional context. Notes like, “Move the line at 00:02:14:10 to 00:12:23:01” are actionable in one sense, but if the editor doesn’t understand the intent behind them, they may create further problems. Almost every note, particularly those regarding clip selection, order, and duration, has a ripple effect on the rest of the video.

A good editor will read into the intention (the all-important “note behind the note”) and course correct. A busy or inexperienced editor may not take the time to do so if the manner in which they receive notes makes them feel like a cog in a machine.

*This is how every client looks when they’re leaving notes.*

*You can’t tell me otherwise.*

Lastly, I’m just going to put this out into the aether and hope it sinks in for someone. Please do not ask your editors, “Is this the best take?” Your editor is never, I repeat, never not using what they believe to be the best take. Their priorities may be different—the editor may value performance over camera focus while the client values the opposite—but the editor will always do what they think is best at that moment. They want you to approve the video! Why would they make it worse on purpose?

If you ask ,“Is this the best take?” The editor will think that you don’t respect them and that you don’t know how to ask for what you want. Because when you say those dreaded words, what you’re really saying is, “I don’t like X in this take, is there another take where we don’t see as much of it?” Or something to that effect. Asking about “the best take” is thoughtless and lazy.

Ok, rant over.

Managing the Madness

In short, the ways in which a video transitions from raw footage to finished product are sometimes thought akin more to wizardry than labor. Education is helpful, but you’re more likely to get glazed eyes and unread emails over the intricacies of post than you are in pre.

*The many faces of post-production? No, just some weird eggs.*

It helps to create a clear, itemized schedule for your deliverables and get it approved ahead of time. If they’re 2 business days late with feedback, the delivery date for the next iteration gets pushed back 2 business days. Make sure there’s no doubt about the number of videos you’re making, the number of rounds of revision the client has, and that there will be monetary consequences if they want either of those numbers to go up.

Many, if not all, of the strategies I described in the pre-pro section of this trilogy are still applicable in post. Be clear, be patient, be pleasant, and document everything. Since the client may never see the editor, the audio team, or the colorist in person, it can be valuable to name them in your communications and make it clear that every request the client makes must be completed by a person—just because it involves a computer doesn’t mean it’s automated.

In the same vein, it can be useful to have clients in for supervised edit sessions so they can see changes happen in real time and react to them. Sometimes you think you want something, then you see it and know immediately that you were wrong. It happens to the best of us! This strategy is particularly useful if you’re sensing stress or frustration from the client. People are almost universally more understanding and more pleasant in person than they are via email.

That’s it! My overview on client relations is complete, at least for now. If anyone disagrees with me or has insights to add, I’m dying to know. Thanks for reading!

The Crosspatch Times 8 - On Client Relations, Pt. 3: Post-Production