Hello, I’m Nicholas King, and I’d like to show you why I enjoy the post-production process in film. This Senior Project is focused on the work done to finalize the short film “Critical Hit to my Heart”, a production made for the COMM 465 Capstone Project. This short film is a story of love, understanding, and looking deeper into those around you. My work with my team was primarily focused on ensuring that our filming and planning were conducive to creating a fantastic final product. From pre-planning designs and VFX shots, to aiding the film crew during shoots, and working with my team to get the finished product to a high-quality, professional level.
Why Post-Production/Editing?
I’ve always been a storyteller at heart, and I find the post-production process to be my best avenue to tell my stories. I want to take the mundane and make it fantastical, eye-catching, and memorable. This project felt like the perfect fit for me to work on my skills and see if I can hack it as an editor and VFX artist. I wanted to work with a team that knew what it was doing, and see how I could work in such a professional setting.
Working alongside our director, I was able to explore different methods for how to effectively communicate the story and themes without being ‘ham-fisted’ for the audience. We kept things light-hearted, given our production was based on Hallmark films. I wanted to see how I could keep those themes while adding my ideas and storytelling quirks with the director’s vision.
Process
Many may believe the editing and post-production only takes place “in post”, but that is far from the truth. My work began alongside the pre-production and planning stages of the project.
Pre-Production
My immediate work started in researching specific aspects of the film we would need. Given the fantasy aspects of the film, we would need multiple assets to sell the ‘magic’ in a fantasy world.
I started working on finding audio assets we would need for sound effects, background music/ambience, and transitioning between reality and fantasy shots. While I had a small, personal library of sound effects I had license to, I needed to study the kinds of shots we were doing and the script so that I could find things that matched the tones and themes we were aiming for.
I also began working on learning how to create Visual Effects (or VFX) that would enhance specific shots within our fantasy sections. I started in Blender, a free 3D modeling software, to see what was possible to translate from there into our film. After many attempts and hours of research, I found that it would be far easier to use DaVinci Resolve’s Fusion functions to generate the effects we were looking for.
Visual notes for potential VFX we want to incorporate
Production
My work in production was primarily in assisting the crew in setting up scenes, judging the way shots were set up to ensure we were clear and following the needs of the story. I also provided notes and ideas to the director to help enhance the lines and shots of actors to make them more engaging on screen.
Post-Production
I began my work on creating a ‘Trailer Cut’ of the footage, which is a rough assembly of the primary selling shots I wanted for the Senior Showcase. Working with my director, I was able to create a brief trailer that would grab the audience’s attention and give them a grasp of what the story was about. Using her guidance and aid, I also made the Title Card animation in Blender.
Once the trailer was finished, I moved on to the Assembly Cut, which would be the rough draft of our final product. Upon getting everything organized and placed in the timeline, we realized we may have overscoped this project, having gone way beyond the 8-minute time limit for the assignment.
My director and I began to cut down as much as we could in preparation for the student-run Cineburg Film Festival, hosted by one of my classmates. We made the executive decision to make two cuts of the film, an “Assignment Cut” to turn in to our professor, and a “Director’s Cut” to submit to the film festival.
I began poring over my visual effects practice and assets to get them ready for the cuts.
Practice attempt at one of the VFX shots
After the color grading was conducted by my teammate, we were ready to finalize the VFX and finish the project for Cineburg. Given how much time I took to get the VFX prepared, it was essentially “Plug and Play”, where I could drop and tweak the effects quickly to the footage, and had it done fairly quickly.
While it was debuted at Cineburg, the film was cut short due to scheduling issues with the theater we were working with. Our planned release online was to follow after the Spring 2025 semester had ended, but our director made the executive decision to release it shortly after the Cineburg Film Festival, so the members and patrons who were watching could see the full film online.
With the Director’s Cut released, it can now be viewed on our director’s YouTube channel here:
Challenges
My main challenges came from time management and working with very tight deadlines. We ran into some challenges with filming, as our actors had varying schedules alongside other production projects, which lead to our filming days being pushed back and cut short in some cases.
These push-backs made it so my work was forced under a tighter and tighter deadline, as we didn’t finish filming until Week 10 of the semester. I had to rush hard to get the trailer ready for the Senior Showcase, along with my presentation. Following that, we had very little time to complete the Director’s Cut for the Cineburg Film Festival and the assignment date. My director and I both took time to delegate the needs of the project, so we could finalize each cut and have them ready for submission. She was phenomenal and integral in finishing this project, and I give her a lot of credit for its success.
Conclusion
Having worked on this production and dealt with the challenges throughout, I think I’ve received a fair representation of what professional work as an editor and VFX artist will look like. There will always be bumps and hurdles in the process, but as I communicate with my team, put my focus on the project, and give everything my all to complete my work, I can make wonderful things and create amazing stories! Being an editor is more than just assembling and cutting clips together to tell a story; it takes time reading, studying, practicing, and communicating to make something great. This experience taught me so much about life in the professional world, and I think it has helped me prepare to enter the professional work field.
It’s all about growing and learning constantly, never putting up with “just enough”. I want to keep going and make things that will change the lives and minds of everyone I meet, through both my work and the products I make.
Thank you for reading!
