The History and Developments of Post-production

There have been many developments in post-production over the years. As technology has advanced so to has the ability to make films that capture the audiences imaginations. Auguste Lumiere once said that "cinema was an invention without a future" but it is now clear that cinema's future is endless as long as the audience are still able to believe that what they're seeing on the screen is actually real.

The Life of an American Fireman (1903) by Edwin S. Porter was the first film ever to use post-production. It told the story of how a fire brigade rescued a women and baby from a burning building. Rather than having one long shot held until either the director got bored or the film ran out they decided to use cuts to bring two different shots together to tell a story. Although this was a very basic technique this was one of the most important break throughs in cinematography shaping the way we see cinema today.


Still from The Life of an American Fireman by Edwin S. Porter

Another break-through in the film industry was in 1924. Iwan Serrurier invented the moviola machine. It allowed the film editor to view the film at the same time as editing it so they were able to get more precise cuts. The moviola used to be described as an upright sewing machine and edited 35mm film stock. This was also one of the reasons why in the 1940's and 50's editing was seen as a womens job. The moviola was used up until the 1970's when a more advanced machine called a flatbed editor was invented.


A moviola machine

The flatbed editor was introduced in the 1970's . This machine allowed the editor to edit footage a lot quicker than when they used the moviola by using a cutting and splicing technique. This was called linear editing. However during the 1990's the use of the flatbed editor was replaced with computer editing software using non-linear programmes such as Avid and Final Cut Pro.


A Flatbed Editor

Another huge development in the cinema world was when D.W Griffith released his film Birth of a Nation in 1915. Griffith had used a huge amount of different film techniques such as close-ups and long-shots from different angles and then used different fades and cutting techniques during the post-production stages. This film inspired many other directors to follow in his footsteps.

Film was used in a big way during the Russian revolution. Lenin wanted to get more people on his side so he used film to persuade the poor and illiterate to join him. Film was a way for people to understand what Lenin wanted to do, rather than having someone read about his campaign he was able to show them.

Nowadays we can edit films on computers using programmes such as AVID and Final Cut Pro. An editor would have to cut down over 200 hours of footage to make a 2 hour film. The film tape would be so long it would reach from LA to Las Vegas. Also making films costs a huge amount of money. Film stock is £400 for just 10 minutes of tape and the camera lenses would cost up to £500,000 to buy. Editing a film can take years as an editor has to check every frame is perfect and there are 24 frames per second on a film.