Training Talk

The role of post production supervisors in film and television production are receiving a boost through new micro-certifications, crucial to smoothing the way a project moves from preparation to delivery.

The certifications are a joint approach from Avid and the organization Post Super, whose founder is the latest guest on the Making the Media Podcast.

A trained sound engineer and editor who moved into the world of post supervision, Gemma Nicholson says there has been a clear gap in the market for training people in the role to be better prepared for the challenges they face.

“You have to know what your place is in it. And if you can understand that and understand the decisions that are swirling all around you, you can understand why we might need you to do a specific task or why there is a specific chain of events that needs to happen before what you would like to get done right this second can be done. And that, you know, applies very much to workflow in terms of everything from prep through shoot through final cut into final post and delivery. The deliverables that you are producing right at the very end of the project need to be queued up. And, you know, the appropriate decisions need to be made in prep for the project so that you are preparing in prep for the end of your project. You're starting with the end in mind.”

Gemma says that it is crucial that the training is delivered at the appropriate level, and that it is focused on all aspects of the post-production process.

She says, “The post supervisor education has to be at quite a high level. We don't need the nuts and bolts. We don't need what button do you press to make the export. We don't need that. We need to know that it's being done and how that fits into the general big picture. It's almost like we need to see how the jigsaw fits together.”

Gemma also discusses her own career and the challenge of moving roles in mid-career. Find out more in the new episode of the Making the Media Podcast, available on all major podcast platforms on Friday, November 15.