The post-production of a film is broadly divided into three main parts.

Editing, or assembling shots, connects individual shots from pre-shot shooting to make it a film of process.

Special effects, divided into two periods, makeup, scenery, fireworks...... Special effects belong to the film era, while 3D special effects and composite special effects belong to the special effects of the C G era.

Dubbing, which is easy to understand, is to dub movie characters, add sound effects, etc.

Of course, in addition to these three parts, the post-production of the film also includes adding subtitles, opening and ending credits, and making trailers...... Wait.

But these are small chunks, they belong to the details, and John won't do it himself when he is a small problem like this, at most, he will cut out the trailer casually during editing, but that's all.

In the white editing room, John was engrossed in the monitor, and the editor Lee Smith sat and operated.

Editing is divided into several steps, such as primary cutting, compound cutting, fine cutting, and comprehensive cutting.

The first cut is based on the storyboard script, connecting the characters' movements, dialogues, and scenes of mutual communication.

The double shear is a further correction on the basis of the initial shear.

Fine editing is a more detailed editing that combines the structure of the montage after repeated scrutiny of the picture.

Conforming shear is the adjustment of the overall structure and rhythm after fine shearing.

Generally speaking, editing is to ensure that the narrative between shots is natural, smooth and coherent, highlighting the inner performance of shots, and achieving the unity of the dual functions of narrative and performance.

So it's a delicate job, and the idea of wanting to edit a movie for a release in a week or 10 days is a joke, and you can't even get a rough cut in a week.

"Lee, swap out the No. 113 lens and try it with the No. 115 lens. John patted Lee Smith, the editor next to him.

"Good boss. Lee Smith quickly swapped out the camera and replayed the footage.

"The plot goes a lot smoother. Lee Smith said, looking at the picture.

He was very surprised by John, and after working together for the past few days, he found that John could not only shoot films, but also be a master editor, no matter what shot, he could always quickly become a logical picture in John's place, even more professional than him as a professional.

In fact, Lee Smith didn't know that if John wasn't afraid that he wouldn't be able to control the editing of "Forrest Gump", John would definitely not have gone to the editing room to do it himself.

It takes at least a month to edit a film for a release, and it's a crime for a busy guy like John to spend a month in the editing room.

But John can't help it, although Lee Smith is known as Hollywood's No. 1 Golden Scissors, but that's the future, not the present.

The reason why "Forrest Gump" is a great success, in addition to conforming to American political correctness and a more meaningful story, the most important factor is that the film uses a variety of different performance techniques to achieve the best performance effect, and the use of montage is even exerted to the extreme, even a subversion, so that people can feel the unprecedented beauty of human nature.

And now Lee Smith does not have such superb editing techniques, let alone use these montages perfectly.

But as long as he follows John to complete the editing of "Forrest Gump", then his skills will be greatly improved, and montage will be used handy.

"Next shot. John nodded in satisfaction after watching the footage, and instructed Lee Smith to prepare the next shot.

"The lens of 117 was changed to 119, and the time was shortened to about 5 seconds. John commanded as he looked at the picture.

This shot is of Forrest Gump encountering an enemy on the battlefield in Vietnam.

In this kind of war picture, John plans to use the technique of quick editing to reflect the urgency and danger in the battlefield, so that the audience can involuntarily worry about Forrest Gump when they see the picture, and at the same time, it can also reflect Forrest Gump's spirit of ignoring danger for his friends.

"Well, this time the picture is better than the previous one, the danger and urgency of the battlefield have come out, and the love and righteousness of Forrest Gump's character are portrayed more profoundly. ”

John nodded in satisfaction after watching the screen play on the monitor.

"Okay, change the next shot, and try to cut out an eight-minute picture today. "John and Lee Smith have roughly cut a total of 50 minutes of footage in two weeks, which is very efficient, but for a 135-minute film like Forrest Gump, they haven't even cut half of it.

And this is only a rough cut, and there are fine cuts and comprehensive cuts later, so it may take John three months just to edit the process, which is still based on his familiarity with the movie "Forrest Gump", if he hadn't seen this movie in his previous life and changed to the first cut, it might take four months to complete the editing.

But a good meal is not afraid of being late, the movie "Forrest Gump" is worth such investment, whether it is the six statuettes won at the awards, or the box office of up to $670 million, it is worth John's payment for it, and it is worth polishing.

"Alright, that's all for today! Rest early and continue tomorrow. ”

After editing the last shot, John patted Lee Smith on the shoulder and ended the day.

Today he and Lee Smith have edited 8 minutes of footage, completed the assigned task, and can leave work.

"Forrest Gump" can be released in time for next year's summer vacation, and it is now May, and there are nearly 12 months before next year's summer vacation, so there is plenty of time.

John was ready to spend three months editing and trailer production.

It took a month and a half to complete the dubbing and sound effects production.

It will take half a month to complete the addition of subtitles, opening and ending credits.

The remaining seven months will be used to negotiate with Warner for overseas distribution rights, and if the negotiations go well, the contract will be finalized in three months, and if it doesn't, it may take five or six months, and then plus the first month of publicity, this time will be just right.

Some people may say that it takes three months so long to talk about a sentence.

But in fact, this time is already a short time.

Any business negotiation is a time-consuming war, and all the interests involved in it are normal to talk about it for a year and a half, three years and five years, and three months is short.

And by that time, New Line Films had already been acquired by John, which also meant that Forrest Gump would pay a large amount less distribution fees.

John and New Line Film Company signed a 15% distribution commission, according to the box office of 330 million US dollars in North America in the previous life, the distribution fee alone is 50 million US dollars, and this is only the box office commission, if you add the original soundtrack, licensing, peripherals, TV broadcasts, and videotapes, New Line can at least get hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue on "Forrest Gump".

With such a large sum of money, John naturally didn't want Shay to earn it.