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Introduction

Digital intermediate finishing and visual effects now appear at every production scale. Independent filmmakers can produce complex work that once required a dedicated post-production facility, simply on their laptops.

Why this handbook exists

Independent productions rarely have dedicated VFX producers, coordinators, production managers, or post supervisors. Directors and producers must still budget the work, hire vendors, approve creative results, and deliver finished masters. This handbook identifies the decisions that must happen early and the people qualified to make them.

This handbook adapts studio practices to independent production. It explains how to:

  • build a post-production plan and assign responsibility
  • establish and test the image pipeline before photography
  • budget, turn over, review, and approve VFX
  • prepare for conform, color, sound, mastering, and final QC
  • produce the right deliverables before and after a sale
  • preserve the masters, projects, and documentation needed to recover the film

This handbook separates the decisions filmmakers must make from the technical work they can delegate. It also identifies the tests, records, and reviews needed for approval.

Intended audience

The handbook is for independent directors, producers, and filmmakers who need to plan, supervise, and approve picture finishing and visual effects work. It also provides production guidance for editors, colorists, VFX supervisors, and freelance artists for adapting studio practices to smaller productions.

The handbook has three layers:

  • Core Guide: assumes limited post-production experience and focuses on filmmaker decisions
  • Production Guide: explains how to manage the work, vendors, handoffs, reviews, and approvals
  • Advanced Technical Reference: supports specialists and filmmakers evaluating a specific technical recommendation

About the Author

Tashi Trieu is a digital intermediate colorist and finishing artist with over fifteen years of post-production experience, and a co-founder of MOSAIC, an artist-driven picture-finishing boutique in Burbank, California. His work spans color grading, digital intermediate finishing, and end-to-end digital workflows for studio and independent features and premium streaming content, including multi-format, high-frame-rate, HDR, Dolby Cinema, and IMAX delivery.

His color and finishing credits include Avatar: The Way of Water and Avatar: Fire and Ash, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Thor: Ragnarok, Bombshell, Titans, and Netflix's Stranger Things and Sense8.

He co-authored Modern Post: Workflows and Techniques for Digital Filmmakers, contributed the “Digital Intermediate” section to The VES Handbook of Visual Effects, third edition, has contributed to the Academy's ACES color standards, and has taught at Chapman University and Taipei National University of the Arts. He also builds workflow tools for color and post-production and VFX professionals.

Additional Resources

Special Thanks

  • Billy Brooks
  • Brian Gaffney
  • Joshua Pines
  • Christian Zak