editing Is there anything that cannot be fixed in post?

[harmonica44]

I am editing my first short film with real actors, but have not done any post work yet. I got the Adobe CS5 and am learning it. There is a lot to learn and how to use it but I would like to reshoot what I have to now, with the actors and locations still available. The locations looking very much the same and the actors looking very much the same. I don't know if I have to reshoot anything cause I don't know what's not fixable.

For example, I found out that if the lighting is darker in some takes, then in others, within the same scene, I can just use AE to change the colors, thereby making all the takes in a scene look like they are lit the same. Or if some of the sound is too quiet I can use the audio programs to bring it up louder. Or if a take isn't as in focus I can use AE to make it more. But is there anything that I can't fix, so I know that it needs reshooting or rerecording now? For example some of my sound is a little hissy and muffled. Can I clear it up? Or anything else that's good to know that cannot be redone? I've looked it up but couldn't find many websites that went into such specifics. I know it's a dumb too general of a question, but my actors need to know and I really don't know what to tell them since I have a lot to learn yet about the progams. Thanks.

 

[WalterB]

Don't worry about invisible eyes: it's normal that eyes don't glow, unless you are a Jawa

There can be a solution to the quest for anwsers:

1)
Make screenprints where you see the shot in one window and Waveforms in the other. (Choose Colorgrading Workspace to get these windows).
Do this with the dark shots and post the images (please crop them to show the clip and waveforms only), so we can tell you.

(BTW, the waveforms are not the audio waveforms. You need to change 'Composite' below one of the windows with the video into 'Waveforms')

Or 2)
Make a short edit with the dark shots. Just to put parts of the shots in it, not to tell a story.
Export it as high quality mpeg. Find someone to send it to with WeTransfer to try to do a quickfix.

If it can be fixed it will bring more grain to the picture.
Lighting dark stuff always adds grain.
The positive thing is, that when it really showed on you LCD during shooting, there is some info in these shadows. It may not be pretty, but it may be enough.

Lessons learned:
- The LCD on your camera is always brighter than reality (otherwise you can't see a thing in daylight.)
So it looks very bright when you shoot in the dark.
- Calibrate your monitor (it can be too dark, although most screens tend to be too light and too blue)
- Shoot as bright as possible without overexposing: making things darker does not increase grain, making things brighter does

 

[harmonica44]

Well I still haven't finished the complete scene the actors have to come back. I will let them know if they need to reshoot that particularly part, once I get my new computer hooked up that handle my footage, I will see how it looks with all the grain. The thing that happens though, that the audience needs to know in order to understand the story, happens really fast though, so I feel it may be too hard to tell during the grain. But I'll see.

Paul said that if I'm the only one working post then I can't fix anything since I don't know how. So I might have to find someone who does.