Contemporary Post-Production: Create, Cut, Collaborate, Color, Deliver
How to keep your sanity during editing, develop your career,
and stay current with
post-production developments.
FEATURED EDITORS
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Book Description
Contemporary Post-Production is an engaging and insightful guide through the often fraught and stressful phase of post-production. It brings the art and craft of editing to life, describes contemporary workflows, and demonstrates how to break the post-production process into manageable phases. It also explores editing approaches used by five award-winning filmmakers across fiction films, documentaries, and interactive works.
This text addresses key questions about the editor’s role in shaping a story, the roles of various members of the post-production team, when and how to delegate to specialists, and how to engage in the most efficient and constructive conversations with them. Another key focus is on career pathways, with each featured filmmaker sharing how they broke into the editing field and offering advice on building a lasting career.
The featured filmmakers reflect a diversity of life experiences and work, and their interviews shed light on the people behind the process. They provide guidance on cutting-edge tools, such as the most essential software to know, how they incorporate GenAI into their work, and how they utilize remote workflows. A brief look at the past offers valuable context for understanding the future, including a section on key innovators in film history. Examples include Alice Guy-Blaché’s pioneering use of sync sound and Oscar Micheaux’s re-editing techniques to navigate censorship – stories that illustrate past innovations and continue to inspire today’s filmmakers to push creative and technical boundaries.
Each technical chapter includes class activities and exercises to help readers practice specific skills. Additional resources provide ample opportunities for continued learning.
This book serves as an invaluable resource for students in post-production courses and anyone looking to enter the industry or refine their skills.
CREATE
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CUT
‣
COLLABORATE
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COLOR
‣
DELIVER
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CREATE ‣ CUT ‣ COLLABORATE ‣ COLOR ‣ DELIVER ‣
Do you want to use tutorials to accompany your classroom use of
“Contemporary Post-Production”?
Please check out the associated Youtube channel, which has full interviews with the featured editors as well as tutorials on editing.
Featured Editors
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Aashish Kumar is an Associate Professor in the Radio/TV/Film Department at Hofstra University, where he teaches courses in documentary filmmaking, interactive and immersive media, and television studies. A New York-based educator and non-fiction media maker, he has produced both independent and commissioned films that explore a range of social and civic issues. In addition to his teaching, he serves as the Co-Director of the Center for Civic Engagement, fostering media-driven activism and public discourse. His work reflects a deep commitment to storytelling as a tool for education, advocacy, and social change.
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Carla Gutierrez is an accomplished film editor and director known for her work on acclaimed documentaries that explore influential figures and social issues. She has edited award-winning films such as Frida (2024), a documentary on the life of Frida Kahlo, RBG (2018), which chronicles the legacy of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines (2012). With a strong background in storytelling, Gutierrez has made a significant impact in the editorial department, shaping narratives that celebrate resilience, activism, and cultural icons.
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Allie Sultan is an Assistant Professor of Film and Video Production at Middle Tennessee State University, where she teaches courses in filmmaking, screenwriting, and editing. A graduate of the MFA-Cinema program at San Francisco State University, she has built an extensive career as a sound and picture editor, collaborating with renowned Bay Area film companies such as Zoetrope-Aubry Productions, Berkeley Sound Artists, and Tippett Studio. Her narrative and documentary films explore themes of women’s experiences and LGBT identity and politics. In 2018, she was a featured speaker on Virtual Reality, reflecting her engagement with innovative storytelling techniques and emerging media.
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Zeb Achonu BFE is an award-winning film and TV editor specializing in documentaries and drama. Selected for Berlinale Talents 2024, Zeb has worked on acclaimed projects, including the BAFTA and RTS Award-winning White Nanny Black Child (2023), Netflix’s Ladies First: A Story of Women in Hip Hop, and BBC2’s Africa Rising. With credits across major broadcasters and streamers, Zeb has also edited BAFTA-winning series like EastEnders and Bear Grylls Survival School. A co-founder of MUSEfest, Zeb is passionate about socially driven storytelling and is seeking new documentary projects focused on social issues or music culture.
A collection of videos to accompany Contemporary Post-Production.
Watch along for additional insights, examples, and perspectives on editing and the post-production process.