Workflow / Work Organization

Question

Well, basically I'm looking for tips about staying organized when working on a project: Dialogue editing hours, background editing hours, sound design hours, etc. Tips on working the session in stages, maybe?. I know that already sounds like the answer to my question but, any ideas on where to begin? session layout?

Every time I work on whatever content, I find my self going all over the place. I start working on dialogues, I'm not even halfway through and I suddenly find my self designing backgrounds or working on sound effects. Suffice to say, I'm not exactly a well organized individual. My brain tends to roam all over the place.

Thanks in advance for any help at all.

Cheers

Answer 1

I start working on dialogues, I'm not even halfway through and I suddenly find my self designing backgrounds or working on sound effects.

Everyone's process is different. If you go through this enough you'll start to see what needs to change to reduce the labor involved in your particular process.

I don't do the final sound design on my project, but I do write and edit the dialogue. It's a bit of a catch-22 because the background/effects/music and the dialogue must work together and respond to each other to create a completed scene. When one changes, the other usually has to be changed.

To reduce the workload on my sound designer, I use temporary "stock" background and sound effects behind my dialogue editing (and rewriting) to provide atmosphere and context until the dialogue is firmly nailed down. Then my sound designer can build his usual gorgeous music/sfx/bg around the dialogue.

Even though you're only one person instead of two, maybe a similar technique will work for you. There is also the possibility that your back-and-forth approach is important to your creative process (or more effective for your particular project). Find what works for you.