POST PRODUCTION:

1    editing, dubbing, mixing, music etc.

Everything that takes place after the camera stage can be called post-production. A post-production facility (also called a post-production house) will normally be engaged in many different activities under one roof, the prime one being editing and the second most important being compositing. Many post-production houses will also have telecine, full blown 3D computer animation capabilities and sound dubbing and will certainly have the ability to accurately tweak and alter the colour balance and appearance of the film. Often, music will be recorded to the picture and some sound effects are also recorded in real time to the picture (foley effects). On larger productions, these recordings are more usually made in specialist sound facilities with proper sound-stages. Effects and music on smaller productions, on the other hand, may be made entirely from library material.
Increasingly, tiny sound-design companies can carry out very complex work thanks to the universality of sophisticated computer-based sound technology and software.
Essentially, a post production facility's job is to bring all the sound and picture elements together so that they can be recorded as one finished entity ready for publishing.

2    distribution

The means by which the product is delivered to its viewers. This can be cinema, Internet, DVD, TV and so on.

3    consumption

The realisation of the original idea/concept into something real; your screen gem is devoured by an eager and appreciative audience (or not).

This concludes our look at the overall structure of the animation process. There are many differences in the finer details of some parts of this process, but even in such a different medium as 3D cgi, you will find that the overall shape of the process is the same. As one simple example, take the ink and paint stage above. This will determine what colours end up in the finished film:

in traditional 2D drawn animation, colour was added by someone dipping a brush into a paint pot and painting on the backs of sheets of acetate

in 2D animation, with digital ink and paint, the colours are painted by clicking on areas to be filled and some of the work can be automated

 in 2D cut-out animation the colours are those of the paper being cut out

in computer 2D computer programs like Flash, the colours are chosen from the available palette on the computer screen

in 3D model animation, the colours are determined by the colours of the materials being used plus any lighting and /or post-production effects

in 3D cgi the colours are ascribed to individual areas of models and are also determined by other factors such as lighting and maps

The actual physical method by which colour is added to a scene is quite different in each different type of animation, yet when we consider the general animation process as a whole, they all share this and practically all other stages as detailed above.

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