The last scene has been shot. The wrap party is over. But in many ways, the movie-making process is just getting started in the post-production phase. All the footage must be edited and assembled, the music and sound effects cut in, and visual and optical effects created.

Like production, "post" requires a vast array of talented, technologically savvy crews. The picture editor and editorial assistants start their work during production when they view dailies (each day’s filming) with the director, and begin assembling work prints into coherent scenes. By the end of principal photography, the editor has cut together a rough assembly of all the scenes, which the director will use as a starting point to shape the picture into the story he or she wants to tell. Directors generally have at least ten weeks to edit their assembly of the film before the producers view this "rough cut," suggest their changes, then show it to the studio executives.