Post-Production (cont'd)

Once an answer print (the final version of the film) is made, the pre-dubbing begins. Multiple sound effects, dialogue and music tracks are mixed down to a lesser number of tracks or "stems" by re-recording mixers on a dubbing stage. The final mix blends these final effects, dialogue and music tracks and the mixer equalizes, filters and sets the desired volumes. Digital mixing consoles give filmmakers a much higher quality, more complex soundtrack and enable the mixer to be far more creative and handle more tracks.

Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) has performed major renovations on its sound facilities, creating some of the world’s best-equipped, state-of-the-art sound stages with Academy Award®-winning mixers on staff. SPE also inherited one of the best scoring stages when it purchased the studio in 1989. Although it has been modernized somewhat, composers and performers from all over the world come to Sony Pictures’ scoring stage because its original recording quality remains unequalled.

The final stages of post-production sometimes come unnervingly close to the release date of a film. To protect the original cut negative of the film from damage, several interpositive elements are struck from the original, each of which in turn can be used to make a number of internegatives, or "printing" negatives. Each "interneg" can be used to make several hundred release prints before it starts to show signs of wear or needs replacement. These release prints are shipped to the exhibitors. The studio’s marketing and publicity departments gear up a publicity blitz to get the audience into the theatres. After months, perhaps years of work, the completed film is finally ready, "coming soon to a theatre near you!"