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Post Production Technician

Fine tuning footage for films, adverts and TV after they have been shot

How this role makes a difference

You’ve probably seen footage of directors making films and directing the actors on set, but you might be less familiar with the work that goes on afterwards to create the final film.

This stage of work is called post production. It involves precision fine-tuning of colour, audio and special effects. It’s part of the process for several media industries – advertising, radio and tv, as well as film. You could be the technician who helps make remarkable creative work.

The kind of work you’ll do

  • Supporting the transition of raw footage or audio into the finished product
  • Making sure people have the right files to work on
  • Saving files, labelling them and storing them securely
  • Helping to calibrate machines
  • Applying technical specifications
  • Being responsible for high profile material
  • Engaging with clients and creative teams
Useful skills
Instructing others
Skills & attributes
Useful skills
Technologically minded
Skills & attributes

What you can bring to the role

An interest in the creative and media industries.

The ability to analyse high volumes of material.

The confidence and skills to create things on computers and try new technology and software.

An ability to work independently, managing your own time and prioritising tasks.

The skill to instruct others and make sure things happen on time and to the right standard.

You could also be right for this role if you have any of the following interests:

- art, film, fashion and design

- gaming and technology

£ 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 , 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Average salary per year *
£ 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 , 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Average salary per month *

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*according to ONS

Future career opportunities

At the beginning of your post production career you could focus on learning one specialist technique or get to know several and specialise later on.

With some experience behind you, you might decide you want to work freelance, getting contracts for post production work on a variety of tv programmes, ads and films. 

How to get into this role

There’s no perfect career path or ideal way into your dream job.

But if you’re interested in education and training options that could be relevant to this role, you might want to consider:  

Schools and colleges each have their own career guidance plan and can provide detailed information, advice, and guidance on options and next steps.

A little more about the role

Exciting features...

You’ll engage with a wide range of people including directors, clients, production teams and technical operators, who all work together to achieve the same creative goal. You’ll spend time on set to understand what the visual or audio objectives are and be responsible for calibrating the machines that make them achievable.

Other job titles...

This role can also be known by some other job titles including:

Dailies Operator
Digital Imaging Technician
Data Wrangler
Grade/Edit assistant
Input/Output Operator
MCR Operator
Media Operator
Offline Assistant
Quality Control Operator
Technical Operator

Discover
technicians who
do this role

Post-production Technician

Giacomo Verri
Luis Reggiardo

Post-production Technician

Luis Reggiardo
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