The Craft of Completion: What Post-Production Really Involves

When you watch a great video—one that flows, connects, holds your attention—it feels effortless. Natural. As if it was always meant to be that way. But behind that sense of effortlessness lies a craft that’s anything but simple.

At SHINY, we live in that invisible layer: post-production. It’s where good footage becomes great storytelling. Where choices are made—thousands of them—that shape how people experience your message.

We often hear, “Can’t you just cut it together?” The short answer is yes. But if you want something that works—that holds attention, creates impact, and feels like more than the sum of its parts—there’s a world of unseen craft involved.

Editing is just the start

A successful edit is more than just picking the best takes and putting them in order. We’re sculpting rhythm, emotion, pace, and flow. We’re thinking about how the viewer’s eye moves across the screen and making sure cuts land where they feel natural. We’re layering in movement and contrast so attention doesn’t drift.

Then there’s colour grading. It’s not just about looking nice—it’s emotional. Warm tones can build connection. Cool shadows can convey professionalism or tension. Our work on the Ministry of Justice “Our Courts” series used carefully balanced colour to bring approachability and gravity to the stories we were telling—presented in three languages and now used to educate over 130,000 jurors annually.

Sound is another quiet powerhouse. Bad sound instantly undermines trust. In this business we say that no one notices great sound—it just feels right. In our Ministry for Ethnic Communities animations, translated into 20 languages, we made sure every voice-over in every language, and every music cue supported clarity across cultures and formats.

Post-production starts long before the edit

Here’s the thing people don’t often see: good post-production begins in pre-production.

We recently directed a shoot for a great kiwi forestry company. Before a single frame was shot, we’d worked through a plan with the client to understand the aims of the piece, and the story, tone, and rhythm we were aiming for in the final piece. That planning meant we knew exactly what we needed to capture in the field—and more importantly, what we didn’t. That kind of clarity doesn’t just save time later, it makes for a stronger, cleaner edit.

Sometimes our plans are highly structured; other times they’re looser to allow for discovery. But there’s always a plan.

Take our work on the Rāranga programme with Wellington Rugby. We didn’t just turn up and film—we mapped out how each interview and b-roll moment would serve the wider message of empowerment and career pathways. The result was not just a video, but a campaign: a short hero piece, a press-release video, and 27 social cuts, all flowing from the same strategic base.

Why it matters

In a world where attention is scarce and video is everywhere, polish isn’t a luxury—it’s the price of entry. But real polish isn’t just about surface. It’s about deep consideration: structure, tone, pace, emotional weight. These things don’t happen by accident.

They come from experience, intuition, and an obsessive attention to detail. They come from knowing what to do with raw footage to bring a story home.

That’s the craft of completion. It’s invisible—but it’s everything, and we love it.