The picture looks great. Now make sure it arrives everywhere it needs to be, plays perfectly, and is safely stored for the future.
Lock the delivery specs.
Ask the distributor, festival, or platform for a spec sheet. Confirm frame size, frame rate, color space, codec, and file naming. Get audio requirements in writing. Many outlets want separate 5.1 and stereo, plus stems.
Build your deliverables set.
Create the master picture file. Export audio mixes and stems. Create captions and subtitles. Prepare clean versions if needed. Gather poster art, stills, credits list, cue sheet, EPK, and proof of licensed music and fonts.
Audio pass that saves headaches
Check peaks and loudness. Make sure dialogue is clear in both stereo and 5.1. Verify channel order matches spec. Listen for pops, clipped breaths, and room tone jumps on headphones and speakers.
Captions and subtitles
Export captions in the format they ask for. SRT is common. Spot check timing, spelling, and names. Watch with captions on. Make sure caption colors and positions are legible over the grade.
Picture QC before you ship
Watch the whole piece, eyes on the screen. Look for dead pixels, flash frames, bad dissolves, noise pumping, aliasing, and mismatched shots. Confirm titles and credits are spelled correctly and safe on frame. Check for legal range if required.
Festival vs streamer
Festivals often want a DCP and a high-quality mezzanine file like ProRes 422 HQ, plus a stereo mix and captions. Streamers may require specific HDR or SDR masters, 5.1, stereo, stems, accessibility assets, and strict naming. Do the easy one first, then transcode to the picky one.
Name it so no one cries.
Use a clear pattern. Show_Title_Version_Date_Resolution_FrameRate_ColorSpace_Audio. Put it on screen in a slate or PDF too.
Final view like a viewer
After you pass on a calibrated monitor, do a full watch on a normal TV or tablet. If it plays clean there, you are in good shape.
Archive with a simple rule
Follow 3–2–1. Three copies. Two different kinds of storage. One copy off-site or in the cloud. Keep the final masters, project files, LUTs, stills, fonts, caption files, and a readme that explains versions. Test your backups twice a year.
Indie micro checklist
– Spec sheet received and read
– Master picture exported to spec
– 5.1, stereo, and stems rendered and labeled
– Captions exported and spot checked
– Picture and audio QC pass done on two screens
– Festival and streamer packages created
– Filenames and slates follow a clear pattern
– 3–2–1 backups complete with a readme
Question for the lounge
What is one delivery or QC step that has saved you from a last-minute fire drill?
Great tips, Lindsay Thompson! What are dead pixels?
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Maurice Vaughan 5 Thanks! Dead pixels are essentially tiny dots on the camera sensor that cease to function. Instead of recording the right color, they appear as a small, stuck speck in the same spot every frame. They’re rare, but when they pop up, they can be distracting, so part of QC is catching them early so post can patch them out before delivery.
You're welcome, Lindsay Thompson. Dead Pixels sounds like the title of a Horror movie. Thanks for the answer! And thanks for doing this post series! I'm learning a lot about cinematography and post-production.