Guest Editorial: Elevating the Art of Post-Production (Part 1)

As the name implies, post-production is traditionally framed as a finishing stage. How has that perception changed?

Bianca Redgrave: Yes, for many years, post was positioned as a technical afterthought. In fashion media especially, where I’ve spent 20 years, craft was dominated by celebrity photographers, while post remained a discrete, largely hidden part of the process.

That model no longer reflects how images are made, or consumed. Brands today are competing for attention across multiple platforms, formats, and timelines. The speed, complexity and overall volume of that demand has fundamentally shifted where creative value sits.

So what’s changed isn’t just the technology, but the mindset. Post-production has moved from being this final layer to the creative engine, one that enables creativity and relevance in an always-on media landscape. 

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When should post houses enter the production process to influence creative, not just execute it?

There’s still a culture of front-loading the team, time, resources, and budget into the shoot, while often underestimating and under-resourcing post. I believe we should work backwards: engaging post-production teams at a strategic level to assess the deliverables early on.

This approach allows us to genuinely help clients and creative teams balance high-impact (and often costly) shoots with emerging technologies and post-production expertise, strategically allocating resources for maximum creative and financial impact across all platforms.

The post-house landscape is shifting. Big houses closing, cost pressures mounting, turnaround times shrinking. How do you see post house structure evolving?

There’s a recurring cycle: small teams of visionary creatives, whether in agencies, talent houses, or post-houses, launch ‘hot shops’ brimming with culture and energy.

They achieve success, and then investors arrive with a formula to package and sell creativity as a product, often overlooking that the product’s value comes from its people. The team grows, the best talent often leaves, and what was once an exciting, creative laboratory slowly becomes more like a factory.

Our approach flips the script; we are privately owned and put artists first, supporting them to do their best work, which in turn drives us forward. We also use a scalable model that puts the people at the center – empowering, inspiring, and motivating teams to create work that thrives because the culture thrives.

Bianca Redgrave is the managing director and creative services director at Studio Private in London.

Watch for Elevating the Art of Post-Production: Part 2 arriving Feb 20th.