Introduction/Comparison of Mainstream Software in Film & TV Post-Production Workflows, How Beginners Should Choose, and What Presets/Templates/LUTs Mean

There are many post-production software options. If you’re a beginner who has just entered the post-production field, this article will help you quickly establish direction and find the software that suits you.

No matter how long a film is, when you get down to the essence, everything revolves around four core modules: editing, VFX, audio, and color grading. The table below lays out the mainstream software framework to help you quickly build a macro understanding.

In recent years, with the explosion of short video and new media, CapCut has risen rapidly. But note that CapCut focuses on making shorts and short videos, excelling at variety-show-style, internet-style effects and packaging. For long-form content, it cannot compete with PR, FCPX, DaVinci, or AVID. Among these, AVID is a professional editing tool dedicated to films and TV series, so it’s not mainstream among the general public. In summary, the best mainstream software choices in post-production now are PR, FCPX, and DaVinci (although DaVinci originally focused on color grading, in recent years its editing panel has been continuously optimized, and its efficiency can already rival the other two). To sum up: these three pieces of software can handle long-form content (a large portion of theatrical releases and web series are completed with these three) and have no problem at all with short-form content.

Considering the many stages of film and TV post-production—for example, after editing you still need audio, color grading, and visual effects—overall, Adobe Premiere Pro is an excellent entry point. Its value lies not only in its own features but also in its role as the “collaboration hub” of the Adobe Creative Cloud ecosystem.

PR is produced by Adobe. It can interoperate with Adobe’s own PS, AE, AU, and other specialized tools of the same version. In other words, when you want to process a clip (for example, reduce noise or add effects), you can directly copy and import it into other Adobe software without having to export it first, which greatly improves workflow efficiency.

Collaborative Workflow Centered on PR

After completing your rough cut in PR, you can seamlessly call on the Adobe suite of professional tools for fine-tuned processing.

Auxiliary Elements That Extend PR’s Capabilities

Thanks to its huge user base, PR has a rich third-party ecosystem of resources that can greatly boost efficiency and creative results.

How to Start Learning

• If you’ve just started out: It’s recommended to begin with the PR + AU combination, focusing on telling a good story (editing) and getting good sound (audio). This is the most fundamental core.

• If you want to level up your visuals: After you’ve mastered the basics of PR, start learning AE. Begin with motion graphics and text animation, then gradually move into VFX compositing.

• If you’re interested in film-level color work: Once you’re familiar with the editing workflow, dive deeper into learning DaVinci.

To sum up, there is no absolute good or bad when it comes to software. What matters most is finding what suits you. Some people love Apple’s macOS, so they always edit with FCPX; others are used to Windows and always stick to PR. But the underlying logic of editing software operations never really changes.

The software itself isn’t what’s important—what’s always important is how you think.