Picture Lock to Online: What Information Needs to Travel With the Cut

Picture lock is not the finish line. It is the handoff point. And the handoff from picture lock to online is one of the most information-dense moments in post production, where things go wrong when the right context does not travel with the cut.

If you have ever had an online editor call you asking where the VFX pulls are, or why a temp music track is still sitting in the sequence, or which version of the grade the finishing house should be conforming to, you know the pain. The fix is not faster communication. It is a documented handoff that answers those questions before anyone has to ask.

What Picture Lock to Online Actually Means

Picture lock confirms that the editorial cut is final. No more structural changes to the sequence. From this point, the cut moves into online finishing: full-resolution conform, color grade finalization, VFX rendering to picture, sound mix against the locked cut, and delivery master creation.

The key issue is that the offline editor typically works with low-resolution proxies, temp audio, placeholder VFX, and watermarked stock. The online editor needs to know where every real-world asset is, how to conform the sequence to those assets, and what approved changes happened between rough cut and picture lock.

The Core Documents That Need to Travel With the Cut

Here is what needs to be in a complete picture lock handoff package.

1. The locked sequence file with a clean timeline

Before you hand anything over, clean the sequence. Remove all disabled tracks, unused audio, temp music that is still sitting muted below the mix, and guide narration tracks that were only used in offline. The online editor should receive a sequence that contains only what is intended for final output.

2. An EDL or AAF for conform

The Edit Decision List or Advanced Authoring Format file is what the online editor uses to re-link the offline sequence to the original full-resolution media. Export this from the offline NLE (Premiere, Avid, Final Cut) and confirm it was generated from the locked sequence, not a previous version.

3. A VFX pull list

Every shot that was held for VFX needs to be listed with its timecode in the sequence, a description of the effect, the VFX vendor or artist responsible, and the delivery status (delivered, in progress, final render due by date). This is usually managed by the VFX coordinator, but it needs to travel with the handoff to the online editor.

4. A music cue sheet

Every piece of music in the cut, temp or licensed, needs to be logged with the timecode in and out, the track name and artist, and whether it is cleared or still temp. The music supervisor needs this for clearance. The mixer needs it for the spotting session. If this document does not travel with the cut, someone builds it from scratch and inevitably misses a cue.

5. A graphics and title log

Every lower third, title card, graphic overlay, and credit needs to be logged with the timecode it appears at and the approved text. This is especially important for legal text, copyright notices, and closing credits, where a spelling error is expensive to fix after the online is done.

6. A change log from rough cut to picture lock

This is the document most people skip and then regret. Every structural change from rough cut to picture lock should be logged: shots removed, sequences rearranged, scenes dropped, runtime changes. This helps the sound designer understand why their temp mix might be out of sync, and it gives the colorist context for what changed after the last grade review.

How Notes and Approvals Travel With the Cut

Beyond the technical documents, the online editor and finishing house also need to know what creative notes were given during offline and which ones are still outstanding.

This is where having a centralized review platform pays off. If all notes from the director, producer, and client were collected in PlayPause during the offline review process, the full comment history is there: who said what, at what timecode, and whether it was marked resolved. The online editor can check whether a note about a specific shot was addressed or is still pending.

Without that kind of documented review history, the finishing house has to rely on whoever remembers what was said in the last screening. That is unreliable.

See how to create an audit trail for every note on a feature film post production for a broader look at how to document the full review chain.

Format and Delivery Specifications

The online editor also needs the delivery specification. This is not always included in handoff packages and it should be.

Delivery specs include the target codec and resolution, the color space and HDR requirements if applicable, audio channel configuration and loudness standards, aspect ratio and safe zones, and any broadcaster or streaming platform technical requirements. If you are delivering to multiple outputs simultaneously, the online editor needs specs for each.

Read the delivery spec approval workflow for post houses handling broadcast and streaming if multi-spec delivery is something you manage regularly.

When VFX and Picture Lock Overlap

On many productions, picture lock and VFX delivery are not perfectly sequential. Temp VFX is in the offline cut, final VFX is coming in progressively, and picture lock happens before all VFX shots are delivered.

In this case, the handoff package needs to clearly flag which shots are still temp and what the expected delivery dates are for the finals. The online editor cannot begin the full conform until all VFX are in, but they can start with the live-action material and prep the timeline for the incoming shots.

Having this documented upfront avoids the situation where the online editor thinks they have a complete picture when they do not.

How to give time-coded VFX notes without exporting a new screener every time covers the upstream part of this challenge.

Handing Over Sound Assets

The picture lock package also needs to address audio. Sound designers and mixers need to receive the locked cut with the guide mix for reference, a list of all sound effects and music that were used as temp, and a note on any dialogue that has ADR scheduled or already recorded.

If temp music is pulled in the final version, the composer needs to know what was there so they can understand the emotional target the offline cut was building toward.

Who Owns the Handoff

On a full production, the post supervisor or post production coordinator typically owns the handoff package. On smaller independent projects, this often falls to the editor or the producer. Whoever owns it should send it as a single complete package, not as a series of emails with attachments over several days.

A shared project folder with a clear readme document, all the listed files inside, and a review link showing the approved cut and its comment history is the cleanest delivery method. The receiving team can confirm receipt and flag any missing documents before the online session starts.

PlayPause is well suited for the review and sign-off portion of this process, where you need a documented record of what was approved, by whom, and when. The approval workflow tools let you capture that record at every stage of offline, so the handoff to online includes the full review history. For post houses running multiple picture lock handoffs per month, the Agency plan at $19/month keeps projects organized without mixing client notes. Start free at PlayPause pricing.