EDITLOCK What is picture lock? The approval milestone every edit needs
Picture lock is the moment a cut is signed off and frozen so finishing can begin. Here's what it means, why it matters, and how to make it clean.
Picture lock is the point in post-production where the edit is approved and frozen. No more trimming, no more reordering shots — the timing of the cut is final. Everything downstream (colour, sound mix, VFX, titles) is built on top of that locked reference.
The name is where Editlock comes from. The lock is the milestone the whole review process is aiming at, so we named the product after it.
Why locking matters
Finishing work is expensive to redo. If a colourist grades a sequence and then an editor quietly shortens a shot, that grade may no longer line up. Picture lock exists to protect everyone downstream: once it’s called, the timeline is a stable contract.
Without a clear lock, teams drift. Three slightly different “final” versions float around, the client approves one but the sound mixer has another, and someone finishes the wrong cut. A clean lock removes that ambiguity.
How to make picture lock clean
- Get explicit approval, not vibes. “Looks good” in a chat isn’t a lock. You want a clear, recorded sign-off on a specific version.
- Freeze a named version. Lock the exact cut that was approved so there’s one unambiguous reference.
- Let new work stack on top. Locking shouldn’t stop iteration — later versions can continue, but the locked one stays the signed-off truth.
- Make it visible to the whole team. Everyone — editor, colourist, mixer, client — should be able to see which version is locked at a glance.
That last point is where tooling helps. In Editlock, reviewers leave frame-exact comments, the client approves, and you lock that version. The lock is visible to everyone with access, and newer cuts stack above it without erasing the sign-off — and because reviewers are free, the client who approves never costs you a seat.
Picture lock vs “final”
“Final” is a feeling; picture lock is a decision. Treating it as a decision — a specific approved version, recorded and visible — is what keeps a project from dying the death of a thousand “actually, one more change.”
Starter post — edit or expand as you like.