GRADING CRAFT
POST . . .L ANDSCAPERS
THE LOOK’S THOMAS URBYE WAS BEHIND THE GRADE FOR THE AWARD WINNING TRUE CRIME COMEDY DRAMA, LANDSCAPERS, PRODUCED BY SISTER AND SOUTH OF THE RIVER FOR SKY AND HBO
Initially we had a call to pitch for the project with DP Erik Wilson BSC, Director Will Sharpe, Producer Katie Carpenter and Harry Munday. Both Erik and Will were very clear that they wanted to be able to do the grading and the complex layered dissolves within the same system, as they had struggled with this at other facilities. I was able to reassure them that would be the case with us, and so the next stage was camera and LUT tests.
Erik was keen to adopt some very specific looks that were reminiscent of the original Three & Two-strip Technicolor formats. Sharing film stock resources with me, we were able to recreate these ‘looks’ for use with the Sony Venice camera working in slog3/sgamut3 by utilising a number of unusual colour processes that required mathematical RGB/CMY calculations. Erik was able to use these during the shoot and that in turn set the look during editorial. References included Mr Cabe & Mrs Miller for episode four.
Varying levels of digital grain that I developed in-house with our developer were also brought into the live grade dependent on narrative in scenes.
Carefully controlled lens aberrations when working with spherical vs anamorphic lenses were all done by me in the grading suite to ensure creative intention and matching between different lenses, rather than move to another system. Other formats used in the shoot included 16mm, CCTV and miniDV. All were colour managed into slog3/sgamut3 for later HBO archival. A small amount of the Venice media and graphic titles were projected digitally at the end of the first pass grade, recaptured on 16mm, scanned, and dropped back in and regraded!
It was important these formats and varying looks served the story. At times they transition with complex dissolves which required delicate grading and layered overlays. Transitions sometimes went on for many seconds and used various blend modes, working in conjunction with dynamic grades. Due to the nature of the story, there is a present day look (Three-strip), as well as flashbacks (black and white) and the
final episode played out as a Western (Two-strip), so the look most certainly supports the storytelling!
The grade was carried out at UHD SDR as the blends were too complex for a HDR to SDR Dolby Vision conversion. The SDR LUT was swapped out for a slog3/sgamut3 to Rec2020 PQ LUT and then scene and shot eye matched against the SDR version with Erik in attendance. There are only minor differences - slightly richer skintones in HDR, and more dynamic range in highlights but otherwise not a dramatic difference. The HDR version still had a Dolby Vision analysis done for correct HDR presentation on Sky & HBO’s streaming platform.
Erik went on to win both the 2022 BSC and BAFTA for Best Cinematography in a TV series, with BAFTA Best Director and mini-series nominations as well and I won the RTS Picture Enhancement Award and was nominated for the Filmlight Colour Award.
“Erik was keen to adopt some very
specific looks that were reminiscent of the original Three & Two-strip Technicolor formats.”
Thomas Urbye, Colourist, Landscapers Summer 2023
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