May 03, 2016

Technicolor London Provides Sound & Color Finishing For Flowers

“Otherworldly”, “ethereal” color and sound blooms with help from Technicolor London.

Flowers is the new, darkly comedic six-part series written and directed by BAFTA nominated writer and director Will Sharpe. Starring Olivia Colman (Peep Show) and Julian Barratt (The Mighty Boosh), the series is about an eccentric family struggling to hold themselves together. Technicolor London provided color finishing and sound finishing services at its Lexington Street boutique. Naomi de Pear, who developed the series and produced for Kudos said, “Flowers has an otherworldly quality to it, even though it’s about real characters and real emotions. I couldn’t be happier that Will brought this dark, hilarious, and emotional vision through our doors and it’s been such a joy to develop and see it come to life with our extraordinary cast.” 

Technicolor London’s senior colorist, Dan Coles, graded the TV series using a Baselight system. Reflecting on the project, Coles noted, “There were many creative challenges working on Flowers, and with the very talented production team involved, the grade was a wonderfully collaborative and fun experience.”  Sound services were undertaken by senior re-recording mixer Richard Straker who commented that, “Working on such a unique show was both rewarding and immensely enjoyable.”

In terms of the series’ look, Coles explained, “We accentuated the depth of the images using contrast and color: Rich, colorful, and vibrant but without being over-saturated – also naturalistic and filmic. We often used blue, green, and turquoise color palettes in the shadows, whilst allowing more dominant reds, yellows, and brighter blues and greens to pop in the frame – this created a nice style for the series.”

Coles’ favorite scenes included those of the dream sequences, “Dream sequences appear in nearly all the episodes - shot digitally on an Alexa, graded in the style we had created for Flowers, as if projected and shot on s16mm using a hand–cranked Bolex. The negative was then digitally scanned before the final-grade pass. The flicker, grain, and softer characteristic of film create an otherworldly, ethereal look to perfectly compliment the principal photography. Another large sequence worth mentioning was shot for day and [then] graded as stormy twilight – this was particularly enjoyable and challenging and the result has a very cinematic feel.”

The series will air consecutive nights on Channel 4 from April 25, and then will be available on 4OD. The US comedy streaming service, Seeso, will premiere Flowers in May.