April 11, 2013

Technicolor takes ITV's Inspector Morse prequel, Endeavour, back to the Sixties

Technicolor completed grading, editing and VFX work for the latest instalments of ITV’s acclaimed crime drama Endeavour, the prequel to the channel’s popular Inspector Morse series.

Based on the character created by Colin Dexter, the four films follow the investigations of a young Endeavour Morse in the early days of his career as a police detective in 1960s’ Oxford. Returning as Morse is Shaun Evans (The Take, The Last Weekend, Silk), who won over both critics and viewers alike with his portrayal. Reprising the role of Morse’s senior partner, Detective Inspector Fred Thursday, is renowned stage and screen actor Roger Allam (The Jury, Parade's End, The Thick of It).

The new series, starting Sunday 14th April, 20h10 on ITV1, is written by Russell Lewis, produced by Dan McCulloch and executive produced by Mammoth Screen’s Michele Buck, Damien Timmer and Rebecca Eaton for WGBH. Director credits include Ed Bazalgette (A Mother's Son, Vera), Tom Vaughan (Starter for Ten, Extraordinary Measures, What Happens in Vegas), Craig Viveiros (The Liability, Ghosted) and Colm McCarthy (Ripper Street, Doctor Who, Injustice).

Technicolor Senior Colourist Dan Coles graded the series using Baselight. Coles says: “The four Endeavour films were approached in slightly different ways, but the overall objective was to give each episode a rich and naturalistic look, which would complement the period setting. We chose to enhance the exteriors with warmth and contrast, giving a golden feel to Oxford’s wonderful sandstone buildings and colleges. We also accentuated the warmer tones in the interiors to give the series a beautiful and colourful look to evoke the quality of the film stock of that era.”

Endeavour was conformed and on-lined on Avid DS by Technicolor Senior Editor Sion Penny. The VFX focused on creating the authentic 1960s look for the series, and included removing various non-period objects such as CCTV cameras and house alarms. Additional VFX work was carried out by Technicolor’s Dolores McGinley, Dom Thomson and Simon Giblin. This encompassed creating period street scenes, adding additional snow to shots, crowd replication and making the Alexa shot material look like 16mm film rushes.

Technicolor Credits

Senior Colourist - Dan Coles
Editor - Siôn Penny
VFX - Dolores McGinley, Dom Thomson, Simon Giblin