TX ALERT: The Last Days of Jesus

Posted by on Apr 13, 2017 in Blog

Transmitting on Good Friday on Channel 5, this 2 hour special was proudly post produced by the team here at Rapid.

Synopsis: The Last Days of Jesus illustrates how the ever changing political landscape in Rome impacted on Jesus’ life, and connects the dots between Rome, Jerusalem and the backwaters of the Galilee. This film brings forth the evidence for an extraordinary political alliance between Jesus and the most determined men in Rome and in the Judean province, who struck a deal that almost changed the course of history.

Brief: Manage the end-to-end postproduction and delivery of 10+ versions. The brief from the client was to balance GVs & location interviews whilst making them bright & colourful.

How it was done:

Colourist: Matthew Eversfield

Matt started by balancing the 5 different cameras used for GVs, interviews & for the drama sequences. They were Sony PXW-FS7, Sony PXW-FS5, Sony PMW-F5, Sony A7S & Canon C300.

The main grading challenge was the changing lighting conditions during interviews & drama sequences & colour temperatures between cameras for drama sequences. The drama was stylised with the use of a sepia grade, vignette & de-saturation to make them stand out.

Nucoda DVO plugins were used including DVO Clarity for noise reduction, DVO Chroma for removing chromatic aberration, DVO Flicker for reducing strobing & iris adjustments, DVO Pixel for removing dead pixels.

Audio: Steve Crook

The multiple drama sequences, along with use of non-English, Hebrew and Italian speaking actors mean that we needed to do an extensive track lay. We manipulated the dialogue with delay and reverb along with extra FX and the occasional animal noise to pull it all together.

Interviews were accomplished in challenging environments and therefore required a touch of rx5 advanced along with some intensive eq.

Equipment Used:

Pro-Tools, RX5 Audio Editor, Virtual Katy, Media Composer, Nucoda + Nucoda DVO plugins

TX date: Friday 14th April at the slightly unusual time of 19:05.

I just wanted to say a massive thankyou for getting us over the line on Your Garden Made Perfect (and of course Homes)
I just wanted to pass on a little note from our BBC Commissioning Editor which specifically applies to the grade, but is echoes through the detail and finessing achieved with the online and the amazing soundscape.
“… the show looks spectacular. The grade has done a phenomenal job – please do thank the colourist for me…”

Joff Wilson Executive producer: Remarkable TV

The Great Escapists
The idea of delivering an HDR series to Amazon without stepping into a cutting room was somewhat daunting but Radiant made the entire experience seamless. The sound and pictures were, I’ve no doubt, the best they could possibly be thanks to Ben, Andy and their creative team. Working with them is always a pleasure but this time, they exceeded all expectations.

Erika Dodd: Director Of Programmes Chimp Productions.

Best post house! Best people! Cannot be beaten for being fabulous, efficient and delivering amazing programmes. Love you guys xx

Nicki Gottlieb

Rapid Pictures is quite simply a lovely place to work. The staff are incredibly friendly; nothing is too much trouble. They take problems seriously, and deal with them professionally. Their secret is that they make you feel like they care about your production as much as you do.

Jaqueline Hewer

Best post house in town.

Paul Crompton

Best of the best. I love editing here - the Rapid team are like family.

Cassie Bennitt

Not only a top notch facility but some of the nicest people in the biz!!

Jim Bennett

It’s always great working at Rapid. They’re brilliant technically and nothing’s a problem. They made a very long, complicated series easy!

Tina D’arcy

Rapid really exceeded all expectations I had for the two months I spent there. All the staff I encountered took great pride in their work and the company - they create such a positive and friendly atmosphere. The facilities themselves are flawless; support was always immediate and effective. I’d return in a heartbeat.

Joe Haughey

Few post houses combine homeliness with professionalism.
Rapid gives both and more.

Steven Fullgar