"Taboo" Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio

February 23, 2017, 01:29 PM

https://www.aotg.com/taboo-graded-with-davinci-resolve-studio/

Fremont, CA - February 23, 2017 - Blackmagic Design today announced that Goldcrest Post has completed picture post on “Taboo,” a major new BBC drama series starring Tom Hardy, using DaVinci Resolve Studio together with the DaVinci Resolve Advanced Panel.

Produced by Hardy, Son & Baker and Scott Free Productions and distributed by Sonar Entertainment, “Taboo” is a tale of intrigue and revenge, where a haunted man, James Keziah Delaney (Hardy), newly returned to 1814 London after ten years in Africa, discovers that his father has left him a mysterious legacy.

Goldcrest Post became involved during pre production, working with cinematographer Mark Patten to create a look up table (LUT) which Patten would subsequently use on set during principal photography. “With a base look established, we then carried out a series of look dev sessions not long into the shoot,” explains Goldcrest Post colorist Adam Glasman.

The workflow between Patten and the team at Goldcrest, namely Glasman and senior online editor Sinéad Cronin, was a particularly tight relationship, enhanced by Blackmagic’s DaVinci Resolve.

“The first frames I saw of ‘Taboo’ were when we started to do camera and grading tests last summer,” adds Cronin. “Soon afterward we began working on a 20-minute teaser. This also helped with all of the conform and VFX tests, as well as ironing out any initial issues among the different areas of the project.”

Using DaVinci Resolve’s editing toolset, Cronin was able to access all of the episodes and make editorial changes live during the grade, including cuts, opticals and VFX inserts without the need for rendering or exporting to another application, which saved an enormous amount of time.

For the DI Glasman was tasked with delivering a dark, cinematic grade that would complement the rich blacks and gritty details captured by Patten, while also complementing the show’s impressive production design.

“Much of the night time interior material was candle lit, so the challenge was to keep the darkness while retaining texture in costumes, some of which were black, and the sets,” he explains. “Heavy vignetting was also required in many exterior daylight scenes to keep a brooding, stormy feel.”

Glasman mainly works on features and says it's a different challenge with broadcast drama. “Generally speaking the time constraints are greater,” he admits. “As a result I worked alongside my colleague Rob Pizzey who helped to grade some of the later episodes.” 

Those time constraints played right into the strength of DaVinci Resolve. “For ‘Taboo’ at least four episodes were on the go at any one time,” adds Cronin.

“We also carried out a good number of DI style VFX fixes such as paint outs and the new tools enabled most of this work to be performed in Resolve rather than going out to other software packages,” concludes Glasman. “Such work is now an essential part of the DI process.”

Press Photography

Product photos of DaVinci Resolve Studio, the DaVinci Resolve Advanced Panel and all other Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/images.

About Taboo

Set in early 19th Century London, Taboo is a tale of intrigue and revenge, where a haunted man, James Keziah Delaney (Hardy), newly returned to 1814 London after ten years in Africa, discovers that his father has left him a mysterious legacy. Delaney finds himself in a face-off against the all-powerful East India Company, while playing a dangerous game between two warring nations, Regency Britain and the post-revolutionary USA. 

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com.

Blackmagic Design today announced that Goldcrest Post has completed picture post on “Taboo,” a major new BBC drama series starring Tom Hardy, using DaVinci Resolve Studio together with the DaVinci Resolve Advanced Panel.

Blackmagic Design today announced that Goldcrest Post has completed picture post on “Taboo,” a major new BBC drama series starring Tom Hardy, using DaVinci Resolve Studio together with the DaVinci Resolve Advanced Panel.