LipSync 'Immersed In The Deep Blue Sea'

The investment and equity services provider, LipSync Productions, and LipSync Post, the full service post-production facility, have completed work on The Deep Blue Sea (UK Film Council, Film4, Protagonist Pictures, Artificial Eye, LipSync Productions).
The new adaptation of Terence Rattigan’s play of complex emotion and class division is directed by Terence Davies (Distant Voices, Still Lives, The House of Mirth) and stars Rachel Weisz, Tom Hiddleston and Simon Russell Beale.
Kate Ogborn, Producer, Fly Film, said: "We had a great experience working with LipSync, we were extremely well looked after by the in-house producer Aileen McIntosh who always went the extra mile for us. Our team all enjoyed collaborating closely with the talented team at LipSync across sound, grade, VFX and titles to realise Terence's vision for the film."
The grade, completed by Stuart Fyvie, takes its cues from the post-war 1940s setting and combines the look of old movies of the time with a feeling of austerity. There is an element of diffusion and interior shots are lit either with natural light or with deliberately dim electric light to give a feeling of seeing just enough.
Fyvie commented: "Working with Terence was challenging but great fun - there's certainly a level of expectation but he’s so charming that you really want to get it right for him. This was Terence's first experience with DI and he was really excited by the possibilities."
The overall brief for the sound mix was to keep it natural, simple and quiet. Robert Farr, Re-Recording Mixer, worked hard to keep the dialogue clean and clear without too much ambience or noise behind it. Music was also kept to a minimum, with a single composition by Samuel Barber that is heard in the opening scene and reprised in parts in two or three specific scenes.
In a key scene set in a London Underground station, the gathered crowd sing to keep their spirits up during an air raid. Farr commented: "It was a great scene for the sound mix as we had wonderful reverb from the tunnel, the echo of the singing and the low rumble of bombs dropping in the distance. Moments like this have more impact in a very quiet film, and this one was particularly lovely."
LipSync's VFX team, led by Sean Farrow, completed a variety of visual effects shots for the film, ranging from complex 3D environmental matte paintings to simple clean ups and modernity removals. The opening and closing shots of the film mirror each other – one in daylight, one at night – each lasting two-and-a-half minutes, sweeping across a bombed-out post-World War London square. The VFX team was on set during the shoot to advise and work with the production team in order to time and choreograph the shots. The team then added CG bombed-out buildings, a matte painting of St Paul’s cathedral, a CG crane, digital smoke and birds; the attention to detail even included scanning in the 1940s wallpaper to use within the CG model of the houses.
The Deep Blue Sea opens in the UK on 25 November 2011. It is the latest in a line of critically acclaimed films on LipSync's roster, which has recently included We Need To Talk About Kevin, Jane Eyre and My Week With Marilyn.
(BMcC/GK)