The Look Gets Cinematic For 'Quirke'

London high-end post facility, The Look, recently completed the picture post production for BBC's major three part drama series 'Quirke' on its Quantel Pablo Rio system.

Set in 1950s Ireland and Boston, 'Quirke' is the story of the eponymous pathologist who investigates sudden death victims. 'Quirke' has been widely praised for its high production values and 'film noir' look - with a striking extra dimension of 'bright color' moments; 'Wonderful, atmospheric settings and unusually artistic cinematography', wrote one reviewer.
Colorist at The Look on the three episodes was Thomas Urbye. "Each of the three 90 minute films had different directors and cinematographers," Urbye reported. "My brief from the series Producer, Lisa Osborne, was to create a cohesive and cinematic look and feel across the three stories, while punctuating them with moments of strong color to accentuate particular characters and moods. For example, when the lead character Quirke hits the bottle in despair, I wanted to create a rugged, bleak look across the scenes, reflecting the difficult time he was going through. In contrast, Sarah and Mal's house is opulent, with her bright orange dress standing out in all her scenes.
"Along with Top Boy, this is the job of which I am most proud over the last three years," Urbye continued. "I enjoyed the depth of the story and got deeply involved in the emotion; the cinematic approach from all involved combined with the budget helped me to do this. Most TV drama moves along at a great pace with lots of cuts, but 'Quirke' was much more like three individual but connected feature films, giving the viewer plenty of time to embrace the atmosphere. Everything came together to create something with a huge amount of suspense.
"We had three days per episode for color and finishing, all carried out in our grading theatre on our Pablo Rio with the directors and DPs in attendance. What made it all extra special was that De Lane Lea, who we've worked with a lot, did the audio mix - one of the big names in movie sound, really helping to add to the cinematic atmosphere," Urbye added.
"Our Pablo Rio with the Neo color control panel gives us the power to create the cinematic feel - using the built-in contrast curves means that we can get a sophisticated look very quickly. The speed with which we can apply subtle shapes is also very powerful in quickly building a great look. Furthermore, Pablo Rio's built-in finishing toolset means that we were able to do all the conform, color, finishing and deliverables within the one system - and it was also easy to drop in VFX and simply apply the chosen grades to them," said Urbye.
(CD)