Evolutions complete post on Jump London

Evolutions Television, a leading UK post house, has posted one of the most talked-about and biggest-budget documentaries of 2003.
'Jump London' literally follows the footsteps of three Frenchmen as they embark on a death-defying journey over the rooftops of some of London’s most famous landmarks. Produced by Mike Smith of Optomen Television and directed by Mike Christie, the 60-minute documentary airs on Channel 4 on September 9.
Popularised by Sebastien Foucan in Paris, ‘Le Parkour’ or Free Running is a new urban sport that means running over a city or landscape while letting nothing get in your way. Jump London traces the sport’s history and evolution as the intrepid French trio leap and bound over Somerset House, the Albert Hall, the National Theatre, the rooftops of Soho, Tate Modern, the Globe Theatre, Old County Hall, the Saatchi Gallery and HMS Belfast.
The very nature of Jump London, trying to keep up with the exploits of the Free Runners, obviously meant the documentary was an extraordinarily complex programme to make.
After freelance editors, Renoir Tuahene and Olivia Baldwin cut the footage in one of Evolution’s Avid off-line suites, the programme spent around 30-40 hours in Avid Symphony online for grading and final tweaks by Evolutions Senior Editor, Paul Fallon.
Fallon, said: “Mike (Christie) was very keen for the programme to stand out from run-of the-mill documentaries, and to give it a cutting-edge commercials look to fit in with the fast-paced action. He gave us a free rein with the grade.”
Using Symphony, and in particular its new varispeed fluid motion features, Fallon created a seamless flow as the three Frenchmen performed a series of acrobatic head over heels, back-flips and tumbles. Senior flame artist, Steve Archbold, completed the work at Evolutions with a stunning titles sequence. Ian Marriot-Smith, Evolutions senior audio engineer, carried out the audio.
(GB)