Prime Focus Grades Keira Knightley's Women's Aid Appeal

Atonement and Pirates Of The Caribbean star Keira Knightley has made a hard-hitting advert for the charity Women's Aid, which campaigns against violence aimed at women and children in the home.
Now, Prime Focus London's (PFL) Tareq Kubasi has graded the appeal which sees the high-profile Hollywood actress Keira Knightley reunited with Atonement director Joe Wright to raise awareness of domestic violence.
The commercial is part of a national campaign, in cinemas and online, in conjunction with a print campaign. In the harrowing two-minute spot, created by agency Grey and produced by Dab Hand Media, Knightley plays an actress returning home from a day on set when she's confronted by her angry partner.
It seems that this is all part of a scripted drama, until the male actor punches her to the ground and repeatedly kicks her as she struggles on the floor.
The camera zooms out to reveal an empty film set with nobody around to hear her cries for help, culminating in the tagline 'Isn't it time someone called cut?'.
Tareq Kubasi, PFL's Chief Executive Officer of Telecine, has worked on many projects with Joe Wright over the years and was pleased to provide the grade on such an important piece.
He said: "Joe is a classic filmmaker so he's not looking for the latest weird grade, he wants it to enhance the story, rather than overpower it. Everything is very naturally lit, these guys have gone into it with a particular vision and you make sure you help that out rather than ride roughshod over it."
Tareq added: "It had to look cinematic, so I kept it very filmic in style. I had to make sure her skin tone was clear throughout and that the spots of blood looked the correct shade.
"You trade those things off with each other so it looks realistic but it's still visible. I found the piece incredibly shocking and very comfortable to work on; it was not easy to watch time after time."
Women's Aid is the UK's key national charity working to end domestic violence against women and children. They support a network of over 500 domestic and sexual violence services across the UK.
(KMcA/BMcC)