Better - BBC One Drama
Filming on location at Prime Studios in Leeds, UP was tasked with shooting multiple internal car scenes for acclaimed new crime series, Better, which is both written and created by Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley.
Detailing the murky and emotionally draining decisions of corrupt cop DI Lou Slack - played by Leila Farzad - UP’s challenge was to film the tense internal car scenes over three days, needing the approval of multiple directors and DoPs.
HETV - high-end TV - productions are more often opting for car processes rather than traditional low loader workflows. UP ICVFX Account Manager, Dan Edmonds explains how this enhanced the production on Better:
“This route gave us the ability to do multiple scenes across different episodes. The flexibility to shoot multiple ‘time of day’ scenes across various episodes was a requirement of the production, and after initial testing, we had just one week to build and deliver a three-day shoot and strike.”
Edmonds chose Roe Black Diamond LED screens to create an enclosed box for the vehicle process, which was driven by disguise GX2c media servers, while Brompton Technology’s cutting-edge 4k Tessera SX40 LED processors helped to merge the virtual and real worlds seamlessly.
“By using Brompton, we know that the processing will be reliable and our colour workflow will be correct,” says Edmonds. “It also gives us plenty of options to make adjustments should we need to do any outside of our playback solution.”
The UP team were given nine separate plates that were required to be placed back around the LED screen for playback.
Edmonds continues: “disguise video mapping was key to re-stitching a 360 playback of the driving plates. Used in conjunction with custom made LUTs [colour-grade-presets for footage] this really helped us to deliver precise scenes for the Better production.
“The disguise system also helped to simplify our workflows, and afforded the BBC production team the option to preview selects and ensure they fitted each scene as intended. The flexibility with in-built mapping processes is perfect for what was required on this project,” he adds.
Ultimately, being able to control VP techniques was important for the overall production environment, as Edmonds concludes: “To have continuity was critical to the show’s Director and to the filming crew. These details really make for a fluid experience. The BBC production crew had limited exposure to this relatively new kind of video process beforehand, so it was great to see how pleased they were with the speed of the shoot and the realistic results we could provide.”