Our Creatives
The team loved collaborating with the Ranga Bee team on the second series of Avoidance. Here is what our creatives had to say about the project.
Sonny Sheridan, Senior Colourist
“I had previously worked with Director Ben Green on the first series of Avoidance so came into the grade with a strong idea of what the look and feel would be like for this series.
The first series of Avoidance had a muted colour palette with more pastel tones and slight desaturation – which gave the impression of a film print look from the 70’s. We wanted to continue this appearance in series 2 but make it even warmer. Prior to the production of series 2, I built a custom LUT that the DOP, Matthew Wicks, and the team on location could use as a guide to the look whilst filming on the Sony Venice. This LUT replicated the warm feel from series 1 but was modified to create some separation from the cooler colours. It was great getting involved in the series early on as everyone was on the same page and the shared vision on how the final show would look, and I think that made the series even stronger as a whole.
The contrast plays a big part in the grade, and using Baselight I felt like I had really control over the finest of details and was really able to play into the autumnal colours from the shoot. With a comedy drama, we can be more creative with the look compared to other genres so wanted to make it light and uplifting and we wanted the audience to warm and relate to the characters in the series.
There was one sequence in the first episode which was set in a school hall and was really well lit by Matthew and the lighting team, using a lot of blues and purples as well as smaller lights in the background which under an anamorphic lens created a bokeh effect. I was able to get those warm skin tones that matched the rest of the episode but this scene had a strong look through the lighting setup. I just wanted to enhance what was already there by softening the small lights in the background and utilising the bright colours so they really popped.”
Ben Ormerod, Senior Dubbing Mixer
“Avoidance is a very dialogue heavy show so my focus centred around polishing up the audio and making it shine. With the show being recorded in a controlled environment, we were able to have more creative freedom in the mix as we had to build up the environments ourselves. I was able to add in different atmos tracks and effects into the background to enrich the mix and add an atmosphere to the scenes.
With comedy, it is important for us that the jokes landed with maximum effect on the audience. So in the mix, we finessed the timing and pacing of the scene, and making sure any additional sound elements helped the punchlines landed with even more effect.
I always enjoy working on comedy dramas and helping tell a story and creating a world for people to enjoy. It was a pleasure working alongside Benjamin Green, the Director; Michelle Farr-Scott, Head of Scripted at Ranga Bee; and Andy Kinnear, Offline Editor.”
Nicola Whitehead, Business Development Manager
“We are thrilled to have contributed to Romesh Ranganathan’s ‘Avoidance’, marking another milestone in our growing portfolio of scripted comedy projects. It’s been great fun working with Benjamin and the team at Ranga Bee and we are very proud of the results.”
