Commissioned for BBC One and BBC iPlayer, co-produced with PBS and made in partnership with The Open University, this three-part series follows climate activist Greta Thunberg as she takes a year off school to explore the science of global warming and challenge world leaders, calling for action on climate change.

As she travels across the globe, Greta explores the science - from the melting glaciers of Canada to the coal mines of Europe. She witnesses first-hand the consequences of climate change and makes clear the reasons why she thinks something must be done right now. On her journey she meets climate scientists and confronts the complexity of what is required to make change happen. Encounters with some of the world’s leading scientists and economists allow the series to examine what the latest science tells us about what can be done to avert the worst effects of climate change.

Our Team

Find out what our team had to say about the project.

Adam Grant, ENVY Online Editor

Due to the nature of the documentary the episodes were filmed ‘on the road’ over many months – with the later/end of the filming running in to the Covid pandemic.
The post production was subsequently performed during this years’ lockdown and to ensure quick & sustained contact between myself and the client we made safe arrangements for us both to be present within the ENVY Facility; with myself in the edit suite and the client in another we communicated via Facetime, WhatsApp & phone calls to keep in touch. During the edit my output was permanently viewable on another Sony X300 monitor, if the client was outside of Envy then they viewed via a secure Streambox feed, allowing them to watch the online live while I worked and make comments as necessary.

Throughout the shoot there are many different camera formats, framerates & footage variations such as archive that all had to be imported and seamlessly integrated together. I used Alchemist to convert frame rates of non 25fps sync archive and FluidMorph within Avid to recreate creative slo-mos as requested by the client requested.

During many of Greta’s rallies there were several strongly worded/expletive placards present and consequently to reach broadcasting/transmission standards these had to be disguised/painted out using flame’s impressive compositing tools

Equipment Used: Sony X300 monitor, Avid Symphony and Baselight grade

Timeline: Each episode – 2 days to finish in Online.

Matt Skilton, ENVY Dubbing Mixer

The topic/subject of a programme really defines the tone for the mix – my job is to amplify the story/underlying message that is being told, while working in harmony with the visuals.

For Greta Thunberg: A Year to Save the World, I opted for a nuanced approach during interviews to uphold the organicness of the doc and prevent dramtisation – which could be interpreted as sensationalism. Alternatively in the montages & scenes displaying the impact of climate change (such as the lighting storms) we decided to push the audio so to enhance the effects of the natural world rather than holding them back. Essentially this multi-layered approach enabled us to convey the important message of the series/consequences of climate change in a raw yet controlled manner.

With the documentary being shot on the road, the audio was exposed to many unique circumstances, environments and external influences – as such it’s inevitable that some unwanted noise will creep into the postproduction. I started the process by removing the noise bleed followed by cleaning all the affected speech via Isotope’s RX noise reduction – maximising the quality of the dialogue.

In line with this, the documentary also featured various audio sources/samples (such as in person interviews, zoom calls and archive) in which small discrepancies will always be present. It was important to create a seamlessly interwoven track to uphold the flow and congruency of the documentary. However, it’s also equally important to prevent eradicating the naturally distinguishable variances of the recordings as this can be equally as jarring to a watching audience. Ultimately in a documentary so powerful you want to enable each moment to have its time and be appreciated.

Grading / Colour

Adding a splash of colour to your project is the Grading team. Our team can design particular looks to match the visions of how you want your show to look.

We have six Baselight TWO colour grading suites all with the latest Dolby and Sony monitoring allowing our grading team to work at resolutions from HD up to 4K HDR. All suites are connected to a high-speed SAN and supported by a Baselight Assist, allowing imports/exports to happen in the background without interrupting the session.

Online

Once the Offline is completed, our experienced Online team will bring your project to life with their knowledge and skills.

Our online team operate across ten Avid Symphony suites and two Autodesk Flame systems all connected via high performance shared storage, working at resolutions from HD up to 4K HDR and beyond if required. They offer the latest plugins from both Boris and Sapphire, as well as the highest quality broadcast monitoring available. The team are highly experienced in large-scale multi-episodic productions as well as fast turnaround ‘day of transmission’ style projects.

Audio

Our Sound department are able to create thrilling soundscapes, record and edit voiceovers and mix the most complex of projects.

Our Broadcast division has nine sound studios, all with VO booths alongside two additional Audio Prep rooms. All our studios are 5.1 capable with three studios being Dolby Atmos 7.1.4. All suites run the latest ProTools 20.12 software with the latest plugins. As well as mix, we also offer ADR, Foley and remote voice over.