29 March 2024 The Irish Film & Television Network
     

Irish Film and Television Network

 »

News

 »

Post Production News



A Trip Down Windmill Lane: IFTN Speaks To Tim Morris of Windmill Lane Pictures Post Production
16 Oct 2014 : Seán Brosnan
There are not too many people in Ireland with the knowledge of what lies in store for Nidge and Co in Season 5 of ‘Love/Hate’, making the post production crew of Windmill Lane Pictures an enviable and elite group of people indeed.

Visiting the state of the art studio on Dublin’s Herbert Street, IFTN speaks to Facility Director Tim Morris, who talks firstly about the ‘omerta’-like security and secrecy measures taken in order to keep the hit show’s storylines under wraps.

There are very stringent security protocol measures taken within the building while we are working on ‘Love/Hate’,says Morris, who was a founding member of Windmill Lane Pictures in 1979. The show has a different name when we are working on it. It is never referred to as ‘Love/Hate’. Every file or picture that is sent out has a burnt in watermark so if it did end up on Youtube or anywhere else, we would know who is responsible. The producers really don’t want to give anything away.

In typical ‘Love/Hate’ fashion, Morris also adds: If I told you anything about season 5 I’d have to kill you!

Death threats and omerta aside, Morris then explains more about the editing process of the much loved show.

We have been involved with ‘Love/Hate’ since its inception right through to Season 5 which is airing now and we love working on such a highly rated show. Writer Stuart Carolan was always very interested in changing the storylines and developing the characters giving every single season a different feel and tempo, something that he has been really successful with.

Over 852,000 people tuned in to episode two of Season 5 last week while last year’s average audience share was 53%. With such high ratings, Morris speaks openly about the pressure of helping to keep the quality of the show high on their end at Windmill Lane.

The show was shot in 11 weeks and then edited in 10 weeks so one of the aspects of our work with ‘Love/Hate’ has definitely been a very quick turnaround, says Morris. It’s incredibly manic shooting, they shoot an incredible amount of footage in a short space of time. So the turnaround is very fast and can be a highly pressurized environment. Octagon Films started shooting the show in March and the first episode aired in early October so everyone works very fast in order to get the show finished. We only finished the final episode four weeks ago but we have a working shorthand and a great relationship with everyone on the show and that definitely makes things easier.

The series was shot by DOP Ciaran Tanham with the digital camera the Arri Alexa. When the rushes are shot, they are delivered to Windmill Lane at 9pm and worked on in the company’s night-time Digital Laboratory. The rushes are then processed through to editorial the next morning via Windmill’s high speed data network to the editing rooms which are in the same building. Low-Res Quick Times of the rushes are then streamed to producers and the director so that they can easily check what they shot the day before on their smartphones.

The editor of the show is freelance editor Dermot Diskin who edits all the episodes on one of Windmill’s Avid systems. He is assisted by assembly editor Julian Ulrichs and dedicated Windmill assistant editor Robert O’Connor whose work is quick to be lauded by Morris.

He has a hard job and is crucial to the whole process, says the facility director. Rob acts as the liaison between Dermot and director David Caffrey making sure everything is running smoothly which he does very well. This allows Dermot to concentrate on editing the shows in such a tight timescale. This team approach is especially vital later on when everything becomes concertinaed.

The shows are assembled throughout the duration of filming. Fine cutting then commences with Director David Caffrey and Producers Steve Matthews and Suzanne McAuley attending. They assemble the show showing it to RTÉ until they all come to an agreed picture-lock which is the point where creative editing stops and picture finishing begins.

Picture finishing takes us down two routes, explains Morris. The actual picture finishing which is conforming from original rushes, grading, title work and then sound post production which is the process of completing the complex soundtracks. We do both here in this building. David Caffrey and the producers are very involved during the whole editing process and also then with the grading and the sound. David and DOP Ciaran very much wanted to make this season gritty and more true to life whereas past seasons have featured more de-saturated colours. David is always present during ADR (Additional Dialogue Recording) sessions which normally accounts for between 10% of an episode’s dialogue and are done for both technical and storytelling reasons. They are always very keen to be present during the recording sessions and I think it shows in the final product.

Grading is done by Colorists Matt Branton and Dave Hughes in the studio’s Baselight colouring suites with the Baselight system being particularly good at working with the Arri Alexa camera files. These 4k grading systems also allow Matt and Dave a level of control that isn’t normally available to colourists. The conform and grading is made possible from EDL’s prepared by assistant Robert O’ Connor. These mirror the pictures used in the approved final locked picture cuts. When the grading is completed, the director and DOP are called in to approve and sign off.

The sound is mixed in stereo and the mix is done using the Pro-Tools Audio data System with D-command mixing desks by Windmill’s Mark Henry - who has also mixed the previous seasons of the show. The sound supervisor for season 5 was Fiadhnait McCann and the dialogue editor was Fionán Higgins.

Morris continues: Once the sound is signed off on, producers and directors are again called in to approve the episodes which are then sent to online editor Robbie O’Farrell who creates some finishing touches such as the front and end titles and the roller captions. He also takes the sound mixes and lays them up to picture and then does final checks that everything is supposed to be where it should be. The work is then QC’d (quality controlled) at our digital media department and finally sent off to RTÉ for transmission! This is where the work gets pressurized as deadlines approach. We could be editing episode six, doing ADR on episode four, grading episode one all at the same time! So we are relieved to see it go off for transmission.

With such demanding and tightly scheduled work, would Tim Morris be happy to work on season six of Love/Hate should it be commissioned?

We are extremely proud to work on ‘Love/Hate’ and if there is a sixth season we would absolutely love to work on it!

Potential sixth season of ‘Love/Hate’ aside, Windmill Lane Pictures Post Production has already got a packed working schedule with the studio doing full post production on features such as ‘Miss Julie’, ‘My Name is Emily’, ‘Sacrifice’, ‘The Guarantee’, ‘L’Accabadora’ and ‘Moscow Never Sleeps’. They have also completed post production work on documentaries ‘One Million Dubliners’ and ‘Gray Matters’, and the VFX work on a new American film ‘Young Ones’ starring Nicholas Hoult, Michael Shannon and Elle Fanning.

As IFTN reported last week, ‘Love/Hate’ Season 5 is launching at MIPCOM this week, details of which can be seen here.



FEATURES & INTERVIEWS
“For the industry to grow here, we need more storytellers”, Oscar-nominated producer Ed Guiney discusses Storyhouse
Sharon Horgan, Róisín Gallagher, and Éanna Hardwicke among BAFTA TV Award nominees
Free Industry Newsletter
Subscribe to IFTN's industry newsletter - it's free and e-mailed directly to your inbox every week.
Click here to sign up.






 
 the Website  Directory List  Festivals  Who's Who  Locations  Filmography  News  Crew  Actors
 

Contact Us | Advertise | Copyright | Terms & Conditions | Security & Privacy | RSS Feed | Twitter

 

 

 
canli bahis siteleri rulet siteleri deneme bonusu veren siteler bahis siteleri free spin veren siteler deneme bonusu veren yeni siteler yeni casino siteleri yeni bahis siteleri betwoon grandpashabet