Case Studies
Making ‘Paris ETC’
Bringing cinema quality colour to television.
Paris ETC is a new TV series from Canal+. A ‘dramedy’ about five women in Paris, the 12 episodes were conceived by Zabou Breitman and written by Maïwenn and Anne Berest.
Providing the high quality creative impact that audiences expect, while also meeting the tough timescales of broadcast television, was a challenge that director of photography Antoine Roch (AFC), DIT Nejib Boubaker (ADIT) and Le Labo colourist Fabien Napoli all embraced.
“On this project, the post-production was completed over a short period of time, with just a few months between the end of the shooting and the broadcast of the TV series,” said Boubaker. “So the director of photography, Antoine Roch, decided to start the grading process on set.
“He got in touch with me, mentioning that the final grade would be done at Le Labo in Paris, using the Baselight grading system.”
To keep the colour process consistent and gain time, Boubaker pressed for the use of Prelight during the shoot. Prelight is an on-set visualisation and colour grading tool from FilmLight. Critically, it offers not just the same colour science as Baselight, but uses the same Baselight Linked Grade (BLG) file format.
The process is non-destructive. While passing through Prelight, Daylight (FilmLight’s dailies system) and then onto Baselight, the raw camera footage remains intact, with the grade built up in rich BLG metadata that can be handed on to the next system. As well as allowing the grade to be built collaboratively, it captures all the subtlety of the colourist’s art, including adjustments to fine details through windows and layers.
“By pre-grading the dailies, the DIT has become an indispensable associate to my creativity. It makes me feel freer in my decisions – to me it is an unquestionable artistic benefit.”
Download
