Post house provided colour grading for Jodie Comer survival film

End We Start From Jodie Comer Picture Shop

Picture Shop has revealed the work that went into grading The End We Start From, an adaptation of Megan Hunter’s novel of the same name.

Starring Jodie Comer as a nameless mother known as the Woman, it depicts her in the present day giving birth to her first child amid a catastrophic storm. As severe flooding ravages the streets of London, she is forced to flee northward with her baby and husband, played by Joel Fry. It was produced by SunnyMarch, Anton, BBC Film, and the BFI Film Fund, with Republic Pictures and Signature Entertainment acquiring US and UK distribution rights. It was released in UK cinemas on 19 January.

Picture Shop’s team was made up of senior colourist Paul Ensby, assistant colourist Tom Alexander, grade edit assist Ross Brunton, and Picture Shop executive producer Begona Lopez, with Baselight used for the online edit by Alexander and Brunton and grade by Ensby.

Ensby got involved during the pre-shoot camera testing stage where he set looks with director of photography Susie Lavelle and director Mahalia Belo. The film was shot on 2 perf 35mm, and both alos attended the grade in-person at Picture Shop’s grading theatres in the Lexington Street, London. 

During the shoot they intermittently looked at shots technically to check they were still on track and able to achieve the desired effect.

Once the grade was done, it was a clear, subtle, naturalistic, pastel that suited the feature. This was meticulously maintained throughout, but the flashback scenes were pushed into a highly saturated warmer hue to set them apart.

As it was shot on film, Ensby was keen to stick to the printer light toolset within Baselight to keep the organic look that film possesses. With this base he used several subtle power windows/vignettes where required to help problematic areas or help focus the eye towards the key area of the frame.

Both Lavelle and Belo were fully immersed in the grading process. Ensby said, “Thankfully we were all on the same page in terms of the look - extra care was taken regarding the overall saturation and hue of the foliage for example. In fact, I’m not sure I have ever forensically examined the tone for every scene at this level before.”

The VFX was handled externally and once on-site they were assessed and enhanced in the grading suite - the biggest challenge was a scene almost entirely shot on blue screen of London being flooded which was tricky to keep it realistic and believable.