Sherlock

Post Prime Focus

Client Hartswood Films / BBC One.

Brief Complete the conform and grade and provide visual effects and graphics for the second series of Sherlock.

How it was done Prime Focus colourist Kevin Horsewood was asked to provide a different look and feel to each of the three episodes, which were shot on Alexa, Phantom and Canon 5D cameras.

He said: “For the ‘The Hounds of Baskerville’ episode I gave the exteriors a slightly pink and rose feel with the intention of moving away from the standard country-house drama look and towards something with a little more edge and bite.

“With that in mind, I kept the skin tones normal, using shapes to isolate the foreground figures and make sure the images had a rich yet moody feel.”

Horsewood used Baselight’s layer tools and defocus vignettes to pick out the important elements of each shot, allowing him to add shape and definition to the final image.

He also also used Dolby’s PRM4200 reference monitors for the grade.

He said: “I can now see and dig into detail that I wouldn’t touch ordinarily.”

Online editors Scott Hinchcliffe and Barrie Pease were responsible for creating the majority of the VFX elements and graphics.

Hinchcliffe said: “The offline editor used Boris FX and Sapphire plug-ins to create various effects and graphics, so we upgraded to Avid DS 10.5 and installed them in order to replicate what they had done and expand on it in the online.

“There are only three episodes in the series, but they are treated like feature films; it’s probably been the most complicated show I’ve ever worked on!”

Watch it Sundays, 8.30pm, BBC1