Post-production uncovered: Company 3 on Our House (ITV)

Company 3 has revealed its work on four-part ITV series Our House, which was released in March of this year.

The post house oversaw the delivery of the conform, grade and finish in DaVinci Resolve for the psychological thriller, which stars Line of Duty’s Martin Compston and Downton Abbey’s Tuppence Middleton and is based on Louise Candlish’s best-selling novel of the same name.

It was directed by Sheree Folkson, with Company 3 colorist Chris Rodgers delivering the grade and Rob Cooper onlining the series. The final deliverables were UHD HDR, with a derived SDR HD version using Dolby Vision.

DP Richard Mott reached out to Rodgers several months ahead of production beginning sharing a set of stills from films that pointed to the look that he was aiming for. Rodgers revealed: “These were all fairly bold, and contrasty, and we used these along with some exposure tests he had shot to build a few LUT options.

“He then took those LUTs, and shot some additional camera tests to get a feel for them. We took another look in the grade and refined the look further based on Richard’s feedback, and settled on one LUT that could be used across the entire shoot. We made a couple of revisions to the exposure during the shoot, but the look we set in pre-production tracked through the entire project.”

The Alexa LF was used for principal photography with a mixture of ProRes 4444 and ARRIRAW formats used throughout.

The LUT was based on a real print stock with flexibility that still allowed primary greens and magentas to come through that worked in all lighting setups. Rodgers continued: “Colour contrast was important, so we wanted a look that was dark, and rich, but not desaturated.

“One of the benefits to building the look in pre-production is that there were no surprises during the grade. This meant that my time could be spent on elevating the look to make sure we were being bold and true to Richard’s original intent.

“I especially enjoyed grading the house interiors, particularly the night scenes where Richard’s use of colour contrast worked so well in conjunction with the art direction. I was mindful of pushing the contrast while not allowing shadows to crush and throw away detail. It was that balance of dark, rich, and filmic, that is so much fun for a colourist.”

The grade was attended by Mott to work on an initial pass for each episode. These were then reviewed by the producer and executives, with feedback and notes all given and applied with the team as a collective.

Audio was applied for the final reviews, and on and off during the grade. Rodgers explained: “Often the score will inform the tone of the scene, plus it’s important to engage with the characters and story. A dark scene can feel darker if you watch it on mute but once you can hear the dialogue, that darkness becomes less of an issue.”

Our House is currently available on ITV Hub.

Images: ITV