London-based colour grading studio Dirty Looks, specialising in Baselight grading for independent movies, carried out the finish of Under the Skin by director Jonathan Glazer (Sexy Beast, Birth).
Sharing the same building, which made collaboration easier to realise Glazer’s vision, One of Us, Dirty Looks’ creative partner, completed the visual effects of the movie.
The film, starring Scarlett Johansson, was shot in Glasgow and rural Scotland, and was captured on the ARRI ALEXA. One-cam, a unique small cinema-quality digital camera, specifically developed by One of Us for covert shooting in Glasgow’s city-centre, was also used. To enable the cameras to sit together in the edit and used in Baselight to help balance the feel of the cameras, custom colour science was developed.
Allowing the look to evolve while keeping creative options open as the visual effects developed, the effects were regularly conformed and worked on in a 2k grading environment.
Tom Balkwill of Dirty Looks explained: “Combining technical resources allowed a quick turnaround between creative departments and helped us deliver what this film needed, not only quickly but to the highest standards – the efficient workflow from VFX, aided by the Baselight integration, meant quality never had to be compromised.’
Colourist John Claude came in to set the grade from this starting point. “I worked closely with Jonathan Glazer to achieve the look that felt right,’ he commented. “He was very clear that it should be rooted in an everyday Glaswegian reality.
“The balance in the grade was naturalistic in the street cinematography, then more stylised as we took the viewer through some of the more curious, unsettling sequences. The blue “swimmer’ sequences, when one of Scarlett’s victims is under the pit, were quite challenging, but made easier with Baselight’s matte-layer stack management,’ Claude added.
Balkwill highlighted another key scene that proved to be a huge technical challenge. “In this scene, Johansson’s face emerges from an accumulation of street visions – a very complicated montage made up of 93 blended 2K layers.
“This sequence could only be finished with Baselight, because each individual layer needed its own tweaks in stabilising and grading. You absolutely need the power of Baselight to achieve what we did for Under the Skin,’ Balkwill concluded.
