Digital pictures showcases visual effects & post production with deconstruction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge for ‘Underbelly:Razor’ tv series

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underbelly 1.jpgScreentime and Channel Nine’s latest and popular instalment of the Australian crime-franchise, Underbelly: Razor showcases visual effects and post production from the creative team at Digital Pictures.

Working hand-in-hand with the production, Digital Pictures delivered creative post services including; on-set supervision, VFX, and a luscious colour grade by Digital Pictures’ colourist, Dwaine Hyde, on all 13 episodes of the latest series.

This was the first time that the Underbelly production had undertaken significant VFX work on the franchise. The producers knew that the arc of the story paralleled with the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the late 1920s. They wanted to see the bridge in various stages of construction throughout the series “a kind of a metaphor for our story and Australia forming itself as a nation” explained Peter Gawler, co-producer of the series. “We were delighted when Digital Pictures came to the party to figure out how to do that for us.”

Screentime, Co-producers Elisa Argenzio and Peter Gawler said they “leant quite heavily on the VFX team” to tidy up the production’s back-drops, remove non-period features and create matte paintings to extend the cityscape of the 1920s within the story. However the headline act was the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. “Digital Pictures’ Post Producer, Stewart Dean and VFX Supervisor, Soren Jensen and the team have lent their considerable skills to it and I think it’s a triumph!” says Peter Gawler.

Digital Pictures VFX Supervisor Soren Jensen maintained a very solid and close relationship with the DOP Mark Wareham and production designer, Paddy Reardon to ensure the VFX matched the vision and overall look of the series’ production design.

The creation of the Harbour Bridge in 3D commenced with VFX Supervisor, Jensen researching archival footage and stills of the city of Sydney from the 1920s to 1932. In pre-production the team built a 3D asset of the Harbour Bridge so the camera could be moved in any position around the bridge in any scene throughout the production.

Colour is an essential component to every project’s narrative and Colourist Dwaine Hyde delivered a creative sensitivity to the story through his use of colour. Digital Pictures supplied a LUT (look up table) with the dailies so that the production team could view their dailies in a form that matched as close as possible to what the final graded scenes would look like.

Says Elisa Argenzio: “Very early on in pre-production the production designer and DOP developed a colour palette for the show. This informed how the show was lit, how the costumes and sets worked within the shows palette. It is a very considered approach. Dwaine was our last bastion in the colour process. He grades brilliantly and the colour grade was complex with lots of different elements that are highlighted during the show. Dwaine was mindful of the different worlds and characters throughout all 13 episodes to maintain that look. Without a doubt, Dwaine interpreted that very well.”

The first episode of Nine’s Underbelly: Razor set in Sydney’s Darlinghurst drew 2.51 million

viewers beating last year’s debut of Underbelly: The Golden Mile.