The Apprentice
'The Finger of Fear' trailer for the upcoming ninth series of The Apprentice.
The Finger of Fear is back.
Red Bee Media were commissioned by the BBC to produce a trailer for the upcoming ninth series of The Apprentice. Rushes were involved from pre-production, with VFX Supervisor Matt Jackson working closely alongside director Chris Balmond and producer Ella Littlewood from Red Bee Media.
Chris Balmond says, “Rushes were involved from storyboard stage, advising on ways to achieve key shots like the talking statue and the dive, (should Mr Hewer not have been willing or able). Matt Jackson attended the shoot to ensure all elements were captured for our statue comp, and had a great understanding of not just what was technically right, but comedicly too. Another brilliant grade from Simone that really helped push the opulence of Lord Sugar's world, and then great compositing and clean up work from Matt gave our statue his own unique charm, and our phone a little extra zip.”
Rushes Matt Jackson adds, “During the grading process, we started roughing out some of the statue VFX shots. This gave us a head start into how Chris wanted the statue to articulate. Using flame we tried out a number of expressions, animations and variations until we got the balance right. It was a question of combining plates of the statue and an actor, hand animating, warping and grading the final results. We also added steam, recreated split screens and some complex (now invisible) retimed elements. I think the flexibility of working in flame together worked well; allowing us to address editing, compositing and grading issues simultaneously, and at a speed that meant we could experiment.
All in all it was great fun working with Chris and Ella...and Lord Sugar. It was a pleasure to see the comedy coming through on camera, and of course catch Lord Sugar’s performances first hand. The project still makes me chuckle... and best of all I haven't got fired yet!”
Red Bee Media were commissioned by the BBC to produce a trailer for the upcoming ninth series of The Apprentice. Rushes were involved from pre-production, with VFX Supervisor Matt Jackson working closely alongside director Chris Balmond and producer Ella Littlewood from Red Bee Media.
Chris Balmond says, “Rushes were involved from storyboard stage, advising on ways to achieve key shots like the talking statue and the dive, (should Mr Hewer not have been willing or able). Matt Jackson attended the shoot to ensure all elements were captured for our statue comp, and had a great understanding of not just what was technically right, but comedicly too. Another brilliant grade from Simone that really helped push the opulence of Lord Sugar's world, and then great compositing and clean up work from Matt gave our statue his own unique charm, and our phone a little extra zip.”
Rushes Matt Jackson adds, “During the grading process, we started roughing out some of the statue VFX shots. This gave us a head start into how Chris wanted the statue to articulate. Using flame we tried out a number of expressions, animations and variations until we got the balance right. It was a question of combining plates of the statue and an actor, hand animating, warping and grading the final results. We also added steam, recreated split screens and some complex (now invisible) retimed elements. I think the flexibility of working in flame together worked well; allowing us to address editing, compositing and grading issues simultaneously, and at a speed that meant we could experiment.
All in all it was great fun working with Chris and Ella...and Lord Sugar. It was a pleasure to see the comedy coming through on camera, and of course catch Lord Sugar’s performances first hand. The project still makes me chuckle... and best of all I haven't got fired yet!”
Product: The Apprentice
Production Title: Finger of Fear
Production Company: Red Bee Media
Director: Chris Balmond
Producer: Ella Littlewood
Post Production: Rushes
Producer: Kayleigh Dugdale
Colourist: Simone Grattarola
VFX: Matt Jackson (VFX supervisor), Leo Weston, James Dooley and Andy Barnard
