Picture Shop completed colour grading work for the thrilling survival film, which was produced by SunnyMarch, Anton, BBC Film and the BFI Film Fund.
Picture Shop’s team in London provided colour grading for The End We Start From, using Baselight for the online edit and grade. The creative team for the project was Senior Colourist Paul Ensby, Assistant Colourist Tom Alexander, Grade Edit Assist Ross Brunton, and Picture Shop Executive Producer Begona Lopez.
Based on the novel of the same name by Megan Hunter, the film begins in the present day with a nameless mother named the Woman, played by Jodie Comer, giving birth to her first child amid a catastrophic storm. As severe flooding ravages the streets of London, she is forced to flee northward with her baby and husband, played by Joel Fry.
Grade
The End We Start From was shot on 2 perf 35mm by Director of Photography Susie Lavelle, alongside Director Mahalia Belo. Both attended the grade throughout which was performed on Baselight in Picture Shop’s grading theatres in the Lexington Street, London.
The online editing was performed by Tom Alexander and Ross Brunton using Baselight.
Colourist Paul Ensby got involved during the pre-shoot camera testing stage, where he set looks with Belo and Lavelle. During the shoot they intermittently looked at shots technically to check they were still on track and able to achieve the desired effect.
Once the grade was done, it was a clear, subtle, naturalistic, pastel that suited the feature. This was meticulously maintained throughout, but the flashback scenes were pushed into a highly saturated warmer hue to set them apart.
As it was shot on film, Ensby was keen to stick to the printer light toolset within Baselight to keep the organic look that film possesses. With this base he used several subtle power windows/vignettes where required to help problematic areas or help focus the eye towards the key area of the frame.
Both Lavelle and Belo were fully immersed in the grading process.
Thankfully, we were all on the same page in terms of the look – extra care was taken regarding the overall saturation and hue of the foliage for example. In fact, I’m not sure I have ever forensically examined the tone for every scene at this level before!
Paul Ensby, Senior Colourist at Picture Shop
The VFX was handled externally and once on-site they were assessed and enhanced in the grading suite – the biggest challenge was a scene almost entirely shot on blue screen of London being flooded which was tricky to keep it realistic and believable.
Republic Pictures and Signature Entertainment have acquired US and UK distribution rights, respectively in December 2023 and January 2024. Watch the trailer below.
