The Grand Tour

Post The Farm Group

Client Chump Productions

Brief Picture and audio post-production of the 11 x 60-minute and 1 x 90-minute Ultra High Definition (UHD) and High Dynamic Range (HDR) series for Amazon Prime in which Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May travel the world, visiting more than 40 countries and setting up the show’s studio tent in 11 of them.

How it was done Shot at 4K resolution and graded in HDR, The Grand Tour uses the latest technologies to give each film its own distinctive look. The series was filmed with a range of cameras including the Arri Alexa, Panasonic GH4, Red Dragon, Phantom and GoPro. Colourist Dan Gill graded the series using Digital Vision’s Nucoda finishing system.

The delivery requirements for Amazon meant that Gill was required to grade two versions of each film: one in SDR and the second in HDR. He used the original SDR grade as the creative reference. Bringing a new way of working creatively and technically within the latest version of Nucoda, Gill used the Aces colour management system to switch between the SDR and HDR colour spaces.

The creative vision of the Chump Production team required the sequences to have distinct and contrasting looks. The road films range from stylised documentary through to Hollywood action movie, while the car power tests are approached more like commercials or music promos.

Gill applied look changes, flashes, flares, hyper-real colours and virtual monochrome to amplify the diversity of the landscapes and draw as much attention as possible to the cars. FX and dialogue editing was completed by Tom Povey.

Alastair McCleave mixed the audio in 5.1 with Avid’s S6 console, which provided the high levels of creative space and flexibility needed to create stunning soundscapes.

Watch it From Friday on Amazon Prime