The Piano

“The star of the show is the Piano itself. We wanted to draw people towards the piano by making it stand out. To achieve this, I boosted the blacks of the piano whilst also retaining its shiny finish. There were some shots that had some reflections of the crowd which I minimised by lifting the blacks.

The Love Productions team didn’t want the grade to take away from the performances and the beautiful stories being told by the contestants so my brief was to keep the programme looking natural. The show was shot in summer so there was some warm lighting shining through to aid the fantastic cinematography. Along with the bright, colourful clothes that people in the stations were wearing, these added splashes of colour to a busy, hectic location.

We also wanted to establish a difference between the performance area in the concourses and the hidden room where Lang Lang and Mika are observing. The backrooms were small and plain in colour so it was easier to create a contrast in looks between the two areas due to the movement, people and vibrancy of one and the quieter, simplified look of the other.

The Piano is a gamechanger for TV contests and it was refreshing to observe a new take on the tradition talent show – it was fantastic working with Love to help bring these moving stories to life.”

“I had a wonderful time working with Love Productions on an ultimate feel-good show which features people from all walks of life, all connected by their mutual love for music.

With the majority of the show filmed in bustling train stations, packed with commuters there was the need to stabilize some handheld shots using Avid Symphony’s build-in plugins. The producers did not want to have the crew members painted out of any wide shots, adding an extra level of realism, and breaking the fourth wall.

Achieving consistency across all episodes was key and that was aided by the beautiful grade by Graeme and Teresa! In the Online, I carefully watched each episode to give the programme a final polish, fixing any continuity shots, making sure nothing looked out of place and take the audience out of the moment when they watch this superb show.”