‘Normal People’, the BBC and Hulu adaptation, graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio

The series, produced by Element Pictures, has been directed by Lenny Abrahamson and Hettie Macdonald, with Suzie Lavelle and Kate McCullough in charge of photography.

Normal People, the successful television adaptation of the novel by Sally Rooney acclaimed by The New York Times, was graded and finalized in DaVinci Resolve Studio of Blackmagic Design.

This success was produced by Element Pictures, an Oscar and BAFTA award-winning production company, and has almost 48 million downloads on BBC iPlayer to date. The twelve-episode series has captivated not only audiences in the United States and the United Kingdom, but also critics who rave about this Irish love story.

The series has been directed by Lenny Abrahamson and Hettie Macdonald, con Suzie Lavelle and Kate McCullough in charge of photography. Gary Curran, colorist and director of Outer Limits, was responsible for all post-production, which he carried out in DaVinci Resolve Studio based on a ACES work dynamics for grading, editing and delivery of the material.

Curran comments that "the camera work done on this series was exceptional. Suzie decided to use K35 lenses which introduced flare and fog effects. The images had some attenuation in highlights and contrasts."

“Overall, my goal was to preserve all of this,” he continued. “Instead of further embellishing the work already done by Suzie and Kate, I was trying to find the balance between keeping it natural and not too stylized in the digital medium and, at the same time, retaining a certain intensity in the images,” he adds.

Throughout the series, each set and moment in time has its own world. This not only referred to grading, but to the entire process: from production design and costumes, to photography and direction. Curran notes that “when the characters were in high school, we reflected the grays and blues of the uniform.”

"The story then evolves into Trinity, where the colors are more intense, with a warmer undertone to the reds, oranges and browns. The subsequent sequences in Italy are brighter and sharper, which is an important contrast to when Marianne's character is having a difficult time in Sweden."

Sweden in Dublin

Curran explains that many of the interior shots in Sweden were actually filmed in Dublin, so it was necessary to match these images with the exterior ones, which were graded with dimmer and lower lighting, in order to reflect Marianne's mental state.

On the other hand, he points out that "with the camera work, which sometimes offers close-ups, you are always present with the protagonists. It feels like you are sitting right next to them, and you can sense their mental confusion. Body language, gestures and appearance are all fundamental parts of the narrative, so it was important that viewers could see this at all times."

"Sometimes we felt the light fading into the shadows and darkness of some of the indoor shots, while other times we let this happen for stylistic purposes. However, at other times we wanted their faces to stand out, so I used the channel mixer in Resolve to restrict the range of skin tone. If there was too much green or blue, we could control those levels while at the same time making sure the complexion was natural and soft," Curran concludes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1JQuWxt3cE