Goldcrest Post chooses DaVinci Resolve Studio to grade ‘The King’s Man’

DaVinci Resolve by Blackmagic Design has been used by the Goldcrest Post team to colour grade The King’s Man, the third installment in 20th Century Studios‘ Kingsman saga.

The feature film, a Marv Studios production under the direction of Matthew Vaughn and with Ben Davis (BSC) as cinematographer, explores the origins of the world’s first independent intelligence service and is set during the First World War.

Adam Glasman, one of Goldcrest Post’s lead colourists, was in charge of colour grading, while DanielTomlinson completed the high-resolution editing. For the shoot, they used a conversion table that the two had created for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which simulates the look of film. This was then transferred to post-production using Goldcrest’s colour management system.

The creatives of The King’s Man opted for a cold, low-saturation aesthetic for the imagery depicting the trenches of World War I, to match the bleakness of the narrative. However, yellowish, dusty-looking images were also used to capture the scenes set in the South African highlands, demonstrating the versatility of tools used in the film. Glasman also used DaVinci Resolve tools such as logarithmic colour grading, specific colour compositing and rotoscoping shapes. The film was then finalised in a variety of formats, including Dolby Vision Domestic, Theatrical HDR and SDR Rec.709.

Blackmagic cameras

Although much of the plot is more restrained in style than previous films in the series, the action sequences still feature the series’ signature energy. For these scenes, shot by second unit director Bradley Allan, Davis tested a variety of cameras, opting for the Pocket Cinema Camera 6K and Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K.

Davis placed the latter on a Ronin S stabiliser, with a Blackmagic Video Assist 4K device, and relied on an ARRI WCU-4 wireless lens control system for focusing.

This is how he recapitulates the experience of shooting with Blackmagic Design cameras: “For me it’s all about size. Lightweight, versatile camera technology like this has changed the way we shoot nowadays since you can put it in places that you simply can’t get to with a larger camera. You can put cameras of this size on mini stabilization rigs. It changes the dynamic of cinematography.”