A feature documentary must be approached as just that—a feature. The key is to generate a cinematic experience for the project that raises it beyond the production levels of a TV documentary, while at the same time setting it apart from a fictional movie. Feature documentaries require specialist skills across the full postproduction spectrum with the ideal scenario being that one post facility houses the entire project. This means that the director and their team can be kept fully up to speed on developments within the sound design or can pop into the mixing theatre during the pre-mix stage, whilst they may be in the grade or online edit. In an ideal world everyone would sit down before filming or archive-editing starts, allowing a bespoke workflow to be crafted for both sound and picture.
With documentary archive footage the sound recording can often be lost, so the mixer will work very closely with the production team to recreate something from scratch. During the picture editing process, it’s good to keep a professional “eye” on the way production is handling sound that will be used during the mix down process. Having a good discussion early on with the composer is invaluable, finding out about the final engineering of their composition and how it will relate to the film. We will then host a “spotting session” where the entire audio team attends to look through the final picture edit with the director to lock down on the sound scape of the film.
From a grading perspective, the colorist should always try to get to know the film inside out before sitting down to make it look beautiful. Getting a rough cut early on, making notes and keeping in touch with the editor and director throughout the offline, means that any issues can be flagged early. This is crucial as feature documentaries often have a quick turnaround time for festival deadlines.
When using archive footage, it’s advised to go to the best source possible, even if that means the production needs to spend a little more money. There have been times where we have thrown a sequence at the big screen to grade, and the client cannot believe how degraded the archive looks—they will have been cutting at lower resolution on a smaller monitor so it is hard to tell until it is blown up on a cinema screen. This can be heart breaking, and often this is where unpicking can begin. Unpicking sequences within a grading suite can be expensive, so this is where communication and involvement of the colorist from an early stage is crucial.
Sr. re-recording mixer George Foulgham and colorist Andrew Daniel are with London post house Molinare.
