Blue Help Foxtrot Films Put The Mariinsky Theatre Centre Stage For The South Bank Show

Blue post-production has completed the post-production for 'The South Bank Show: Mariinsky Theatre.
Produced by Foxtrot Films for ITV Productions, the 60-minute show aired at 10:45pm on December 7.
Blue completed the online, grade, sound mix and voice-over.
For this season's final programme, Director Margy Kinmonth has been given complete access to the Mariinsky Theatre and its artists and archives to make a film to celebrate the 225th anniversary of the Mariinsky (Kirov) Theatre in St Petersburg.
During 2008, the theatre has paid tribute to a phenomenal roll call of artists who have made the biggest impact in Russian music and dance over the past two centuries and Melvyn Bragg's The South Bank Show was there to film it.
Maureen Murray, Executive Producer at Foxtrot Films, said: "We worked with blue on our previous film 'The Nutcracker Story'. We had a very good collaboration with blue - especially during the online with Clive Mattock - and we wanted to replicate that with the Mariinsky Theatre.
"These kinds of films are hardly seen on TV anymore and we want to bring opera and ballet to a wider audience."
Kinmonth spent a year making the film in Russia and shot a lot of footage backstage at the Mariinsky: "It's a world of labyrinthine underground passages full of extraordinary props, scenery and costumes.
"We used several fixed and handheld cameras to follow artists as they prepared for their performances and to capture the miles of corridors that link the rehearsal rooms which are in constant use day and night."
Kinmonth also spent hours in the archive, which was moved and hidden during the Siege of Leningrad, and contains a wealth of unexploited film, stills and designs - a treasure trove of material seen for the first time on The South Bank Show.
The grade was completed by Senior Colourist Graeme Hayes and the sound mix by dubbing mixer Kevin Boyle. blue's head of editing Clive Mattock used DS Nitris for the online.
He said: "The film was shot interlaced HDcam so it was important that the post processes didn't compromise the immediate, live feel of the artists' performances."
According to Kinmonth: "As an art film, it had to look really good. During the offline, we talked to blue as we went along which prepared us for any creative or technical problems that might lie ahead. The online was excellent and very detail oriented. They're a very nice team - attentive and helpful - and we'd definitely like to work with them again."
Further information is available at: www.foxtrotfilms.com and www.bluepp.co.uk.
(KMcA)