Post specialist creates stirring images for World Food Programme

Postproduction specialist VTR was called into action to postproduce an emotive film that was distributed to the world as part of the BBC’s television coverage of the recent Live 8 concert in Hyde Park.
Shot in Kenya, produced by Partizan Productions and featuring a poignant voiceover by John Hurt, the film is a dignified and uplifting portrayal of how people in Africa cope with extreme hunger and poverty.
The two-minute film, called 'The No Food Diet', is one of three short films originally developed by Leagas Delaney on behalf of its client The World Food Programme of the United Nations. But when Richard Curtis saw it, he liked it so much that he wanted to incorporate it into the Live 8 event.
Michelle Hickey, agency producer at Leagas Delaney, said: “this meant we had to bring forward all the production times for the project. It was all hands to the pump to get the editing and postproduction completed on time.”
Partizan Productions’ Director Phil Jones, Producer David Stewart and DoP Marcel Zyskind had a very clear vision of how they wanted the films to look and feel. Hickey continued: “Unlike the typical documentary that deals with poverty problems in Africa, we wanted this campaign to feel positive and uplifting, to look distinctive and distinguished.”
The production team were very keen for the grade to reflect this brief. So VTR colourists - Duncan Russell, Simon Bourne and Tareq Kubaisi - worked their magic and used heavily saturated and bright and colourful greens and pinks to help convey the uplifting message. Matt Wilmhurst then used Flame for clean-up work and object removal before the job came across to VTR’s resident Smoke artist, Richie Payne, who did the final conform and added the titles and audio.
Hickey concluded: “VTR were very accommodating and passionate throughout the project, and pulled out all the stops to get the project ready on time. It was great to work with them and the final film is amazing.”
(GB)