St. Anne's Post Adds Finishing Touches To 'Secret Diary Of A Call Girl'

St. Anne’s Post has just completed the post production on 'Secret Diary Of A Call Girl', the story of a 21st-century Moll Flanders, that gives an illuminating glimpse behind the scenes of the high-class sex trade.
It is an insight into the secret life of an extraordinary young woman whose conventional family has no idea that she is leading a double life.
The real Belle de Jour published her diaries 'Belle de Jour: The Intimate Adventures' of a London Call Girl’ in 2005, and, despite many attempts to discover her true identity, still remains anonymous. Her no-holds-barred account of her experiences as a prostitute is frank, funny and highly compelling.
This eight-part series, starring Billie Piper as Belle, comes to ITV2 this autumn.
St. Anne’s, colourist Paul Staples said: “Secret Diary Of A Call Girl was filmed on HD DVC. Director of Photography Tat Radcliffe made the decision to use a Pro35 adaptor, which then allowed him to use Zeiss High Speed 35mm film lenses. This was combined with a Black Net Diffusion filter, which softens fine details and reduces harsh contrasts, to give the production a lush 35mm feel. It was important that the pictures should express the feel of Belle’s high-class call girl world. In the grade we sought a highly saturated, opulent feel; a visual reference to the work of Hollywood DoP Robert Richardson, whose previous credits include the film ‘Casino’.
Dubbing Mixer Alan Sallabank said: “As Secret Diary of a Call Girl is adapted from the journals of 'Belle de Jour', the programme itself has a combination of narrative, pieces to camera and ‘reality’, so the challenge in sound was to keep a continuity between these three ‘modes’, but also make the differences apparent and believable.
“We were using a combination of production sound, ‘wild-tracks’ recorded on set and ADR (recorded by Adam Davidson from St Anne’s), which had to blend seamlessly. In some sequences we were using just sentences or even words from different takes and sources.
“In shorter-form drama, you have to be selective as to which choices of sound tell the story in the most effective manner. In the opening episode we wanted to set up the anonymity of the large busy city of London, which allows Belle her chosen profession, but also its vibrancy which she embraces. We chose sounds that reinforced these aspects, but also told that London life carries on regardless of whatever is going on in hotel rooms and apartments. Supervising Sound Editor Kevin Brazier and his team worked hard at filling in the gaps between dialogue and being in harmony with the music, without making it a fatiguing wall of sound. With a subject material like this, there’s a very fine line between showing the viewer the reality of what Belle does, and giving them too much information. A scene in the opening episode featuring a vibrator is a prime example.”
Transmission of the eight episodes begins on Thursday, 27 September, 2007, at 10pm on ITV2.
(DS)