Splice completed the full post-production for the
second season of the 72 Films series for BBC Two, Rise of the Nazis: Dictators at War. At
the peak of his power, Hitler now faces fellow ruthless dictator Stalin.
He tries to deceive Stalin with a plan to invade Britain, all while
preparing an attack on the Soviet Union.
The main goal was
to match the feel and appearance of the hugely successful first season.
The series Director, Julian Jones and DOP Duane McClunie shot the
series in Lithuania and used Arri Alexa mini with Zeiss super speed
uncoated lenses to achieve the best look for the series. Splice’s Head
of Picture Adam Dolniak graded the series on Filmlight’s Baselight,
making the finished picture into a cohesive, naturally flowing filmic
image.
Head of Online Tristan Lancey completed the online in Avid
Symphony using Mocha Pro and the Boris FX suite with the online work
contributing heavily to giving the series a consistent recognisable
style.
Tris worked with the director to create captions and
re-designed the title card to complement the look of the series. He did
this using textures and Boris FX Lens effects. The stills were given a
realistic rostrum style with lens blur, grain and chromatic aberration
using the prism effect.
Dubbing Mixer Jack Lewis
mixed the series in Splice’s new Nile Street sound studios using Pro
Tools Ultimate and Avid's S6 mixing console. The sound design was
crafted to match the soundscape of the composed music. He opted to
highlight specific audio rather than create ultra-realistic Foley work.
This aimed to not distract from the interviews and archive sounds whilst
creating an ominous, oppressive feeling.
Rather than using heavy
noise reduction, the audio archive was handled delicately, so the final
soundscape wasn’t ultra-clean. Episode two of the series features a
genuine candid recording of Hitler. Whilst Jack did EQ work and cleaned
up some of the background noise with Izotope RX, it was crucial not to
overdo it. He left in the original pops, crackles and hums from the
1940s recording which made the audio sound more genuine. This was to
remind the audience that it was not a recreation of Hitler's voice but
the real deal.
Watch Rise of the Nazis - Dictators at War on BBC Three.