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www.postmagazine.com 23 POST FEBRUARY 2017 POSTING REALITY TV according to Tal, couldn't be more different both in concept and look. Kicking & Screaming, hosted by New Girl's Hannah Simone, is a competition series that teams expert survivalists with "pampered" partners to face a series of tough challenges within the jungles of Fiji. On the complete opposite end of the spec- trum is My Kitchen Rules, hosted by celebrity chefs Cat Cora and Curtis Stone, which pits pairs of ce- lebrities against each other in a cooking-competi- tion which also involves a dinner party and review/ rating of the meals. "Both shows look very different from one another," says Tal. "My Kitchen Rules takes place in and around Los Angeles. It's very intimate. It's couples of celebrities and their spouses or families and they participate in a cooking competition while hosting a dinner party. That show has a very specific look — small, intimate, it happens in the kitchen and around the dinner party. So, there's the action of cooking, the talking heads, as well as food shots. That show was shot on Arri Alexa in flat mode, so when the footage arrived at offline, it all looked very flat. "Kicking and Screaming was completely op- posite. The show takes place in the jungles of Fiji. So, we're talking snakes and bugs and who knows what else is going on out there. They have to find their own food, figure out how to fish, how to hunt, it was rough from what I've seen and also pretty funny because they actually are, kick- ing and screaming. It comes from the executive producer Matt Kunitz, who did Fear Factor and Wipeout, so it has those challenges that came out of Fear Factor, like the disgusting food challenge. So, they need to survive in the jungle as well as complete challenges the show producers throw at them. It's an interesting combination. For the challenges, they have to run, climb, fall, cross alli- gator-infested rivers, plus there are all the natural elements as well. It was rough on production, too. They shot Kicking & Screaming completely differ- ently from My Kitchen Rules. They shot on Sony PDW-F800s and used Hyper Gamma 2, which does not have a flat look. "The color direction for Kicking & Screaming was for a lush, green jungle, blue sky, details if there were clouds, good skin color. My Kitchen Rules, with these beautiful homes, intimate dinners, which always start early evening/late afternoon, and always transitions into nighttime. The desserts always happen at night. Some are indoors, some are outdoors, and basically maintain a consistent feel and vibe to it. My other guide was to make my work invisible. Color shouldn't be so extreme as to pull the viewer out of the feel of the show. I see myself basically as a polisher to what the producers and editors have done. I'm another layer to bring the viewer at home to be a more engaged participant." For both shows, Tal is the finisher, doing ev- erything from when he receives the footage on a drive from the assistant editors to delivering the Quicktimes to the dub houses and to the network for air. In addition to color grading, he handles the online, adjusts graphics if needed, incorporates My Kitchen Rules is shot in LA. Cooking contestant Brandy.