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PRIMETIME www.postmagazine.com 12 POST JANUARY 2016 rom the first few notes of its eerie signature theme to the irrefut- able chemistry between its two stars, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson (portraying Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, respectively) and the satisfyingly creepy alien-based storylines, Fox's The X-Files has built quite the fan base since its premiere on September 10, 1993 to its finale in 2002 (and two major film releases in 1998 and 2008). Created and executive produced by Chris Carter, the show's premise was centered around two FBI agents, Mulder and Scully, who investigated paranormal activity, which included alien conspiracies within the US government and life-threatening and career-ending risks. Now it's 2016, and guess who's back? At month's end, fans will see the return of Mulder and Scully when Fox delivers the next chapter of The X-Files for what the network is referring to as a six-episode "event series." The Emmy Award- and Golden Globe-winning pop culture phenomenon, which remains one of the longest-running sci-fi series in network television history, opens with a special two-night debut on January 24th and continues with its time period premiere on January 25th. Along with its key stars, Carter is also back at the helm, with support from many of the show's original production and post creatives. According to X-Files freshman and associate producer on the show, Garfield Whitman, who headed up the post, one of the biggest differences between the 1990's and the 2016 versions of the se- ries is the "digital era. From the technical standpoint, we now have digital media, digital cameras," he says. "It's something we were actually thinking about when we were doing the color because there are grain differences, of course, and there's virtually no grain in the digital era. So, we were thinking about whether we wanted to apply that or not. As far as the show, how it really is, inherently, it's the same show, it really is. And with David, Gillian and Mitch [Pileggi], it's like they never left." Shot on-location in Vancouver on Arri Alexa cameras, with Panavision lens- es, Whitman gives Post the workflow rundown, explaining that the ProRes files were transcoded to DNx36 for editing on Avid (cut by editors Robert Komatsu and series original Heather MacDougall), the dailies were complet- ed through Encore in Vancouver, with color on DaVinci Resolve, and the final color grading completed in Filmlight's Baselight (DI colorist was Tony Smith, also a series original). Because it was a limited six-episode stint, Whitman says the team decided to go with Avid Unity for storage. Getting into the thick of the show's overall look and feel, Whitman says, "For the most part, it mirrors the original series. There's a lot of darkness. There are a lot of mysterious aspects. You don't want to brighten things up too much and expose what's going on every moment. You want to find shadows and make sure you maintain the shadows so you don't quite know what's in the shadow and keep that sense of mystery. There are so many different elements of mystery in the show — with regard to Big Brother the government; whether Big Brother the government has any involvement in UFO-related activities. The paranormal that is separate from the UFOs, which are anomalies in DNA, mutations in human DNA, and so those are the things we tried to maintain and put a spotlight on." According to Whitman, two aspects of post were handled in Vancouver — the dailies process (Encore, as discussed ear- lier) and about 80 percent of the show's visual effects. In all, Whitman estimates around 150 VFX shots per episode, shared between Imagine Engine and Psyop that included matte paintings and 3D work, as well as cleanup — removing set items, booms and the like. When asked about how early on post was integrated into the production, Whitman says, "At the script level, of course. We'll have visual effects meet- ings, production meetings, art depart- ment meetings. Post typically won't get into too much art department meet- ings unless they're involved with visual effects, but we start discussing it at the script level. We'll have meetings where pretty much all departments have had sidebar conversations — make sure ev- eryone's on the same page. From there, the dailies come in and we evaluate the dailies to see if all our previous discus- sions still hold true, because sometimes we just can't do things we wanted to, based on time restrictions, any anomaly that happened while we were filming on FOX'S THE X-FILES BY LINDA ROMANELLO A CULT PHENOMENON GETS A REBOOT F Whitman (inset) says The X-Files was cut on Avid Media Composer, with Avid Unity for storage.