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POSTING EPISODIC TV www.postmagazine.com 27 POST OCTOBER 2016 State of the Union address and rises to the presi- dency by nightfall. Produced by ABC Studios and The Mark Gordon Company, Designated Survivor is shot in Toronto on Arri Alexa cameras. It is edit- ed by Monty DeGraff, Pamela Malouf, ACE, Ned Bastille and three assistants; their offices are on the lot of Raleigh Studios in Hollywood. DeGraff, who cut the pilot, edits Marvel's Daredevil series for Netflix and previously cut Lie to Me, Law & Order and HBO's Carnivale. "In my first interview for Designated Survivor, the produc- ers emphasized the multiple components to the show: the thriller aspect of who did it, the family story of a common man thrown into an unbe- lievable situation, and the political aspect of Tom building a new government. Each component had to have weight." After testing the pilot and after new showrun- ner Jon Harmon Feldman came on board, it was decided to give a bigger scope to the FBI investi- gation in the rubble of the Capitol. Several scenes were re-shot and the thriller and political angles as- sumed more screen time. "We set up an energetic pace in the pilot to capture the audience from act to act," says DeGraff. "There was a mandate from the network and everyone involved creatively to maintain that energy, and I don't think the audi- ence will be disappointed." Dailies are sent from the set in Toronto to ArsenalFX Color in Santa Monica, where John Potter is lead dailies colorist. He does the first color pass, synchs the sound and delivers Avid DNx 36 files to the cutting room. Runway Post provides and maintains the Avid Media Composers and ISIS shared storage for editorial. DeGraff gets three days to finish his cut, then the director comes in for four days to work on his cut and the producers weigh in from their big-pic- ture perspective of where the series is headed for the season. "We work on time — we usually have one to five minutes to lose — and the best way to tell the story effectively," says DeGraff. VFX editor Rachel Varnell is dedicated to com- ping screen shots and complex VFX shots, and interfacing with FuseFX, the show's primary VFX vendor. "She's a critical part of the show," DeGraff says. "Rachel frees us from having to wrangle all the VFX shots as we work." The editors even out color in the Avid before Josh Baca and Kevin Mottashed do the conform on Avid Nitris, with beauty work in Autodesk Inferno, and Larry Field performs the final color on Resolve at Arsenal. "There's a slightly different look and feel to the conspiracy, thriller and family aspects of the show," DeGraff explains. "This is very much an inte- riors show: homes, offices, the White House — so the lighting is very controlled. But the White House war room, with all its technology, looks different from the warmer Kirkman home." The editors temp the music using compositions provided by composer Sean Callery's music editor plus the music library that editorial is building for the show. Hollywood's Larson Sound does the mix and post audio; Rick Ash and Mark Server are the re-recording mixers. One of the things that DeGraff likes best about working on Designated Survivor is collaborating with his fellow editors. "It doesn't always happen on shows that you get a chance to really talk to each other. Pam and Ned are very experienced and collaborative, and I really enjoy being creatively involved with my colleagues." LETHAL WEAPON It's been almost 20 years since the last of the four films in the Lethal Weapon franchise was released, but LAPD detectives Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh are back in a new Fox series that reunites the buddies with old fans and introduces them to a new generation of TV viewers. The show shoots in LA for LA and "presents Los Angeles in its most beautiful light," notes colorist George Manno at Burbank's Picture Shop (www. pictureshop.com), who joined the show following the pilot. Picture Shop was launched last July by industry veteran Bill Romeo and offers services from dailies to deliverables, including VFX. "Series creator Matt Miller referenced Miami Vice and what it did for the city by profiling the beauty of Miami," Manno explains. "The pilot for Lethal Weapon defined the warm look of downtown LA and the natural beauty of its blue skies and ocean. Beyond that, there was the desire to give a filmic, blockbuster look to the show. Everyone was sat- isfied with the look of the pilot, so we have continued in that vein." Lethal Weapon is shot on Arri Alexa with the DPs applying the standard Arri Rec 709 LUT on the set and "treating [digital cap- ture] as much like film as possible," says Manno. "There's lots of communication between the DPs and our dailies colorist, Wade Felker, who works on Colorfront." After Picture Shop does the conform, "I bring the dailies color forward and make sure everything flows," Manno says. "Since it's a local produc- tion, which is kind of unusual for me, DPs David Moxness, ASC/CSC, and Andy Strahorn can come here in person to work with me. My goal is to pres- ent the DPs' vision — to show it to the executives exactly as the DPs intended." Manno grades with Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve Studio V.12.5 running on Linux. A long-time Resolve user, he likes the system's "incredible win- dow tracking feature that's quick and easy to use on faces and dark areas. There are also unlimited windows to shape shots." The onboard effects in V.12.5 make up a handy toolset, he adds. "Where I used to go offline to use Sapphire or Glow before, I now have grain and glow effects in this version of Resolve," he points out. In the episodes he has graded so far, Manno has given an LA pool party a more saturated look and made flesh tones warm and beautiful. He also ensures that the Murtaugh family home appears warm and welcoming, while the police department offices are cooler in tone. Since this is Lethal Weapon, every episode is expected to feature a car chase. It's Manno's job to smooth out the color captured by a range of cameras working in different lighting conditions over multiple shoot days. He's also charged with making VFX shots "look as real as they can" when integrated with the live action. Manno maintains a busy schedule at Picture Shop. He's the colorist for ABC's Once Upon a Time and The CW's Arrow, and has been with both series since they began their runs. Designated Survivor is edited on Avid systems. Designated Survivor is edited on Avid systems. Designated Survivor Picture Shop's Manno