The new SYFY series “Spides” was edited, graded and finished using DaVinci Resolve Studio. Co-produced by Don’t Panic Productions, Katapult Filmproduktion, Red Sun Films, and Baby Giant Hollyberg, the eight-part alien invasion thriller is showing internationally across the SYFY network.
Potsdam based content studio Baby Giant Hollyberg led on post-production, managing the offline and online edit through DaVinci Resolve Studio, as well as all the VFX compositing for the series.
“It was a slightly unusual setup, but one that fit the nature of this project perfectly,” begins Heiko Nemmert, Baby Giant’s CEO. “VFX can often be the element that requires final adjustments and polishing, so bringing the edit inhouse on a series with substantial VFX gave us a huge amount of flexibility in post.”
Having worked with DaVinci Resolve Studio in his personal projects, supervisor Nico Ostermann understood how it would form the perfect NLE solution for the project. “By using DaVinci Resolve Studio as the editing platform, the team was able to use the different layers in the timeline to keep track of shots with and without VFX, to ensure our editors understood if it required more work,” Nico explains.
The main challenge for Baby Giant Hollyberg was keeping track of a huge amount of footage, as well as the length and requirements for each shot to be worked on throughout the eight episodes.
“We’d previously worked on other NLEs, and so inevitably, there was an adjustment as we learned a new UI and transitioned away from a more sequential workflow,” continues Nico. “However, it became immediately clear that we could make massive advances in terms of speed and collaboration. With the producer and director involved throughout post-production, Resolve’s intuitive nature made the whole process much smoother.”
Nico explains that DaVinci Resolve Studio’s collaborative features allowed the grade, worked on in Hamburg by Digital Straik, to be completed simultaneously alongside the Berlin team’s tasks.
“There was no need to keep checking back to make sure if any details had been missed between the two teams’ work; we could simply trust the timeline and keep moving the pipeline forward,” continues Nico.
“When it came to the DI for Spides, we wanted a very dark, atmospheric look, and although the setting is modern-day Berlin, the producer and director wanted us to steer away from the city’s usual aesthetic. Instead, we adjusted the colors for a more alien, uneasy feel. With Resolve, we were able to hand episodes to grading, even if there was still work to be done completing VFX shots, then copy the grade over to the final version back at Baby Giant.”
Post-production for Spides was an 18-month project, and Nico credits DaVinci Resolve Studio for keeping the project running smoothly. “The ability to jump between grade and edit without having to render out each time was essential in helping us keep to deadline, despite working across multiple disciplines within a complex, multilayered project.”
About Spides
Set and filmed in Berlin, Spides follows Nora, played by Rosabell Laurenti Sellers (Game of Thrones), who wakes from a coma with no memory of her previous life after taking a mysterious drug. She begins to unravel a conspiracy of aliens who are using a synthetic drug to infiltrate humans to use as host bodies.