RAKE (TV Series)

ABC's much loved Rake returns for a second series this year.
We produced a few effects shots and removals for the show, including a sequence for the final episode.

Check it out on ABC later this year.

MISS FISHER SECOND SERIES (TV Series)

With even more lavish locations and set pieces that earned the show incredible ratings both here and overseas, Australia's favourite 'lady detective', Miss Fisher, returns to screens.

Continuing from our work on the original series, we are also returning to produce an incredible range of digital effects, set extensions, location augmentations, clean ups, CG integration, stunt and production design solutions across the entire show.

With every episode featuring a diverse theme and setting, the sheer variety of what we need to create each week is both a pleasure and a challenge. Chroma's unique approach to digital effects as an embedded part of the production sees us working closely with multiple departments, providing time and cost saving solutions across the whole series.

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries returns to ABC soon!

CHROMA @ APDG (Live)

Chroma are proud to be affiliated with the Australian Production Designers Guild (APDG), a collective of industry professionals that focus attention on the evolution and protection of the Australian screen arts. With some fascinating lectures already undertaken covering both stage and screen crafts, we will also be sharing our knowledge with APDG members next month.

We will be discussing the evolving relationship between production design and visual effects in television and how to get the most out of these exciting new tools, with specific techniques and examples from dozens of productions. Come and join us on August 7th at Docklands Studios.

Check the APDG website for details!

THE GODS OF WHEAT STREET (TV Series)

The Gods of Wheat Street is the latest drama from Every Cloud productions, produced by Lois Randall and set to show on ABC later this year.

This contemporary indigenous drama focuses around the small-town Freeburn family as they become pulled in all directions at once, and the matriarch spirit who is working behind the scenes to keep it all together.

We produced a wide range of surreal visual effects, continuity and technical fixes across the 6 episodes in addition to design of the opening titles.

BETTER MAN (TV Series)

Better Man is a powerful retelling of the plight of Van Nguyen, a 25 year old Vietnamese-Australian who was jailed and executed in Singapore for drug trafficking. Directed by Khoa Do and produced by Fremantle Media, Better Man is a beautifully shot 2-part series that comes to SBS this year.

We provided VFX for the series with video treatments, surreal light effects, compositing and technical corrections.

Check out the trailer here

MAD AS HELL RETURNS (TV Series)

As many people are excited to hear, Shaun Micallef's excellent Mad As Hell will return to screens in 2013. Our opening titles from series one remain as we continue to assist with various VFX and animated gags for the show.

UPDATE: Mad As Hell was nominated 'Best Comedy' award at this years AACTA Awards. Nice!

Check out the latest episodes on iView...

WINTER OF THE DEAD (Feature)

Due to hit cinemas this year, Winter of the Dead (METELESTA) is the first big-production zombie feature to come out of Russia. Directed by Nikolai Pigarev and produced by Red Spy, it follows a small group caught in a mid-summer snowstorm that causes the dead to rise and terrorise the city!

In addition to providing mixing facilities and sound design for the film, we were also commissioned to design and produce the 60 second opening titles in both English and Russian, taking the form of an animated sequence which plays with the themes of snow, trees and veins all presented in an aggressive, deconstructive style.

In line with our sound design duties, we were also tasked with composing and producing the title track that accompanies the vision, creating a strong link between picture and sound, a unique approach to title production, resulting in a tightly syncopated sequence.

Check out the (English) title here!

UNDERBELLY:SQUIZZY (TV Series)

Chronicling the rise and fall of one of Australia's most notorious criminals, 'Squizzy' sees the Underbelly franchise make a welcome return to Melbourne, taking advantage of the cities unique period style locations and experienced crews.

We are also retuning to provide a huge range of digital VFX and production solutions across the series.

With many challenging period productions already in the can (Cloudstreet, Miss Fisher, Dangerous Remedy, Dr.Blake, Howzat and Hansom Cab), the team at Chroma were a perfect fit for the challenges and expectations required for Underbelly, bringing our production-streamlining post solutions to all departments. The production leaned heavily on green screen, CG integration and digital augmentation to create its expansive locations and set pieces while reducing cost and complexity across a range of departments.

As always, we are also producing the opening titles, now on it's ninth iteration, although a different approach this time around.

Underbelly: Squizzy hits the Nine Network in 2013.

SUMMER FILM SCHOOL 2013 (LIVE)

Chroma returned to the Filmmaking Summer School at Melbourne University for a third year of our VFX Masterclass. The session covers the entire spectrum of digital effects and their emerging implementation in television drama and long-form production.

Find out more about this great initiative here and maybe we'll see you in 2014!

PAPER GIANTS: MAGAZINE WARS (Telemovie)

Continuing on from their nostalgia-fuelled success with Puberty Blues and Howzat, Southern Star have just completed work on the sequel to the acclaimed Paper Giants, titled Magazine Wars.

We have worked closely with the production to deliver a range of digital effects solutions for several scenes across the two parts, including location augmentation, CG integration and advanced compositing. We were also tasked with design and production of the new opening titles, with slightly different iterations for the two episodes.

Paper Giants 2: Magazine Wars comes to ABC later this year.

THE KINGDOM OF DOUG (Short)

Cloudberry films latest short The Kingdom of Doug, directed by Victoria Thaine, has just completed post production.

The Pozible funded short tells the story of a suicide cult and one member who decides not to come along for the ride. We pitched in with some digital composites and cleanups.

CHROMA WELCOMES JACK NOLAN (News)

We are pleased to welcome Jack Nolan to the VFX team at Chroma.

Jack will be working as a CG and compositing artist for our drama and broadcast clients. You can reach Jack at the office or email: jack@chromamedia.com

DEAD FRONTIER (Game)

We just finished helping out with the new PC zombie themed MMORPG game, Dead Frontier.

Pixelpickle games brought us in to provide finishing for the opening CG cinematic created by Robert Dowling. Work also included final grading and sound production.

Check out the game here

MYSTERY OF A HANSOM CAB (Telemovie)

Drawing on our expertise with period-style production solutions including Cloudstreet, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries and most recently, Dr. Blake, we have just completed post production on 'Mystery of a Hansom cab' for Burberry Productions.

Set in 1880's Melbourne and based on the book by Fergus Hume (1888), the story calls for several location augmentations, turning largely modern street scenes and locations into bustling Victorian Era set pieces along with the standard set of digital clean ups and removals throughout.

One shot in particular, a CG shot of the view across Princess Bridge, was covered in a recent article in the Age. And check out Karl Quinn's video breakdown of the shot here.

Mystery of a Hansom Cab heads to the ABC later this year.

Watch the official trailer here

DR BLAKE COMES TO ABC (TV Series)

December Media's new period-style drama, The Dr Blake Mysteries is coming to ABC and ITV in the UK. We are providing digital effects across the whole series, with the usual cleanups, paint outs and augments to interior and exterior locations, in addition to some more involved CG work for some sequences.

The Dr.Blake Mysteries hits screens in 2013.

HOWZAT! (Telemovie)

Southern Star's latest tele-movie chronicles Kerry Packer's struggle launching World Series Cricket as a more media-friendly enterprise in the 1970's.

We were brought on board to produce a range of effects solutions for the two part tele-movie.
In addition to the creation of several CG shots including stadium and backgrounds for gameplay sequences, there was also a huge amount of removals, augmentations and cleanups required across the two episodes. This was crucial in providing locations, production design and the crew itself with time-saving solutions to logistic, creative and safety factors on set, while still delivering the scope and realism the script demands.

The productions multi-format approach to shooting had us working with Alexa, DigiBeta and original archival footage, modifying, matching and integrating cast into old broadcast footage.

UPDATE: Click here to read The Age's recent article on our involvement in Howzat!, watch some exclusive video breakdowns of the effects via The Age's iPAD App and hear an in-depth discussion on how Howzat! leveraged VFX to solve production issues on FBiRadio 94.5FM

Check out the Howzat! promo here!

MICALLEF RETURNS! (TV Series)

We have had the pleasure of working with Shaun on SBS's 'Newstopia', producing the opening titles, graphics and VFX for all three seasons, including the crazy Inspector Herring final episode. It's huge popularity and weekly format were both gruelling and exciting, but like all good things, it had to come to an end - UNTIL NOW!

Mr. Micallef returns to current affairs with a acidic twist with 'MAD AS HELL' for ABC, bringing intelligent news satire back to Australian screens every week.

We have been tasked with designing and producing the opening titles and graphics package, and we went a little nuts! Inspired by Fritz Lang, MC Echer and film noir, we set out to create a unique opener with an irate ABC viewer heading into orbit to vent his frustrations!

We also created the on air graphics package and are supporting the show with various visual effects gags throughout the series.

Check out the official site for the latest episode!

DANGEROUS REMEDY (Telemovie)

Set in 1960's Melbourne, Dangerous Remedy is a lavish and dark tele-feature from Eclipse, chronicling the true story of Dr. Bert Wainer's courageous struggle for womens rights and law reform.

In keeping with the style of the era, the opening and closing titles were designed to reflect an old-school optical look, driven by the amazing title track by Guy Gross.

Check out the opening titles here

We also produced over 130 VFX shots for the feature, ranging from the seamless digital removal of modern elements from locations and interiors, to incendiary effects, stunts and more.

Dangerous Remedy is a striking look at an era rarely covered on Australian screens.

JACK IRISH (Telemovie)

Essential media's 2-part telemovie, Jack Irish is headed to the ABC this year. Starring Guy Pierce, this gritty tale brings two of Peter Temple's books to the screen, Bad Debts and Black Tide.

Chroma produced several VFX shots for the production including bullet hits, digital removals CG elements and location augmentations.

BONNY DOON @ ST.KILDA FILM FESTIVAL (Short)

Matthew Saville's recent short, Bonny Doon was selected to open this years St.Kilda Film Festival, having been already part of the Top 100. Probably the most compelling 4 minutes ever filmed from inside a 1989 Tarago GLX, we provided titles and grading duties.

The short was recently awarded Best Comedy from the Improvised FIlmFest

Watch the film here

UNDERBELLY: BADNESS (TV Series)

The Underbelly franchise returns to screens again this year with 'Badness', the first contemporary tale in the long running series. We are returning to produce the eighth itteration of the opening titles, with a more modern, colourful approach to the established UB look. 

Underbelly: Badness will hit Nine later this year.

PLEASE LIKE ME (TV Series)

Starring Josh Thomas and directed by Matthew Saville, Please Like Me is a light-hearted series on the way to ABC later this year.

With mad typography, fun pictures and a great track, the opening titles connect with the opening scenes and are unique for each of the six episodes. As well as titles, we also produced several technical corrections and VFX shots including digital rain.

THE GREAT MINT SWINDLE (TV Series)

Set in Western Australia is the mid-80's, The Great Mint Swindle tells the true story of the Mickelback brothers who schemed to sell a huge fake gold nugget to tycoon, Alan Bond.  We produced several digital effects shots for the series including a car bomb explosion and the gold pour sequence, where the nugget is created.

The show airs on Nine this year.

MISS FISHER'S MURDER MYSTERIES (TV Series)

Based on the hugely popular novels by Kerry Greenwood, ABC's 'Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries' has completed post production with it's first episode getting rave reviews and impressive ratings of over a million viewers!

Set in 1920's Melbourne, this charming series is both a return to form for ABC and a fresh creative direction in a sea of contemporary crime drama. With an huge and incredible cast, gorgeous production design and each episode featuring unique settings and locations, Every Cloud and ABC have created something special that stirs memories of great Australian and British television of years gone by.

Our involvement in the series has seen an already visually rich world transformed by vistas and elements that would have been impossible to achieve within the limits of budget, logistics and schedule. Our unique ability to digitally remove, add or augment elements to live action footage quickly and cost-effectively was a perfect fit for a production with such broad scope as 'Miss Fisher'.

Every Cloud Productions embraced digital effects early in the process, and it quickly became an indispensable tool for expanding production design, usability of locations and many other aspects of the shoot to create a rich and believable world.

We worked closely with the producers and block directors to ensuring each episode had it's own style and attention to detail. Essentially anything that couldn't be dressed out, framed out or cut around was left up to us to deal with - and with so many bustling locations over thirteen Eps, this ended up being quite a task. The team at Chroma produced over 600 shots across 13 episodes, from digital removals and augmentation to CG vehicles, stunt sequences, digimatte environments, dynamic simulation and more that are peppered throughout the series. The previous limitations of shooting period-genre became exciting opportunities to create a layered, cohesive and believable world for the audience to enjoy.

Like the books, each episode is set against a unique environment and it's what has made the show so much fun to work on. Every script revealed new challenges and set pieces, and diverse techniques were required to achieve them within the tight schedule. Ocean liners, circuses, turkish baths, theatres, steam engines and so much more all require a design balance between practical and digital methods to create incredible production value on a broadcast budget and schedule.

Check out the latest episode here along with some clips detailing some of the effects process.

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries is airing on ABC for the rest of the year, don't miss it!

LAST DANCE (Feature)

Directed by David Pullbrook and featuring Julia Blake and Firass Dirani, Last Dance is a sombre story of cultures and generations. The film was recently made an Official Selection at the 2012 Melbourne International Film Festival.

We provided a wide range of VFX for the feature including some complex removals and fixes, bullet hits, blood effects and CG aircraft.