How The Finish Line Delivered Post on Netflix's I Am A Killer
Brie Clayton February 6, 2023
0 Comments
Behind the edit, grade, and HDR delivery of the show where killers are interviewed behind bars.
Unlike other true-crime hits, Netflix's I Am A Killer isn't focused on clues or who-done-its. Instead, audiences will be brought face-to-face with the killers themselves through a series of interviews about each of their crimes on death row.
Season four of the show, which is currently streaming on Netflix, had full post production completed by post-production facility, The Finish Line-who have been involved in the show since series one. Using a fully distributed production developed in collaboration with Transistor Films and Craftkit, the team was able to ensure everyone on the project could work either at home or production office seamlessly.
A Distributed Production
Work on the show involved delivering twelve 45-minute episodes, each of which took four to five days to complete picture finishing. Rushes would be sent to The Finish Line via an upload portal. They were then ingested using DaVinci Resolve for a fully colour-managed pipeline. After a spot check, all files were then transcoded to DNxHR LB proxies, to make sizes more manageable for offline editing in Avid Media Composer.
For the edit, Avid Media was mirrored between servers at The Finish Line and Transistor, and projects were shared via LucidLink. This enabled editors to access or share all media and projects from wherever they were seamlessly.
That meant everyone got to have the best of all worlds, says Finishing Artist on the show, Steve Alexander. Editors could continue working from any location and share as they would if they were in a traditional facility. It allowed all of us to have more personal time which results in better mental health, as we could be closer to families and have less time commuting.
In preparation for the offline edit, archive chosen by production-which included footage used in court proceedings in formats from MPEG video to VOB to AVI-was unified into a DNxHR LB codec for the offline edit. During the edit for review, the production team could use NDI for live reviews, and were also able to view a copy of all color-managed proxies on frame.io. Once the cuts were locked everything was connected back to the source files. The Finish Line team was then able to work with native media throughout ensuring the best quality available was utilised in final post.
Related COW News
January 16, 2023Indie Feature Film Something in the Dirt Graded in DaVinci Resolve StudioBlackmagic Design today announced that the acclaimed independent feature film Something in
January 13, 2023Avatar: The Way of Water Graded in DaVinci Resolve StudioColorist Tashi Trieu has worked with James Camerons Lightstorm Entertainment for a number
Adding Color
For the grade, Steve aimed to enhance the emotional arc of each episode by using colour to subconsciously affect the viewer. You want to set a tone for the character speaking to you and the story they're about to tell you, he explains. Due to the nature of the series, we pretty much know something horrible is about to happen, so the opening interviews were generally quite dark and sinister. By grading in DaVinci Wide Gamut, we were then able to pick out colours and enhance them in ways that weren't possible with series one and two when we were limited to the Rec709 in SDR.
Each prison location offered different challenges for the grade. The interviews were typically filmed through a television screen, so Steve was able to treat the inside and outside of the prison differently. He graded the outside of the prison with a bluer hue so the viewer's eye would be drawn into the killer's space. This was then enhanced using touches of green in the shadows to add to a sense of discomfort. For the inside of the prison, the grade was trickier as it wasn't always possible to get a lighting rig into the prisons, Steve continues. There was also sometimes a strong light source coming from a window or the fluorescent overhead light which we needed to balance.
Steve has a couple of memorable shots from the series, the first of which involved a killer named Black, who had just come out of isolation after having been there for almost two years. Though he's a 70-year-old in a wheelchair, he is deemed so violent, he needed to be kept in restraints throughout the interview, Steve reveals. As he's wheeled around the corner in what feels like slow motion, I increased the audience's anticipation by adding a lens blur that slowly came into focus as he is wheeled towards the camera. A real Hannibal Lecter moment.
The Finishing Touches
Due to the show having transitioned to a UHD HDR delivery, archive was also treated with heavier effects to ensure it fit the visual tone of the rest of the show and covered up some of the SD interlacing errors caused by upscaling. DaVinci Resolve excelled at upscaling the archive, which was then also treated with additional scanlines and grain to add some UHD detail and textures to SD footage, says Steve. Archive images were then enhanced with dynamic graphics plates and stills were given movement using GeeFX in After Effects with a paper background and halftone textured foreground along with floating dust.
The final step to finishing I Am A Killer involved reviewing the grade on an FSI XM310K monitor, capable of 3500 nits, before delivery in Dolby Vision HDR with many speed advancements thanks to a nested HDR timeline. This meant any updates to the grade would be simple and automatically live within the delivery timeline, without needing to import or export any media.
###
Enjoying the news? Sign up for the Creative COW Newsletter! Sign up for the Creative COW newsletter and get weekly upda
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
29/05/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
29/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...
29/05/2026
The days are getting longer, the temperatures are rising, and playlists are filling up for the season. With summer around the corner, Spotify's global edito...
29/05/2026
New retro-inspired MPC announced
There are few devices that have gained the status held by Akai Pro's MPC range, and in recent years, the company have s...
29/05/2026
Save up to 30 on acclaimed titles
Following a successful launch at Superbooth 2026, Bjooks have revealed that they will be continuing the Kickstarter campa...
29/05/2026
Binaural monitoring application improved
Genelec have just released an update that brings some powerful new features to their HRTF-based binaural headphone ...
29/05/2026
6 June 2026 at SAE Institute, London, UK
IMSTA FESTA 2026 is almost upon us, with some of the biggest names in pro-audio set to descend upon SAE Institute i...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, died April 12, 2026, at his home in...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Comparing 5 AI Video Enhancers for Restoring Old Video Quality
Kate Luvis May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Digitizing VHS, MiniDV, and other legacy formats doe...
29/05/2026
Studio Hamburg Builds New Post Pipeline with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Workflow replaces a patchwork of legacy tools...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
At the Intersection of Music and Dance, an Epic Collaboration Boston Conservatory musicians and dancers found creative parallels in their recent performance o...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
Latino Film Institute Fellows Screen Their Short Films at the Egyptian Theatre
The Inclusion Fellowship and Spark Animation Grant uplifts 15 ...
29/05/2026
GLOOKAST LAUNCHES CINNAFILM TACHYON PLUGIN FOR MEDIA PRODUCER AND MEDIA SERVICES
This release first appeared here.
Visit our Tachyon product page or contact...
29/05/2026
May 29 2026, 09:00 (PDT) Dolby and rednote Bring More Immersive Storytelling to...
29/05/2026
Something fundamental has shifted in how people consume media. Audiences aren't abandoning television or radio content; they're just expanding how, wher...
29/05/2026
Youtube exclusive special drops today
Watch now
UKTV today announces another e...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
The Official Trailer of Physical 100 Italy, on Netflix From Se...
How The Finish Line Delivered Post on Netflix's I Am A Killer 
