Hangman Adds Stylish Notes to Music Docuseries Life in Six Strings with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton December 19, 2023
0 Comments
Hangman has recently employed DaVinci Resolve Studio to produce Life in Six Strings, an eight part documentary series on AXS TV. The series, featuring journalist Kylie Olsson, presents unscripted and intimate interviews with world famous guitarists.
Near cinematic coverage of Olsson's conversations in the musicians' homes and places of interest belies the actual run and gun production of the docuseries. This was greatly assisted by look direction and post work by James Tonkin, founder of Hangman.
As well as running the London based production studio, Tonkin is also one of the UK's most in demand music documentary directors, working with acts such as The Rolling Stones, U2, AC/DC, Taylor Swift, and many more.
I was brought on board by the series' creator and director [Olsson] as director of photography and to oversee post production, explains Tonkin. I shot the first two episodes and established the series' visual tone and style, managing all aspects of post at Hangman, from receiving rushes to delivering the final product.
The intent was to differentiate it from episodic fly on the wall TV, he notes.
Tonkin's vision was influenced by the director's affection for the film A Star Is Born, leading to the use of anamorphic lenses and long takes on a gimbal, coupled with handheld cameras for cutaways. The series is also interspersed with personal in car conversations, shot using set and forget cameras in a specialist rig, while the crew followed in a separate vehicle.
It was fast and fluid, all shot over a single day. Kylie wanted to be able to show up at someone's house, walk in, and chat with them, says Tonkin. There wasn't any time to pre light the house. It had to run seamlessly, very off the cuff, but on screen, it had to look considered and beautiful throughout.
Collaboration in Post
The post production phase utilized DaVinci Resolve Studio and Blackmagic Cloud, enabling Hangman to implement collaborative working on the docuseries' post, including the edit, grade and finish, with mastering in 4K for an HD delivery.
It's as simple as setting up the project, sending an offline editor a link, and ensuring they have access to the proxy rushes, Tonkin explains. They can then open the project and effectively see what I'm seeing.
Tonkin highlights the versatility and efficiency of DaVinci Resolve Studio as an editing tool, allowing for quick transitions between editing and picture finishing. Resolve is fantastic as an editor; its strength is that everything is under one hood, he continues.
On completion, Leigh Brooks, the offline editor, would send me a locked DRT file with the sound set up as an AAF. We had a 22 minute episode that we could conform and start color grading within an hour of receiving the file, said Tonkin.
December 21, 2023Next Goal Wins Graded with DaVinci Resolve StudioBlackmagic Design today announced that feature film Next Goal Wins was graded
December 20, 2023Creative Director Tyler Lord Boosts Zac Brown Band's Tour Videography and Social Media with Blackmagic DesignBlackmagic Design today announced that Zac Brown Band's Creative Director Tyler Lord
DaVinci Neural Engine
In the final stages of post, Tonkin focused on color grading, stabilization, aspect ratio adjustments and shot enhancements, working directly with the original 6K RED R3D source files. Any problems, such as blown highlights, were solved with the help of DaVinci Resolve Studio's magic mask tool.
On the final episode, I had to replace the sky where it had completely clipped in the car. I used the magic mask to identify and separate first the person, and then the sky, and applied another node for sky replacement. This allowed me to add a hue behind what would normally be an overly blown out, white sky, noted Tonkin.
DaVinci Resolve Studio's AI supported automated subtitles function significantly streamlined the post process, especially given the dialogue heavy nature of the episodes. Each episode is wall to wall dialogue. However, Resolve's AI takes three or four minutes to analyze and transcribe that. I watched it through again, checking for any corrections, but it had a greater than 90 percent accuracy rate in my opinion, he continues.
Tonkin adds, Previously, when channel delivery requirements dictated closed captions, I'd instantly be writing off time that would otherwise be better spent on creative aspects of the job. But now that that's under the hood in DaVinci Resolve, it's something that only takes an extra half an hour of my time.
A layer of film grain was also added to impart an analog warmth, aligning with the series' musical theme. I found it incredibly powerful to add grain as an adjustment layer. I could add titles over the top of that layer, and the film grain doesn't sit on top of the text. I would cut the adjustment layer for ad breaks and add a one second black slug. Using adjustment layers to maintain the look, and then to cut the look where needed, was effective, he explained.
Mastering in 4K
Tonkin allocated approximately six hours of post for each episode. I'd first create a 4K master and then export an HD MXF for broadcast delivery to AXS TV, notes Tonkin. That export, along with the subtitle file and multitracked 14 stems of audio, with delivery through Media Shuttle, was a 10 minute task.
We had a great delivery partner with AXS TV, but I also want to credit Kylie who single handedly pulled this together. She can draw great stories from the people that she's interviewing, concludes Tonkin. The finesse we've managed to give it in the grade and the finish has upped the producti
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Hangman Adds Stylish Notes to Music Docuseries Life in Six Strings with DaVinci Resolve Studio 
