Colourist Gary Curran talks to TVBEurope about his work on the hit BBC drama
By Contributor
Published: July 10, 2020
Colourist Gary Curran talks to TVBEurope about his work on the hit BBC drama
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin> Colourist Gary Curran talks to TVBEurope about his work on the hit BBC drama
https://www.tvbeurope.com/production-post/case-study-the-making-of-normal-people title=Share via Email class=share-email>
Affording viewers a much welcome distraction from the global pandemic, the release of BBC and Hulu's romantic drama series, Normal People, couldn't have been better timed.
Produced by Oscar and BAFTA award winning production company, Element Pictures (The Favourite, Room, The Lobster) the will-they-won't-they relationship between Irish teens, Marianne and Connell, was highly praised when first broadcast to US and UK audiences.
In fact, the BBC revealed that Normal People has beaten Killing Eve's record in terms of total viewer requests on iPlayer, already reaching 54 million requests.
Starzplay has now acquired the series, where it will be available to watch across Europe this summer.
Staying True to Fiction Adapted by Sally Rooney alongside writers Alice Birch and Mark O'Rowe, Normal People tracks the tender but complicated relationship of Marianne and Connell from the end of their school days in a small-town in the west of Ireland to their undergraduate years at Trinity College.
Staying true to Sally Rooney's book, body language, gestures and looks were all key parts of the storytelling. Ensuring viewers were always present with the actors, and almost observing them, directors Lenny Abrahamson and Hettie Macdonald created an intimate, tight, interior world for the couple's turbulent romance to play out, with the camerawork sometimes being placed very close up.
The series was shot by DP Suzie Lavelle BSC and Kate McCullough, using the ARRI Alexa with Canon K35 Vintage Primes. Irish facility Outer Limits completed picture and sound post.
Gary Curran, colourist and company director at Outer Limits, enjoyed the effect the glass had on the final look. They flared quite a bit, and had a real softness to their highlights and contrast. I didn't actually have to do very much in the DI as there was just this beautiful filmic quality already.
He continues: Grading is an instinctive process for me, and I've been lucky to work with Lenny for more than 20 years, so there wasn't a formal or prescriptive brief. We wanted to keep things as natural as possible, and just embellish on the amazing work that Suzie and Kate did.
Catering to Locations Throughout the series, each location and point in time has its own world. This wasn't just in the grade, but in everything; from production design and costume, to cinematography and direction. Curran adds: When the characters are in school, we reflected the greys and blues of the uniform.
Then the story evolves to their university years at Trinity, where the colours get richer a warmer hue of reds, oranges and browns. The following sequences in Italy were bright and sharp, which made a stark contrast to when Marianne's character is in a dark place in Sweden.
Curran explains that many of the interior shots in Sweden were actually filmed in Dublin, so there was some shot matching to the exterior scenes, which were graded with low, bleak light, reflecting Marianne's state of mind. I used DaVinci Resolve's offset button to get a base grade as a first step, which is almost equivalent to the printer lights in the old way of doing things. You really find the sweet spot of what the DPs have captured, and after that it was about allowing the footage to sing.
A Timeless Classic Looking back we had a feeling that Normal People might be a show that lasts, reflects Curran. And I'm not surprised at its success, it was a very talented team. I made the decision early on to grade in the ACES colour space so that we had the option to go back to it in a couple of years and remaster the footage in HDR.
He adds, ACES is excellent for future proofing, but it does get a little difficult with bright lights, such as on a police car or with fairy lights. I used the colour space transform node in DaVinci Resolve, which was particularly handy in terms of managing the extreme brightness and colour in ACES. That was the only real technical challenge during post.
Normal People was the first time Outer Limits has handled all aspects of post production. We did the VFX, the offline edit in Media Composer, the sound mix in ProTools, as well as the online and final deliverables in Resolve. It was a big step in terms of being a one-stop shop for us, says Curran.
The series has become such a phenomenon, and as a smaller company, it's amazing to have something like this on your profile, on your resume.
When potential clients are coming and looking at our work, we can say not only do we do big projects - we did Normal People.
SubscribeFor more stories like this, and to keep up to date with all our market leading news, features and analysis, sign up to our newsletter here.
Most recent headlines
26/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
26/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
25/12/2025
Holiday lights are twinkling, hot cocoa's on the stove and gamers are settling in for a well-earned break.
Whether staying in or heading on a winter getawa...
24/12/2025
What is AI good for? Posted by MTI Film on December 24, 2025
What is AI good for?
What is AI good for?
It's been three years since ChatGPT first cap...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Back to All News
The Boyfriend' Season 2 Unveils Heartwarming Trailer, Key...
24/12/2025
Back to All News
Love, Fights, and Everything in Between: Badly in Love' Returns for Season 2
Entertainment
24 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied t...
24/12/2025
Scripps Research study links sleep variability with sleep apnea and hypertension How consumers' digital activity trackers could enable personalized health s...
23/12/2025
How guilas Cibae as Dominican Winter League Games Are Locally Produced for Glob...
23/12/2025
BitFire's Jim Akimchuk on Supplying Scalability and Customization in the Clo...
23/12/2025
CAMB.AI Enables European Athletics to Offer Multi-Language SupportPlan is to eventually offer translation into all languages spoken in EuropeBy Ken Kerschbaumer...
23/12/2025
Analysis: As sports media values trend negative, scarcity and quality are king By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Monday, December 22, 2025 - 14:08
Print ...
23/12/2025
ESPN, Disney, and NBA Return to the Animated Altcast Fray With Second Edition of...
23/12/2025
End the Year on a High Note and Donate to the Sports Broadcasting Fund Today! By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, December 23, 2025 - 12:25 pm
...
23/12/2025
The year is winding down, the weather outside is frightful, and it's the perfect time to escape into a story that warms the heart. For listeners looking for...
23/12/2025
A Zeus motor is hot fire tested at L3Harris' Camden, Arkansas, solid rocket ...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Lightware will exhibit several major product innovations at ISE 2026, including the new USB-C BOOSTER-V1, Google Meet. integration for various Taurus UCX models...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Taking the Stage at Carnegie Hall-On a Global Scale Boston Conservatory Orchestra students reflect on their epic concert marking the 80th session of the UN Gene...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's The Great Flood and Culinary Class Wars 2 Top Gl...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things By the Numbers: How the Global Phenomenon Shap...
23/12/2025
Experience the power of WO Automation for Radio's newest service, the System Effectiveness Review. Designed to help you achieve more, a System Effectiveness...
23/12/2025
23 Dec 2025
VEON's Beeline Kazakhstan and Rakuten Symphony Collaborate to A...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
How Steamy Can It Get? Single's Inferno' Season 5 Pre...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
33 Million Global Viewers on Netflix Watched Jake Paul vs. Ant...
23/12/2025
New technique lights up where drugs go in the body, cell by cell Scripps Research scientists developed a technique that maps drug binding in individual cells th...
22/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Neerav Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
22/12/2025
Hitting the bullseye: Sky Sports readies itself for the biggest PDC World Darts ...
22/12/2025
Unique skillset: Bringing new directors to the world of darts at The Worlds with...
22/12/2025
Gravity Media prepares for a flight of fancy with the PDC World Darts Championsh...
22/12/2025
One hundred and eighty: Gravity Media on hitting the production bullseye at the ...
22/12/2025
The Famous Group's Jon Slusser on Fascinating Fans Through Immersive Content...
22/12/2025
ESPN's Meg Aronowitz on Continuing High-Quality Broadcasts of Collegiate Spo...
22/12/2025
ESPN Takes Data-Driven Storytelling to New Heights with MNF Playbook with Next ...
22/12/2025
For a decade, popular German podcast Fest & Flauschig has hosted an annual Chris...
22/12/2025
Paramount Scores Largest Share Increase Among Distributors as Paramount and CBS...
22/12/2025
New multi-year deal integrates Roku's data to fuel Nielsen's measurement suite
Roku gains access to Nielsen's streaming ratings, showing The Roku C...
22/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
Colourist Gary Curran talks to TVBEurope about his work on the hit BBC drama
