HARBOR on finishing HBO Max Docu Series “NYC Epicenters”

Manhattan’s last two decades have been upended by crises that have transformed the city’s culture, from the devastating 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center to the COVID-19 pandemic. Spike Lee’s documentary series “NYC Epicenters,” available on HBO Max, chronicles this dramatic history via a collection of interviews that highlight the city’s evolution. To learn more about how the look of the project was shaped in post-production, we spoke with Harbor Picture Company (HARBOR) Lead Finishing Artist and Editor Chris Mackenzie, and VFX and Conform Artist Kevin Szczepanski. Check out our interview highlights below to learn more about their work on the 40acres production.

Please share a little bit about yourselves and your backgrounds.

Chris: I’ve been at HARBOR since 2014 and worked at Deluxe prior. Previously, I was an Autodesk Smoke Tech Support specialist, which gave me a strong foundation going into post. Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to work as part of the finishing team on some incredible projects. The work has spanned television episodic, streaming media, to theatrical releases and has featured documentary as well nearly every sort of narrative fiction. An early project in which I was involved and that I’d like to note was “Pan’s Labyrinth”. Currently the Showtime series “Billions” is in the works, and I’d also like to mention that in 2019, three Academy Award best picture nominees were finished at the HARBOR facility here in NYC.

Kevin: I started working as a conform artist in 2015. I have spent the last two years at HARBOR and prior to this I was at Light Iron. A few notable jobs I worked on prior to Spike Lee’s “NYC Epicenters” are Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” and S. Craig Zahler’s “Dragged Across Concrete.” Since joining the team at HARBOR, I have taken on more Flame based VFX and documentary work than ever before. This has given me many opportunities to learn from Chris and expand my skillsets.

Tell us more about your work, including “NYC Epicenters.”

Chris: Our company is global, so our project queue is diverse. We work on feature films, commercial and episodic work, and documentaries. For example, we recently provided picture finishing on the sequel “Venom: Let there Be Carnage,” and “Tony Bennet and Lady Gaga in Concert One More Time,” “The Humans,” as well as the second instalment of the “Tiger King” documentary.

“NYC Epicenters” stood out in that its release aligned with the 20th memorial of the 9/11 attacks. The project came to HARBOR by way of a longstanding relationship with 40acres, Spike Lee’s production house. We handled most the post-production for the series, from conform to VFX, color finishing, titling, and everything in between, finishing the project with an UltraHD deliverable to ensure its best possible futureproofing.

The documentary encapsulates 20 years of New York history (2001-2021 ½), and as the title suggests, it includes near present-day New York. Working on four feature length episodes that weave historical events into ongoing contemporary stories meant that the final editing of the project needed to be adjusted up until the very last minute. “NYC Epicenters” showcased a story that was still unspooling as we were working, so it almost became a news presentation of sorts, but presented at the high quality of HBO’s streaming standards.

Kevin: The project stood out to me because it included an exceptional amount of text elements, more than 2000 to be exact, and the design guidance was quite strict. Every element in the final deliverable had to fit a color schema and style. We had to format all the text elements and ensure the colors matched perfectly, down to mixed uniforms that appear in the series. Adhering to such stringent style guidelines was challenging, but that’s where we really leaned on Flame. With the title tool in Flame, we could easily import data from the Avid edit and incorporate it directly into the Flame timeline, which helped ensure that the text came across in time and in position.

Looking back, what were the most challenging aspects of the project?

Chris: The sheer volume and variety of work – from complex VFX to clean-up, archival restoration, and title element work – made it challenging but rewarding. Thankfully, managing all the title work was simpler with Flame. We could bring text in via AAF (Advanced Authoring Format) and composite it into the timeline, so that Kevin could conform while I was working on the VFX and text.

Kevin: As Chris previously mentioned, the project was coming together up until the 11th hour, so time was essential. Flame proved invaluable in this respect as color and conform were able to work in parallel, which helped accelerate the process overall. We could export out the published DPX or EXR sequence while the conform was happening and have supervised sessions with the DP or director, so color could continue while we were doing our part in the background. There’s no way we could have met the timeline without our workflow and the help of Flame.

How did you collaborate on the project?

Chris: For the most part, we worked from home, but were in constant contact with one another and the editorial teams via Zoom. Using a PCI over IP connection supported by a box in our Varick Street office control room, we’re able to connect remotely to the Flame workstations and work uninterrupted at home with an HD monitor, keyboard, mouse, and stylus.

What do you like most about working in Flame?

Kevin: Flame is pretty much an end-to-end solution for doing just about everything we need picture-wise, from advanced opticals and VFX compositing to fluid morph cuts, speed ramps, painting out artifacts, beauty work, and the list continues. As NLEs have grown more capable, edits are becoming complex, which means more effects work. Flame helps us tackle this and a lot of unforeseen issues that arise.

Chris: To add to what Kevin said, creating complex effects and or making corrections in Flame is just so fast. The speed it allows us to work at is awesome, especially for documentary work involving mixed formats, frame rates, and aspect ratios that all must be unified. All we need is a pen and tablet, and we can track and version in timelines. When taking on a project of scale, Flame is unbeatable.

What advice would you offer to aspiring Flame Artists?

Chris: I feel that Flame is as integral to post-production as the Adobe suite is to print publishing, so get interested in it. Start with a broad overview of everything it does and dive deep into its full capabilities, then develop a specialty. What’s so great about the technology is that no two people use it the same way, so find your sweet spot and carve your niche.

Kevin: I love that Flame has become an all-in-one system that can really do everything, and that’s something a lot of people who are new to it or just have a tertiary understanding of it just don’t realize. Most artists see Flame as a VFX or conform tool, but such a limited perspective can really inhibit creativity. It can do so much more from DI related tasks, to bringing in offline references and seeing a client’s mockup. Be sure to explore everything it offers.

About HARBOR

HARBOR is a global company with operations in New York, Los Angeles, London, Chicago, and Atlanta. Relentlessly focused on talent, technical innovation, and protection of artistic vision, HARBOR hones every detail throughout the moving image-making process: live-action, dailies, creative and offline editorial, design, animation, visual effects, CG, sound and picture finishing.

Notable feature and episodic post-production projects include, Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage, The Humans, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, directed by Quentin Tarantino for Sony Entertainment, The Irishman, directed by Martin Scorsese for Netflix, Solo: A Star Wars Story, directed by Ron Howard for Lucasfilm, Ocean’s 8, directed by Gary Ross for Warner Bros., Arrival, directed by Denis Villeneuve for Paramount, Billions, created by Brian Koppelman, David Levien and Andrew Ross Sorkin for Showtime, and Sweetbitter, executive produced by Stuart Zicherman for Starz.

HARBOR’s advertising brand clients include American Express, Nike, adidas, Swarovski, Gap, Facebook, Victoria’s Secret, Dior, Versace, Estee Lauder, Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, Tide, Mercedes, Toyota, Walmart, Citibank, Eliquis, Humira, Sanofi, Bounty, Olay, Crest, and Cascade.