The Fortress
Posted on Oct 2, 2024 by Samara Husbands
Making the grade
Nordic sci-fi thriller The Fortress combines Norway’s natural beauty with the bleak North Sea. Series colourist Dylan Hopkin explains how the series achieves its dramatic, dual-toned look
When the Covid-19 outbreak was officially declared a pandemic in March 2020, the last thing anyone seemed to want was its fictional retelling. But during those early days, Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion was trending and, more recently, the post-apocalyptic The Last of Us drew in huge audience numbers.
Forward to 2024 and we’re met with The Fortress, a fictionalised account of what happens when politics and public health butt heads. Based in a dystopian Scandinavia, Norway has built a wall around its border in a nationalistic effort to sustain and isolate itself. When a pandemic breaks out, the country realises its error and the wall meant to keep others out instead creates chaos within.
Colourist Dylan Hopkin was tasked with grading the seven-episode sci-fi series. Having previously worked with directors Cecilie Askeland Mosli and Mikkel Brænne Sandemose, Hopkin was grateful to have ‘some underlying knowledge of their creative preferences’. He says, despite joining the production after principal cinematography had begun in Norway and Lithuania, he managed to ‘hit the ground running and quickly immerse [himself] into its universe’.
He was afforded ample creative freedom on the project. “During my initial communication with the cinematographer Lars Vestergaard, DFF, we discussed several directions to explore,” recounts Hopkin. “When I asked for visual references, Lars said: ‘Surprise me!’ I found joy in this and dived head-first into how each scene spoke to me.”
SCANDINAVIAN SPLIT
The series is generally split between two locations: a lovely, bucolic Bergen in Norway and a sombre borderland refugee camp. To portray the geographic and thematic divides, Hopkin, along with Vestergaard, created distinct aesthetics using what he calls show looks.
“There were different visual cues between the bliss in Esther’s (Selome Emnetu) hometown, Bergen, and the stark reality of the refugee camps where we first meet Charlie (Russell Tovey) and Uma (Nina Yndis),” explains Hopkin. “We paid attention to getting Bergen’s foliage to feel lush, yet not too vibrant – it was important to feel happiness.” Conversely, Hopkin describes the camps, where refugees are continuously arriving from neighbouring countries, as more metallic.
Hopkin designed the show looks using a broad-stroke approach. “It’s something that both respects and accentuates the essence of imagery to best serve the story,” he describes, arguing the ‘paramount’ importance of ‘unobtrusive colouring’. Ultimately, the most essential components of Hopkin’s visual palette proved to be ARRI’s LogC3 to Rec. 709 LUT and a custom-combined Kodak Negative/film-print emulation LUT and various DCTLs.
NITTY-GRITTY
What may seem like a straightforward task is actually highly skilled and very time-consuming. “We spent roughly 36 hours on each individual episode just working on the main grade,” explains Hopkin. “More time was then required for the look development, the editorial changes and visual-effects shots.” All in all, this adds up to nearly 300 hours of colouring and reviewing.
Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve proved an essential tool in this process. “DaVinci Resolve has all the tools you need to create exquisite, story-driven grades, where the perpetual integrity of the cinematographer’s vision is maintained,” assures Hopkin.
Reaching a cohesive final product required a delicate balance between cinematography, grading and VFX (which was handled by the Finnish effects house Troll VFX). Hopkin used Vestergaard’s visuals as a foundation, building on the concept for the series. “Lars had lit the scenes specifically to achieve a bold emphasis on reflections and slightly softer contrast in the facial areas,” says Hopkin. “We were constantly enhancing the local contrast ratios on these surfaces – and Resolve’s excellent masking and tracking tools make these tasks a breeze.”
Hopkin used a number of Resolve’s other useful AI-driven features – Magic Mask, Face Refinement, Depth Map and more – to achieve The Fortress’ final look. He touts the ’tight integration between Frame.io and Resolve’ as a critical aspect of the review process, claiming: “We could simply not work as efficiently without it.”
BIG PICTURE
Written by John Kåre Raake and Linn-Jeanethe Kyed as a social commentary on contemporary society, The Fortress combines an elaborate storyline and complex characters with crisp, refined visuals. Hopkin’s goal was to have the grade ‘feel somewhat invisible, in the sense that it shouldn’t compete with the story but instead help underline it’.
The visual cues set the tone for each character’s journey, clueing us into their emotions beyond what’s on the screen. Hopkin is humble about his contributions: “The main part of a look is based on what’s captured in front of the lens.”
With teams throughout Scandinavia and north-eastern Europe, The Fortress is a feat of collaboration. Hopkin is sure of one thing: “Proper teamwork always yields the best results!”
The Fortress is produced by Maipo Film for the Viaplay Group and premiered on Viaplay. It will be available on Prime Video in select regions in the near future.
This feature was first published in the October 2024 issue of Definition.
