{"id":11569,"date":"2019-10-10T14:14:14","date_gmt":"2019-10-10T14:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacestudiosmanchester.co.uk\/?p=11569"},"modified":"2019-10-10T14:33:33","modified_gmt":"2019-10-10T14:33:33","slug":"behind-the-scenes-on-studio-lamberts-the-feed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacestudiosmanchester.co.uk\/behind-the-scenes-on-studio-lamberts-the-feed\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the scenes on Studio Lambert’s The Feed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Story from Broadcastnow<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0| 12 September 2019<\/p>\n

The following feature appeared in Broadcast Magazine<\/i><\/p>\n

Production company\u00a0<\/strong>Studio Lambert
\nLength<\/strong>\u00a010 x 60 minutes
\nTX<\/strong>\u00a0Monday, 16\u00a0September, Virgin Media
\nShowrunner<\/strong>\u00a0Channing Powell
\nSeries producer<\/strong>\u00a0Simon Lewis
\nExecutive producers<\/strong>\u00a0Susan Hogg; Channing\u00a0Powell; Nick Clark Windo;\u00a0Stephen Lambert;\u00a0Sara Murray
\nWriters<\/strong>\u00a0Channing Powell;\u00a0Rachel Delahay; Tom\u00a0Moran; Michael Clarkson
\nDirectors<\/strong>\u00a0Carl Tibbetts;\u00a0Tinge Krishnan; Jill\u00a0Robertson; Misha Manson Smith; Colin Teague
\nVisual effects\u00a0supervisor<\/strong>\u00a0Steve Moncur
\nPost houses<\/strong>\u00a0Encore;\u00a0De Lane Lea; Hyperactive<\/p>\n

This had \u2018easy gig\u2019 written all over it. A near-future dystopian thriller about a world in which everything we do today with the aid of smartphones and laptops is transformed thanks to a high-tech brain implant that allows people to instantly share thoughts, memories and emotions.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>It\u2019s all there, right in front of your eyes \u2013 that\u2019s the premise of Nick Clark\u00a0Windo\u2019s brilliant, prescient novel The\u00a0Feed<\/strong><\/a>, which forms the basis of our show.<\/p>\n

We managed to secure Channing\u00a0Powell (The Walking Dead) as showrunner, added some of the UK\u2019s hottest writing talent (Rachel Delahay,\u00a0Tom Moran and Michael Clarkson) and off we went, urging them to let their imaginations roam free: \u201cDon\u2019t feel constrained about what the future might hold or look like.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Nick\u2019s book, things start to unravel on about page 12, but after discussions with Amazon, Channing wanted series one to effectively be the backstory to the novel \u2013 a slow burn in which we see the world where\u00a0The Feed (an Apple\/Facebook\/Amazon\/Google mash-up that controls everything) works wonderfully well.<\/p>\n

With simply the power of thought, you can speak to your partner, call a doctor or order a pizza.\u00a0That is, until The Feed starts to glitch.<\/p>\n

Putting together a crack VFX team was our number one priority. Our crew, under DNEG team leader Steve\u00a0Moncur, stretched from Mumbai to\u00a0LA via Madrid. They worked up visual concepts and VFX producer Adam\u00a0McInnes joined the team to manage the huge number of shots that left our edit each day for VFX work.<\/p>\n

After a quick back-of-an-envelope cost comparison, we alighted upon\u00a0Manchester\u2019s Space Studios as our production base. The story is set in\u00a0London, but it was clear we would get a bigger bang for our buck by working in and around the north-west.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Feed HQ, known in the story as \u2018The Hub\u2019, had to have all the futuristic architectural sex appeal of an iPhone and be able to believably sit next to the\u00a0Thames somewhere in the high-tech east London of tomorrow.<\/p>\n

We researched futuristic buildings in the north-west, then the Midlands and then the south-east. Nothing seemed to fit the bill, so with production dates looming, we had to start the studio build of the interior without knowing what we were matching it to. What could be simpler?<\/p>\n

By the time we found a building with an interesting shape \u2013 in a science park in Anglesey, north Wales \u2013 we had already shot four episodes.\u00a0We combined this with the magnificent atrium of the School of Politics at Oxford University.<\/p>\n

Financially and logistically, this was a perfect storm. We were moving the unit long distances between shoots, often overnight, and had hundreds of supporting artists to transport first to Wales, then down to Oxford. It was expensive, and savings had to be made elsewhere to balance the books, but it was worth it for the added production value.<\/p>\n

Simon Lewis – My tricks of the trade<\/strong><\/p>\n