10.02.07

For Brook Lapping, Rob Coldstream commissioned us to be a little more inventive with the regular batch of stills encapsulating Blair's years in office. The series is presented by Andrew Rawnsley and splits Blair premiership into 3 programmes: the early years, the war in Iraq and Afganistan, and the later years, which mainly features the turbulent relationship with Gordon Brown.

It was noted that most of the visual material we were attempting to highlight in the series happened behind closed doors, which we could only hint at using generic shots of outside Downing Street. We also needed to develop a series of techniques which were deemed to be visually interesting while still seeming weighty enough for the seriousness of the subject matter.

By angling the plane of each photo we were able be use of a 3D camera with a short depth of field to blur out most of the image, only revealing the point of focus directly under the lens as the camera drifted over it. Also by drawing around foreground elements, tinting them and then layering these over the originals we could highlight certain detail pertaining to the script. Finally by putting the same image over itself but each time pulling it forward in 'z' space we could direct our 3D camera to dolly through each layer until we could clearly make out the original. Mike Burton - editor, of course was able to work his editing magic so that everything appears seamless.

The series is due for transmission in May of this year, just in time for Tony to enjoy it at at home while he fills his new spare time.