In March we began work on the second season of YouTube Red’s Escape the Night Season 2. We learned a lot the first time around working with YouTube Red and other partners, so season two presented new opportunities. After two seasons, I think we have some insight that’s worth sharing. I have broken the post into five sections:
- Planning and Pre-production
- Production
- Editorial
- Visual Effects and Color
- Delivery
Each section goes into some depth of what went on where we were involved. From early in the process through final delivery. The schedule for each of the ten episodes was approximate as follows.
- Three weeks editorial
- Three weeks VFX and MGFX
- Two days in color
- One Week in Sound design and mix
- Three Days in pre quality control
- Delivery to Youtube Reds quality control house (Premiere Digital Services)
- 45 Day Quality control period. Usually took about a week.
The episodes were delivered on a weekly cadence for both seasons.
Planning & Preproduction
Six months before production began ‘Chariotdrive’ put a comprehensive budget together followed by a schedule for post-production and visual effects. Based on the concept for season two and our experience on season one; This allowed the producers and YouTube Red to have a real picture of what the necessary post costs would look like.
As the date of production drew closer, we began to plan for editorial and VFX. Start pre-production for a post early.
We looked at the scripts and did a basic breakdown of all the visual effects we saw. Although only a few were called out in the pages, this is never a definitive list, as for one, it does not include fixes, so be thorough. With the breakdown in hand, we scheduled time with the showrunner to talk about all the visual effects. You will need several hours to do this depending on how effects-heavy your series is.
We worked closely with the Executive producers, showrunner, Director, and Producers to provide creative planning and support for the pre-visualization of complex VFX sequences and design and planning of motion graphics that were consistent throughout the series.
We worked with the camera department to plan and pre-visualize shots before shooting. We gave input on the camera systems used and settings that would save the most money and make sense for a fast turn around in post-production.
Post planning and project management were done using Ftrack, which allows a waterfall style gaant project management as well as agile task management and planning. After lengthy discussions with the showrunner, the VFX breakdown was entered into Ftrack, and the possible number of shots was projected based on the available budget.
In this season, there were far more visual effects required than the budget allowed, so we worked closely with the showrunner, allowing him to prioritize what was needed, so no episode went without the required effects.
Production
Escape the Night Season 2 was broken into two separate weeks of shooting. The first week comprised of all of the single-camera scripted content, which is at the beginning of each episode. The DP used Alexa mini, outputting UHD at 23.976p in Prores 4444, which was adequate for post needs. There was a week between shoots, the second week was the unscripted portion of the show, and it was shot on eight Canon C300 mk2s. Six with zoom lenses and operators, two set up at interview stations with prime lenses. There were 40+ 256GB CFast cards.
Chariotdrive outlined media needs and oversaw media management and ingest on set. We ran a thunderbay with 10TB drives in a raid 5 as the primary offload and then we had a Qnap with 50TB also set up in a raid configuration. The footage was duplicated onto the Qnap and then copied again onto external usb3 4TB Seagate fast raid drives.
Four workstations were set up close to video village with10G Ethernet switch, and access to the footage on the Qnap meant editors could put key scenes and sequences together on set to make sure the production had what it needed before it moved on to the next scene. To add to that, an assistant editor began putting the episodes together in prep for editorial to begin at the end of the shoot.
We provided VFX supervision, taking hundreds of photos and measurements for use in CGI should it be needed later.
An essential cost-saver at this stage is to hire VFX production assistants that are present on set to fix potential issues before they require fixes in post — for example, making cables clean, placing markers, moving crew and equipment out of the shot or looking for camera operators to adjust there shot.
Thousands of dollars can be wasted rotoscoping equipment, people, earpieces, water bottles, etc. out of shots so that the content can pass quality control at the point of delivery; This can be saved upfront at much lower cost by just having people that understand VFX there on set, making these fixes.
Editorial
Editorial for Escape the Night Season 2 differed from the first. In season one, three editors shared the work on the ten episodes. The lead editor took episodes 1, 4, 7 and 10. The other editors took 2, 5, 8 and 3, 6 and 9.
For season two, we realized that more lead time on the visual effects would make for a better season overall, so we scheduled five episodes to be edited simultaneously. So rather then three editors, we set up five editors working simultaneously; This is about the limit for a showrunner who is very involved with the project. In addition to the editorial, he/she is giving notes, working with YouTube Red, deciding on the looks and designs for MGFX, reviewing and feeding back on visual effects, reviewing the sound design and attending final mix and working with a colorist on coloring and grading. This makes for a hectic schedule and more than five episodes at a time could hurt the show if the showrunner had too much to contend with.
For editorial, the decision was made to have all the editors working together in an open floor plan. The showrunner was also set up in the same area so they could work in close proximity. Editing an eight-camera multi-cam can be complicated and time-consuming, especially when the characters separate into smaller groups. Talented assistant editors and editors lead by someone with success, and a great deal of experience editing these types of shows is a must especially if you want to complete editorial quickly.
In the case of season two, each episode had to be completed in three weeks. Editorial was six weeks from beginning to end. The first week was rough cuts, and the second was fine cuts and the last would take it to a locked cut; This included several rounds of notes from the showrunner and YouTube Red.
In addition to the editors, there were two assistant editors (AE) who set up the episodes based on a specific design by the lead editor. The AEs would support the editors, flatten sequences, prep for sound, create AAFs, insert graphics and prep for color and grade. Do not save money by not using AEs. They will make the process better and cheaper overall.
The show was edited entirely in Adobe Premiere Pro. We tested Premiere Pro for teams prior to the show to see if the additional features would allow us to streamline the process and let me tell you, the beta badge that was added to the software after its release is well justified. In our testing, the features were a total disaster and used in a setting with tight deadlines would have been disastrous. The benefits definitely did not outweigh the potential risks this time around.
As locked cute were completed the VFX and MGFX were added and the process of passing them to sound began on a weekly cadence.
Visual Effects
In season one the Visual effects were primarily done in After Effects. Some 3D elements were created in MAYA and some compositing was done in NUKE. We also used Element 3D, other Video Copilot plugins and various Red Giant plugins.
There were over 800 special effects throughout the ten episodes. Motion graphics were built into Photoshop and After Effects.
Effects include animated sequences, on-screen titles, rotoing fixes (crew members in shots, non-1930’s fixtures, etc.), 2D composites, particles, 3D CGI, background replacements, smoke, fire, gunfire, blood hits and more.
Time to complete the effects for each episode ranged from 1-2 weeks, so it was an insane schedule to get sometimes more than 150 effects shots completed with never more than 2 or 3 artists.
Season two had a similar theme. All the effects, motion graphics, and CGI were handled by a team of 3 people working 10 hour days, six-day weeks for four months. Visual effects we completed mainly in After Effects and NUKE. The intro title sequence was made using Element 3D.
Color Correction & Grade
Color correction was done partly in Resolve and partly in Premiere using the Lumetri engine and Colorista.
Grading and the look of the show were pushed to a slight pink overall (which host Joey Graceffa loved), and the levels brought way up to account for the majority viewership being on phones or mobile computers.
Each episode had a cinematic intro, and these were graded more cinematically and stylistically which elevated the look of the show overall.
Delivery
Episodes of Escape the Night Season 2 were output low res mpg for sound while work was finished on the color grade and VFX. Once the final effects were complete, we output to two versions of the episode. A broadcast master and a textless master in DNxHR HQX UHD 23.98; This had each episode coming in at about 130GB, which was quite manageable.
