Sports | Post Production

Where it all began for Sky Post Production – whether it’s a lightning-fast highlights reel, an emotive opener, or longer form sports content like documentaries, sport is in our blood – and it shows.

Darts fever gripped the nation over Christmas 2023, culminating in an incredible WDC final between Luke "Cool Hand" Humphries and Luke "The Nuke" Littler. Read on to find out how the Sky Post team delivered a documentary about the epic battle of the Lukes......

Trevor Hart, Editor, said: "It was great fun despite the very fast turnaround! The team were fantastic, and everyone jumped to action immediately to help. From the APs who collaborated to throw me a huge amount of brilliant prep work to other Editors who helped with the graphics, name and score straps, it was a real team effort to deliver this show in the timeframe we had."

Marek Bielski, Audio Mixer, said, "Given the speed of the turnaround of this show it was really important for everyone to meet in advance and agree on the best strategy of what was possible in a short amount of time. Having agreed the audio layout with Trevor the Editor it was easy to pick up and start working straight away.

Normally the workflow would be to edit the dialogue, music and FX then mix but in this case it was mix straight away whilst simultaneously editing on the fly, making very rapid technical and stylistic decisions. I was aiming to keep the show as exciting as possible whilst still keeping to broadcast tech spec - which is no mean feat whilst mixing on the fly!

Matt (the Producer) and Trevor had managed to craft a great story so it felt really important to get across the excitement of watching a 16 now just 17 year old Luke Littler battle and beat much older and experienced professionals in a spectacular fashion. I used long reverb extensively to add drama and pacing to the stops in music and fx which gave the mix a sense continuity. It was very pleasing to get a good result and I had very nice feedback from both Matt and Trevor. It goes to show that quality shows are possible in a short space of time but it all relies on as ever great planning communication and a team spirit. Here's to the next one!"

Paul Kingstree, GFX Editor, said, "I worked with Matt Tanner and Ryan Pope on the title/ bumper, 13 full frame GFX, score line lower thirds and and a 20" scene setter. Once Matt approved my full frames slates, I then had the style for the lower thirds and title. I made the title, full frames and lower thirds in After Effects, put together a comp reel into Interplay, with all the elements Matt needed while he was cutting the feature with Trevor. I understood the feature was a tight turn a round, with just over a week to prep and cut before it went to audio!"

This production transmitted on Sky Showcase at 6pm, Thursday 1st February and is available to catch up.