The Salt Path Scandal

On its release in 2018, The Salt Path became an overnight sensation. Raynor Winn’s bestselling memoir of financial ruin, terminal illness, and healing through nature became a national obsession, capturing the public imagination and sparking book tours, literary prizes and a runaway hit film starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs. But the story was not all that it seemed as Observer journalist Chloe Hadjimatheou discovered when she received an anonymous tip off. Reading The Salt Path with the critical eye of a journalist a new story began to emerge, pieced together through paper trails, interviews and testimony from those who knew the Winns before their walk began. 

Sky commissioned a one-off feature documentary from multi award-winning Candour Productions, The Salt Path Scandal, to dig deeper into the truth of this uniquely British page-turner and Sky Post Production were tasked with providing Full Post for this most intriguing of stories. Here, we detail the hard work and dedication that it took across the board to bring this production to your screen.

Oliver Bramley – Senior Post Producer

The Salt Path Scandal first appeared on our radar back in September. We’re used to a busy run up to Christmas so to have such an exciting project added to our roster was great, and the opportunity to work with Candour Productions was also very exciting. We all know how fantastic they are at storytelling and behind the scenes it’s clear why. They’re all creativity driven but lead with calmness and kindness. Sitting as we do under the Sky umbrella and having access to Sky’s delivery teams made Sky Post Production the ideal choice to deliver this show against the clock. We knew there would be longer days, and we knew there would be tight deadlines, but we also knew that we wanted to deliver to the highest quality so it was a case of sitting down in advance to see how we could hit all of our objectives without burning anyone out, whilst also looking after everyone’s heads. Our team’s welfare is hugely important to us which means regular check-ins to ensure that everyone is keeping their head above water.

From the very start I looked to our team of documentary specialists who I knew would elevate the project whilst still being able to manage their time appropriately to get it over the line. Working with freelance Offline Editor, Sam Thornton-James was truly amazing. When you have a Lead Offline Editor who is so invested in the workflow outside of their suite and who has such an interest in what happens after they picture lock, it’s an absolute dream. Over the final weekend there was a big push to the finish line, which meant our team and Candour working closely together. Although it was incredibly busy, Candour’s calm heads meant that the push was a lot easier and we were able to cross that line happily instead of stumbling over it. I’m immensely proud of the whole team. The idea of having a fast turnaround documentary that looks, sounds and feels so premium is a phenomenal achievement.

Michael Town – Post Producer

My initial role was to work alongside Oliver Bramley, supporting him as Senior Post Producer. From the get-go, Candour were a dream to work with, always forthcoming with anything we needed to know and very communicative, which in the face of such a tight turnaround was everything we could ask for. The work varied day by day, from fielding requests for various ingests and viewing links to helping set workflows with our Technical Supervisor and refining them as the project went along. The priority was to make sure that everything was completed as efficiently and promptly as possible to help the Editorial and Production teams during an incredibly fast-paced Offline. Putting together a 90-minute feature documentary this quickly was no mean feat, particularly as the shooting schedule demanded that filming continued throughout the Edit. Our role then was to support the Editorial team to give them everything they needed in a way that gave them the best chance to continue working as effectively as possible. Then, when it then came to Final Post, with so much happening at once and so quickly, my role was to support Ollie and to be wherever he couldn’t be so that no time was wasted.

Elizabeth Browns – Post Production Coordinator

I was thrilled to be asked to Coordinate on The Salt Path Scandal. It’s the first documentary that I’ve had the privilege to work on and to have it be about uncovering the truth behind a news story that shocked the UK, combined with an incredibly tight turnaround, was so exciting and an invaluable experience for me. As Coordinator on the project my roles and duties largely revolved around booking in the rushes and archive ingests with our incredible Edit Operations team. We had a wealth of archive footage to ingest for this project from several different mediums and platforms so ingesting it all appropriately and efficiently was crucial. Everything was needed in Edit as soon as possible so staying on top of the volume of material was key. We had two Post Producers across this project, and I liaised with them daily to assist wherever I could. We held several meetings to discuss progress and the best ways to manage the Final Post week, which we anticipated would be very full on. There was a lot of interaction with the Archive Producer and with members of the Production team as well as with the Offline Editors. Speaking with them all directly was a massive help and they were all lovely and always willing to accommodate however possible – and vice versa.

Everyone involved did an incredible job of keeping a constant line of communication open to assist the Editors, Mixers and Colourist during Final Post. If you’re an avid documentary fan and are interested in investigative journalism, then The Salt Path Scandal is compelling viewing and is well worth adding to your watch list!

Liam Stiles – Workflow Supervisor

The Salt Path Scandal contained many technical considerations. There were cameras recording in various aspect ratios - 16:9, 2:39:1, 1:90:1 as well as archive in old school 4:3 all of which needed to be formatted correctly at ingest and manipulated in the correct way to ensure the content would ultimately pass Sky’s delivery spec.

Another layer to the ingest workflow was uploading all that camera footage to Frame.io for Production to be able to view. Archive wizard, James Hunt, was dealing with any rights and legal issues to do with the footage so we worked with him to establish a workflow which made tracking the use of TV, radio and newspaper clippings in edits as easy as possible, whilst also preparing us for any last-minute swap outs. 

As the deadline loomed, the turnaround time for finishing post shrank rather drastically so we decided to prepare the programme for Grade and Audio in three parts - one on Friday, one on Saturday and the final part on the Monday - so we could still meet the deadline of getting everything into Online. Changes were still being made to the Offline while Final Post was happening so on that final Friday we had four edit assistants working on the turnover of updated pictures, audio and archive replacements.

Jason Gallacher – Edit Assistant

The Salt Path Scandal was set to have a very fast turnaround so we looked to do anything we could during the Offline stage to ensure that Final Post would go as smoothly as possible right up to TX. We acquired a cut of the film from the Offline Editor in order to perform a test conform and this turned out to be extremely worthwhile as we encountered many challenges that, whilst small on their own, could have accumulated and caused delays when coming up to the deadline. The lesson here is preparation is key, as I was able to organise and clarify various parts of the workflow to ensure that its journey to Grade and Audio went as smoothly as possible. 

Irene Ofosu - Edit Assistant

I started on the second and final week that The Salt Path Scandal was with us at Sky. My experience this year in leading Portrait and Landscape Artist of the Year had prepared me for working across the multiple moving parts as this project neared the finish line. For example, Grade, Audio and Online were all happening simultaneously whilst I was replacing screeners with master archive throughout the sequence. A huge benefit in Sky Post is the flexible and committed team that we have, meaning additional members of Edit Operations could be called up to assist with additional exports, preps and GFX ingests, allowing me to focus on key jobs. I'm very proud of the work the team and I put into this to ensure the workflow was a success.

Issy O’Brien – Edit Assistant

I volunteered to be an extra pair of hands on the weekend shift to help do the AMA conform and Grade prep as I could tell it would be all hands on deck. The AMA conform process is one of the most important jobs that we do in Edit Operations, and it requires a lot of technical knowledge. Jason Gallacher had done a test to foresee any challenges and hurdles that we would need to tackle which was hugely helpful and saved valuable time. 

I prepped the film ready for Mark Mulcaster in the Grade and was then on hand to pick up export requests, urgent ingests and to support the Online. Then I spent time locating clips, sending the sequence to Harding and exporting it out for viewing while generally being on hand to help wherever I could. I ended up having multiple machines all fired up for any request that came in. One would have a render running, another would have a video mixdown, and one would be running exports. All these jobs are the invisible parts of the Post process and can make everyone’s days either much longer or shorter. What we were able to achieve over the last twelve weeks is what I've seen time and again at Sky Post Production - it's people at the top of their game, giving their all, and making great content. As the saying goes, "it takes a village", and everyone brought their 'A' game to ensure that this could get across the line. It's when there's a tight deadline that you normally catch your colleagues working at their absolute best. 

Finn Curry – Re-recording Mixer

The outstanding thing about this project is that, even under severe pressure, Audio Post not only delivered the work but produced a Mix to be proud of. I must give our Sound Effects Editors, Tom Nursey and Tatjana Radivoj, a huge amount of credit for going way above and beyond what’s expected as they took charge of the SFX editing and absolutely came up trumps. All the little audio details and flourishes that you’d want in a feature documentary to really give it maximum impact are present and correct.

Despite the quick turnaround we insisted on delivering quality and having received the final picture lock at 11 p.m. we still managed to sign off the audio by the following afternoon. We mixed in parts while cuts were still being made, which made it tricky to keep track of everything that was happening, but I’m immensely proud of the way that we all pulled together. The processes we have in place - and the personnel we have – all made this possible.

For the sound design itself we focused on an organic, dramatic feel. When I was in Scotland in October, I took a recorder and captured plenty of evocative coastal wild tracks that Tom could use in his SFX tracklay. It was a fun way to give the project its own vibe, and the West Coast of Scotland is very like the South West coast in terms of its coastline and therefore the kinds of sound that you experience. Tatjana added some beautiful sound design too, Foleying in lots of nice page turns and typing for the book-reading sequences. At the end of the day, it all came together because of their dedication and commitment.

Tom Nursey – SFX Editor

When I heard that Sky Post Production would be undertaking Final Post for a documentary about the scandal surrounding The Salt Path book, it seemed like serendipity. I’d just been listening to my brother explain the entire story a few days prior, so I was absolutely delighted to be involved in this project. We knew from the outset that it would involve heavy use of coastline clifftop scenes, rural towns near the coast and a lot of waves - so the Sound Designer inside me got very excited. And when I received wild tracks from Finn from his trip in Scotland, I knew we were going to be able to give this project a unique touch. 

Receiving the project in multiple parts across the week meant that being coordinated and efficient in Audio would give us as much time as possible for making the documentary sound as best it could. Between myself, Finn and Tatjana we devised a seamless workflow to make best use of our work in parallel. I’m so incredibly proud of the work we did to get this project over the line and the end product has not been compromised a single bit on quality despite the incredibly tight deadline. Sky Post will forever stand above the parapet for me in terms of dedication to quality and finer detail, and I’m so lucky to be a part of supplying that quality to our clients. 

Mark Mulcaster – Colourist

I met with Director, Josie Besbrode, whilst The Salt Path Scandal was still in Offline to look over a rough cut and discuss a sense of tone for the production. The general direction was that nothing should be overly stylised because this film is all about uncovering the reality behind a story - the very opposite of what The Salt Path feature film was trying to achieve with its heightened sense of ‘realism’. The key takeaway was that, other than journalist Chloe Hadjimatheou’s interview, there would be many setups that would only be seen once as this was a constantly evolving investigation. So, rather than creating grades for multiple setups which would appear throughout the documentary, I looked at a more tailored approach, but one which needed to be done quickly given the fast turnaround to TX. For speed of handover there were occasions where I would use Baselight’s multi-paste tool to very quickly and accurately copy the grades from the parted scenes onto a master timeline for viewing and delivery to Online.

Using Baselight’s Chromagen, a powerful, new Look Development Tool, I graded the piece to look as natural as possible with a moderate level of contrast, whilst the saturation was kept understated with any chroma being reigned in. There were the usual challenges to deal with including some vastly different exposures between camera angles as well as various bits of archive which needed to be toned down a bit. There was no need to grade the drone landscape footage to be pretty, but rather to evoke a sense of ruggedness and the inherent difficulty of the terrain. We worked quickly and systematically to achieve a look that everyone was happy with before handing over to Julien in the Online. 

Julien Wilcock – Online Editor

My role on The Salt Path Scandal was to oversee the Online, taking the film from locked edit through to final delivery. Once the conformed Offline was handed over, I was responsible for creating on-screen captions, handling VFX fixes and picture clean-ups, and integrating GFX and final grades, all while making sure the film met its technical and creative delivery requirements. With such a strong visual identity and a heavy reliance on natural landscapes, the Online needed to be handled carefully, keeping the look and texture of the cinematography intact while supporting the emotional tone of the story.

The project came with a few unique challenges. There were some areas where we needed to work closely and flexibly with our Compliance team whilst still making sure the film remained clear and compelling. On top of that, we were dealing with a wide mix of footage and a very tight turnaround to TX, with a lot of work to complete in a short space of time. This meant the workflow had to be flexible and efficient, and the Post team needed to be able to respond quickly as creative, technical, and legal considerations evolved. Close collaboration across departments was key whilst clear communication with the Offline helped ensure that creative decisions made in the edit carried through accurately into the Online. With Mark in the Grade, the focus was on maintaining consistency while allowing the landscapes to feel natural and lived-in rather than overworked. Audio was brought together through careful version control and clear handovers, ensuring sync, pacing, and the final mix stayed aligned with picture. Keeping communication open throughout helped avoid bottlenecks and meant issues could be dealt with early.

Working with Candour, who were new collaborators for us and based in Leeds, added an extra layer of logistics around communication and approvals. The Production team attending the Online was a real positive. It was great to meet them in person and a genuine pleasure to work alongside such a talented group. Working with Oliver Bramley, Michael Town, and Lizzie Browns was consistently collaborative and constructive; feedback was clear, decisions were made quickly and efficiently, and there was a shared understanding of what the film needed at any given time. It quickly felt like a proper partnership, and that level of trust made a big difference to how smoothly the project ran. Overall, The Salt Path Scandal was a demanding but very rewarding project. Strong teamwork, solid technical craft, and open communication across the Offline, Online, Grade, Audio and client teams helped us navigate the challenges to deliver a finished film that fully supports the story.