Exploring the Inner Workings: A Peek into a Patient's Psyche
Title: Matices Unveiled: A Psychological Thriller's Daring Visual Journey
Prepare to be captivated as the eight-episode psychological thriller, Matices, premieres on SkyShowtime on 5th June. This spine-chilling series, produced by Secuoya Studios and Stellarmedia, takes us on a suspenseful ride through the minds of patients with mental disorders, all under the guidance of a charismatic psychiatrist in a remote Spanish countryside.
Created by Sergio Cánovas, Javier Naya, and Álex Meriweather, the series is directed by Cánovas and brilliantly lensed by Miguel Roldán. Filming on a large format camera generated a whopping 3TB of footage every day.
Luis Ochoa, head of picture post production at xPost Studios, describes Matices as a bold and innovative project. "Miguel's challenge was translating the psychological realm into visual terms, through color, contrast, and texture," he explained. Focusing on pre-production, the DoP provided a clear dossier that set the tone for the series' overall look.
With an ACES-compliant workflow and CDLs generated as backup, the team operated within a unified DaVinci Resolve Studio environment. This enabled a streamlined picture post-production workflow, allowing the DoP and DIT teams to apply grades, masks, and looks directly on set, and enabling the art department to make informed decisions on color palette, textures, costumes, and production design.
"We adopted an HDR-first workflow from day one," Ochoa shared. Monitors calibrated for SDR and HDR provided immediate feedback on the final image on set. By defining visual intent during the shoot and carrying it forward organically, grading became an extension of the cinematography, not a revision of it.
Colors as Emotional Structures
Each episode of Matices is built around a character's flashbacks, each exploring buried traumas. Colorist Elena Humanes breathed life into these emotional layers, working closely with DoP Miguel Roldán to create the series' final color language.
"The series' identity is inspired by a photochemical look: controlled saturation, strong contrast, and a subtle cool cast in the shadows meant to evoke a sense of memory," Humanes explained. By avoiding over-the-top color treatments, viewers are drawn into each patient's mental space without getting overwhelmed.
While the series maintains a cohesive style, each episode introduces slight chromatic shifts tailored to the characters' emotions. These subtle changes guide the viewer through a memory without disrupting the visual storytelling flow.
The visual tone is set from the opening episode, which unfolds during a group therapy session. These scenes were built upon a base reminiscent of photochemical looks, with restrained contrast and subtle blue-green tones added with the help of DaVinci Resolve's log tools. The Color Warper was used to refine hue and saturation, reinforcing the psychological tension without overt stylization.
To enhance the anamorphic aesthetic, a soft digital lens blur was applied to the highlights using Resolve's Lens Blur. This subtle texture deepens the sense of instability as the series unfolds.
Episode five, centred on a couple's relationship, introduces a more nostalgic palette: lifted blacks, a soft red-brown shift in the midtones, and desaturation blended with blue accents. This deliberately retro aesthetic breathes life into the characters' emotional journey.
Episode six stands out for its more daring visual choices. With inspirations from Joker, this installment pushes the boundaries of tension and suspense. Set between France and Algeria, the episode plays with striking color contrasts, adding an almost noir-ish quality to the series.
"When people talk about color, they often mean style," Humanes concludes. "But in Matices, color is emotional structure."
Each episode of Matices has been mastered in Dolby Vision, ensuring complete image control and color fidelity across all deliveries.
Matices premieres on SkyShowtime Original on June 5th. Buckle up for a thrilling ride!
- The psychological thriller, Matices, uses color as an emotional structure to guide viewers through each character's traumatic flashbacks, with subtle chromatic shifts in each episode that reflect the characters' emotions.
- The series, Matices, delves into the world of entertainment by exploring mental health topics and therapies, while also innovatively combining these themes with elements of suspense and daring visual treatments, often blurring the lines between reality and the characters' psyches.
