Coffee & TV Delivers Post and Creative for George Michael's Feature Documentary

Soho-based Coffee & TV has provided the post-production for this year’s most anticipated documentary, George Michael: Freedom; an autobiographical feature-length film by the iconic late singer and songwriter. The 90 minute programme unveils personal footage as well as unseen archive content and interviews from an A-list cast of industry figures and friends of the late singer to tell the story of a significant period in his life. Narrated by himself, George Michael publicly offers his own personal account for the first time, about the making of the Listen Without Prejudice Vol 1 album and the infamous high-court battle with his record company over the rights.

Following the team’s work for the late artist’s tributes at the prestigious Grammy awards in the US and the Brit Awards in the UK, Coffee & TV was asked to undertake and deliver the opening title sequence, full VFX and graphics, colour grade and creative visuals for this long-awaited film, broadcast by Channel 4 on 16th October.

Coffee & TV’s Head of Design, Steve Waugh, started the creative process by focusing on George Michael’s most recognisable images throughout his phenomenal career. These pictures inspired Coffee & TV’s artists to use George’s iconic mirrored sunglasses, developing them into a graphical device to feature within the opening titles. This approach generated a presence of George Michael without directly revealing him to the audience, whilst acting as a platform to showcase memorable imagery of his life.

In addition to the titles and graphics, Coffee & TV’s Senior Colourist Dan Moran crafted the colour grade throughout the film. Coffee & TV’s design department have also been responsible for a variety of renowned broadcast design projects and opening titles, including BBC One’s Planet Earth II.

Steve Waugh, Head of Design at Coffee & TV said: “From our initial discussions we knew George’s imagery should be the focus of the titles and graphics for this documentary. His sunglasses are so iconic and indicative of his character. Mirrored shades allow the individual to look out, but the world can’t see in; summing up how he tried to live his life out of public glare. We developed the glasses into a graphical brand device, so the design has been able to transcend numerous platforms, from the film titles, right through to marketing material for the upcoming single.”

Chris Chard Co-Founder and Producer, Coffee & TV said: “It was a real privilege for Coffee & TV to be asked to design the opening titles and graphics for such a pivotal documentary of our time. Following on from our previous work, it’s been an amazing opportunity for us to continue on this journey with George Michael’s team, supporting the documentary and bringing it to air on Channel 4 in the UK and to the rest of the world.”