LipSync details post work on How To Lose Friends And Alienate People

How To Lose Friends and Alienate People, starring Simon Pegg, Kirsten Dunst and Jeff Bridges." />

LipSync Post has completed full post-production, including VFX, titles, DI and audio, on what it describes as 'the biggest independent British film of the year', How To Lose Friends and Alienate People, starring Simon Pegg, Kirsten Dunst and Jeff Bridges.

The film, which follows a British writer's struggles to fit in at glossy New York magazine, is also the highest profile film to date to come out of LipSync's film production division. LipSync believes its clients benefit from a more integrated approach, with production becoming part of the team to create a cohesive approach to the whole production/post production process.

"Producers and directors can come here and get production advice, plus editing, DI, VFX, audio, graphics and titles, all under one roof," said Alasdair MacCuish, head of film at LipSync Post.

LipSync's VFX supervisor Sheila Wickens was able to go on location in London and New York. She advised the production team on how to shoot particular scenes in order to get the best results in post, and helped the location manager choose locations for a shot requiring a seamless pull-out from the interior of an apartment, shot in a studio in the UK, to the exterior of the apartment block, shot on location in New York.

Wickens also shot stills to create views from a skyscraper window at different times of the day, which would later be composited into several scenes. Other VFX work included designing a billboard with moving and changing content, numerous monitor inserts for cinema screens, TVs and PCs, and making a prosthetic dog appear real as it crashes into a window!

Stefan Drury, head of VFXat LipSync Post, says that "Being involved on location is a great help both to us and the production as a whole, as we get a better feel for the film, and we can also answer questions from the production team. It has saved the project a great deal of time and money."

LipSync's graphics team also created the title sequence for the film. The titles begin after a short set-up sequence of the film, with a freeze frame of Simon Pegg's character which transitions into a photograph on the front page of a newspaper. The paper blows around the city, being stepped on and run over, while the titles appear via animated typography within the newspaper.

The sound mix was performed by Paul Cotterell in LipSync's Theatre One. How To Lose Friends And Alienate People is released by Paramount Pictures in the UK on 3 October 2008.