The French Exchange” tells the story of two girls who met during a 1990s school exchange trip and sustained their friendship over three decades, with plenty of trials and tribulations along the way.

The key to this beautiful cinematic piece was to enhance the three different eras, 90s, 10 years later and 20 years later. Shot by DP Stephane Fontaine for Frederic Planchon at Academy Films we used a combination of colour degradation, film grain, softness and sharpness to give a subtle aged texture to the images for the first part, then reducing this effect in the second part and none in the contemporary and final part. The grade was very much what would be done in a drama piece, going along with the narrative rather than taking over it.