Ants' work. Far, very far from the strass of Plaine Saint-Denis where the whole team of "The Voice" spent its nights a few weeks ago. On the 6th floor of the premises of ITV Studios France, on Île Saint-Germain in Issy-les-Moulineaux (Hauts-de-Seine), producers of the telecrochet de la Une, which continues this Saturday evening at 9:05 p.m. rush into an editing room.
A cramped white room, devoid of any furniture. Apart from this large desk, it could not be more banal on which sits a can of Perrier, three computer screens and two keyboards. "There are 5 minutes," promises Remi, the owner, who wants to validate a pregeneric inspired by "Big Little Lies" the series with Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman. "Even if we don't know the series, it's cool! But I'm really not a fan of typography ( Editor's note: typography ), can you change it? “, Says Pascal Guix, artistic producer, before going to another viewing unit.
They spend all their days there three months, sitting on comfortable black upholstered armchairs. Because hardly the first of the six audition sessions turned, the editors of "The Voice" take action. “First, we set up the performances of each talent individually. We need to reduce in a few minutes their passage on stage but also, the attitude and the exchanges of the coaches during the song and the reactions of those around them with Nikos ", explains Hélène Grannet Nassar, editor-in-chief in charge of post-production.
Multicolored stickers to find your way around
This phase is already a huge job since 110 anonymous tried their luck on the set this year. "Especially since you sometimes have to go and find a shot that the director missed when recording, then start all over when you decide to do what is called a shadow ( Editor's note: when viewers do not see the candidate's head before the coaches buzz ) at the time of assembly, "she adds.
Because that's where the editing work far exceeds that of all other variety shows. What the viewers discover each week during the blind auditions is not all broadcast in the real order of the candidates. It is also to be able to mix the images and the casting evenings that the coaches always stay dressed exactly the same way over the recordings. "It's a huge puzzle, yes!" Recognizes Pascal Guix, who leads us to a wall filled with carefully aligned Polaroid. On each of them are glued multicolored stickers. An incomprehensible code.
“For each talent, we write the name of the song with a different color depending on the language of the lyrics. Then we put a red dot if he chose the team of Lara Fabian, yellow for Marc Lavoine, pink for Amel Bent and dark blue for Pascal Obispo. We note in a corner the number of coaches who turned around. And the black dots is when no one has turned around, ”he adds. Because all these criteria come into play in the final assembly of the six blind prime-time auditions.
"We change the order dozens of times"
"The Voice" is not shown in order, but by following a clever trick. “We want to tell a story. For example, for the first bonus, which is always the most difficult to build, you have to introduce the four new coaches and make viewers understand their musical color, ”he says. Hence the fact that this season 9 started with four outstanding performances where each coach leaves with a candidate.
“For the rest, there are not really any rules, apart from avoiding monotony. In week 2, I found it good to chain two failures, to surprise. For the launch, a couple was in competition, we obviously slipped one of the three ad cuts between their two performances because there is a suspense ", adds Pascal Guix, who also relies on the feelings of the team, the first viewers of "The Voice".
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"We change the order dozens of times because on viewing we find that it does not flow well! Explains Hélène Grannet Nassar, who sometimes reverses two sequences three days before the broadcast. But their most delicate selection: the twenty short-listed who will not be broadcast on TF1. “To remain benevolent, we remove those who have lost their means. But they are also the ones who have a chance to come back next season… ”, assures Pascal Guix, before shutting himself up in a new editing room.