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The Pushing Daisies Look

A

Alejandro

Student film-maker here, and I'd like to get as close as I possibly can to the overall look of television show Pushing Daisies. (It's kind of hard to describe it; if you're not familiar with the show, it would be best if you just saw it.)

How would I go about doing that with a college-student budget and in a normal-sized bedroom? The camera I use is a Canon HV30 w/ a Jag35st+achromat; as for lighting, I'm going the hardware-store route, but I can get a softbox kit if need be. Basically, the camera settings and lighting are the parts I need help with the most, although if anyone can provide input on the post-production aspect, that would be great (I have Premiere Pro and After Effects CS5.)
 
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I'm too busy to sit through the streaming download to watch the show and give a quick bit of advice (sorry -- School, kids, 2 businesses and the forums)... but I'd love to help you out.
 
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Screengrab of that episode at 30:54

pushingdaisies.jpg


Lighting wise, it seems more tungsten to me. With a lot of contrast/shadows.

I think the main thing you're going to need to get this look though has little or nothing to do with the camera. It's all in the mise en scene. The set, the costume, the colors. You're not going to be able to do some trick in post and make your dorm room have this look. (Unless you go to school in the Taj Mahal :P).

I'm not saying that to discourage you from doing anything, except shooting in your dorm room. I realize you are on a low/no budget, but many places will let you film for free, especially if you are a student. Hell, have you got any friends with rich parents who would let you shoot in their home? Or you can google historical mansions in your area and ask them if you could film there.

You, of course, could get lots of decorations for your room, but to do it right would be very expensive.

Hope that's helpful to you :)
 
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Dready is right. You have to pay attention to your mise en scene for the image above.

Other than that you have to balance your lights correctly.

And the other thing i noticed was that the room is large which giving you a deep look in levels with the various props placed in the background.

There is a lot to analyse in mise en scene. go ahead and dissect this scene along with the others from ur show and see wat r the common things that pop up. and that will be how they achieved their look.
 
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Ernest Worthing said:
And the other thing i noticed was that the room is large which giving you a deep look in levels with the various props placed in the background.
Click to expand...

Yes, this is true. And once you said that I noticed that for this particular shot, they seem to be using a wide angle, almost fish-eyed lens. It adds an interesting dichotomy, making the women on the couch look as though they are intimidated or being grilled by the men or something.
 
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Well, all of the above is pretty spot on. There's definitely a warm skew to the image overall, any number of ways to get to that look. The production design aids in the look through color choice, antique object clutter, etc. If you can get your hands on lots of set deco items that will help quite a bite. PD is a huge part of cinematography, and this shot is a great example of that.

Note the 4 practical lamps in the scene. They're just lit to imply that they are the light source for the space. It doesn't seem they are casting much of the light around, but I could be missing something.

Note that the ones in the lower left and upper right are more "warm" than the other two (which are a more whitish light). These are probably on dimmers. Chances are when they were plugged in they were all put on dimmers to nudge them just so.

There's a small up-light in the back corner of the room to give added dimension to the space (upper left screen corner). There's another, wall sconce maybe that is obscured by the top of the bird cage and casting light on the upper wall on frame right.

Definitely a wide lens, though seems similar to 18mm on 35 format. Not sure what they shoot with, but the FoV seems about around there someplace. With the guys that close in the foreground there's some distortion, without really skewing the rest of the room too much.

It looks like the ladies are keyed with a soft source from somewhere off camera left, and it looks like there might be some top-light hung in the room hitting their hair. I can't quite determine where they got the light on the foreground hands, it sort of looks like a small light cheated on the leather coat of the guy on frame left. Seems like there is something off camera right hitting him on the shoulder to emphasize the edge. The guy on the right could be getting spill from the top light perhaps? Seems to match temp to the hair light.
 
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I was on their sets. As Dready said, a lot of what gives
that look is the production design. The costumes, the
set walls, the set decoration were all very vivid. That
specific set was just as amazing to see in person as it
is to see lit and photographed.

This really isn't a look you can get without a lot of
hard work and talent. Camera settings, coloring software
and even lighting are not going to make a standard
bedroom look like that. Way too much of that look came
from production design. And it certainly didn't hurt to
have one of the best TV DP's in the business - Michael
Weaver on the show.
 
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that said, applying any of these techniques would IMPROVE the production value of a typical low\no budget affair. Practical lights for example are easy to get and would help with many indoor scenes that just look flat or uninteresting.. going tungsten does warm things up...

Say were not going for the EXACT look, but just wanted to get the "essence" of the shot... think cheap Chinese knock off handbags..
 
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wheatgrinder said:
great breakdown dudes.. that was fun..
Click to expand...

dready, david, and directorik did all the work. i was 2 busy being lazy :lol:

but this reminded of a film class i had years ago and in our final exam we had to analyse 3 frames from three different movies. and one of the frames was from the big lebowski. i think thats the only exam i ever had fun in and wrote more than others. usually in other classes i would be done a little too early and would be wondering how come everyone else had so much to say :D
maybe being sober in uni wouldve helped...
 
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hey, is it just me or do the two dark shapes at the edges(guys in suits) create a downward facing triangle that pulls my eye DOWN, and hence makes me feel preasure from above, like its a low ceiling., though I can see that its not.. crazy that..
 
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nice catch! all part of evaluating the mise en scene.

thats wat i love about some of the great directors. freeze framing any shot and staring at it will reveal so much purpose and technique behind even simple looking shots.

EDIT: now if only we had seen the show, we would be able to talk about the reason behind the position of the actors, the props and background representing what it does, the colors and how they relate to the themes of the show etc etc. This is like film class all over again. And the OP is getting a great free lesson.
 
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Thanks for the responses, guys. Yeah, I know set decoration has a lot to do with the look, but my concern was primarily the lighting, since that's kind of my Achilles' heel. David, thanks for that detailed breakdown of the lighting, very helpful. A few more questions: what should my lighting ratios be, and what lights should I use to simulate that lighting setup (keeping in mind I'm on a budget :P)?
 
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You're welcome. I'm not confident I am 100% accurate on that breakdown, but it should get you to something close. As far as ratio, dunno for certain but it seems fairly high-key for the space, with some nice contrast on the ladies faces. Most of the contrast in the screen cap seems to come from the PD and the blocking (large dark objects in foreground).

Specific light choice is partially dictated by your camera format, desired ISO, and target f-stop. I imagine you've lit for this camera before? That should give you a sense of how much heat to bring to get the light you need.


@Rik: That would be an awesome set to work, do you mind if I ask what they shoot that show with? I'm curious as the look seems pretty similar to an HDX-900 skewed a touch with a warm card. (been doing this on a show where I AC) I would think though they are playing with a bigger budget and not 2/3" format. OTOH, it is TV.
 
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