Picture Shop’s Shane Harris worked closely with director Lee Toland Krieger and cinematographer Gavin Struthers, ASC, for the CW’s new take on the Man of Steel.
“Superman & Lois” brings a fresh perspective to the story of the iconic comic book superhero and journalist. The show follows the Man of Steel aka Clark Kent and famed journalist Lois Lane as they face one of their greatest challenges yet -- being working parents in today's society. Complicating the already daunting job of raising two boys, Clark and Lois worry if their sons, Jonathan and Jordan, could inherit their father's Kryptonian superpowers as they grow older. Picture Shop Senior Colorist Shane Harris re-teamed with director Lee Toland Krieger, with who he has collaborated with on his previous five projects, and worked closely with cinematographer Gavin Struthers, ASC, to handle the color.During principal photography in Vancouver, BC, Struthers shot on the RED MONSTRO 8k, which delivered the desired look and was compatible with the rare, hand-made Crystal Express Anamorphic lenses he used. Dailies Colorist Frank Robinson handled the dailies out of Finale in Vancouver. Struthers worked remotely with Harris for the color finishing sessions. Picture Shop teams, including Editor Richard Wells, allowed for a seamless post-production process between London, where Struthers was working on a new project, and Burbank.Based out of The Farm in London, Struthers utilized a set-up of two Sony X300’s to view Harris’s color on one monitor while referencing his own images on the other. Toland and Struthers’ vision for the look of the show was filmic with a touch of retro-style. While working with Harris they referenced several of David Fincher’s classic films including “Zodiac” and “The Game.” Additionally, they tapped into the rich history of the Superman franchise by referencing Richard Donner’s original 1978 “Superman: The Movie” and the look of the famous suit worn by Christopher Reeve in the film.“It was great to work with Lee again, and Gavin for the first time. They had an awesome vision for the look of the show. Gavin and I were able to get into sync quickly thanks to the teams at Picture Shop and The Farm... I gave a lot of the exterior images a tobacco-look because the setting’s in Kansas. And for the fight scenes I used blue-green and cyan, capturing the cooler feel of outer space where they mostly take place,” describes Harris.Harris worked on the DaVinci Resolve. For several of the VFX shots, he added grain and used windows on the top and bottom of the image and add a slight de-focus to emulate the fall-off that’s characteristic of anamorphic lenses. This achieved a seamless look between what was shot in-camera and what was a full visual effect shot.Watch “Superman & Lois” on the CW and for more information visit, www.cwtv.com.Picture Shop, The Farm, and Finale are Streamland Media companies.