Glenn Gordon Caron Goes for an Unglamorous Look in Psychic Show Medium
Writer-director-producer Glenn Gordon Caron has always had the gift of being able to look into the minds of America’s TV audience and know exactly what they’re thinking and what they want. Now, the man behind such hit shows as Moonlighting and Remington Steele has peered into his crystal ball and come up with another winner – Medium.
Starring Patricia Arquette as a suburban mom whose ability to contact the dead allows her to solve crimes that have stumped the police, the NBC show has "a look you might not expect, given the subject matter," says Caron who wrote and directed the first episode. "I wanted a very unsensational, unglamorous look – no shimmering waves of light when ghosts appear and no obvious special effects, just a sense that it’s all very real."
Caron says that he was also "very influenced" by the look of the acclaimed Mexican film Amores Perros (shot by Rodrigo Prieto). "It was completely handheld and had exactly that sense of immediacy and reality I wanted," he notes.
So when Caron and longtime DP Ken Kelsch hammered out a shooting style and plan, they went with "a single camera, no long lenses, and the whole thing shot handheld, with a natural palette," he reports. "That way we got that very real, messy look, with kids wandering in and out of shot. And all that vibrant life is necessary to balance this woman whose mind is so in touch with death all the time."
Caron and Kelsch, who’ve worked together since 1997, shot in 35mm and the show is broadcast in HD. "It was the first TV show I’ve ever done in HD and in 16×9, the wide screen HD format," he adds. "I’ve shot that aspect ratio in film, but never TV, and it was a lot of fun."
Caron edited the show with Tim Squyres (Gosford Park) and the initial mix was done at Sound One in New York. "Tim’s brilliant and he’s cut most of Ang Lee’s films, so he’s very experienced," notes Caron who as executive producer oversees every show. "We have different directors every week, but as it’s always the same DP and editor, that gives it a continuity that’s important. I want to maintain the same style and look we started with."
Categories: Creativity, Project/Case study, Shooting
