What We Do in the Shadows has captivated audiences with its unique blend of dark humour and documentary-style filmmaking, offering a fresh take on life as a vampire. A critical component of the show’s success has been the close and consistent collaboration between the filmmakers and Light Iron senior colourist Ethan Schwartz, whose meticulous colour grading has played a significant role in realising its visual identity.
Ethan Schwartz
The Emmy-nominated episode ’Pride Parade’ stands out for its vibrant depiction of a pride parade, presenting a sharp contrast to the show’s typically dark and moody aesthetic. A significant challenge for Schwartz was the scene where Nandor flies into outer space. This sequence required a seamless transition from grounded, earthy scenes to the vastness of space, each demanding distinct colour treatments. Schwartz worked with the filmmakers to maintain the show’s established dark palette while brightening the colours for the space scenes, and ensure that the sequence’s GoPro footage, shot from two different angles, was precisely colour-matched to achieve visual continuity.
Season 2 introduced coloured lighting, adding another layer to Schwartz’s colour grading process. The new lighting elements, like blue uplights and green downlights in the vampires’ house, helped add depth and accentuate the environment. Each season, Schwartz carefully adjusted hues and saturation to integrate the new lighting elements seamlessly, ensuring that vibrant colours did not disrupt the show’s consistent visual style. By Season 5, he and his collaborators were dialled-in visually, with only minor tweaks needed for new locations.
Schwartz has used masking and tracking to manage dynamic scenes and frequent camera movements, especially with the addition of coloured lighting. He masked out specific areas, such as actors’ faces and key features, to maintain consistent colour and brightness, which was essential for preserving the comedic tone of the show. Although the series often has a dark visual style, ensuring that the actors’ faces and expressions remain clear is vital for conveying the humour. This involved feathering masks to create smooth transitions and a natural look, despite the fast-paced and often chaotic documentary-style filming.
The ’Pride Parade’ episode required the filmmakers to manage multiple storylines and emotional themes within a single episode. The vibrant parade scenes needed to blend with the show’s darker elements, demanding precise colour grading to ensure a cohesive visual experience. Schwartz’s careful blending and adjustments within Baselight allowed him to balance the bright, festive colours of the parade with the subdued tones of the surrounding scenes, supporting the engaging visuals.
Close collaboration with the show’s cinematographers, including DP DJ Stipsen, and showrunner Paul Simms has been vital to Schwartz’s work. The ongoing dialogue with the DPs and other filmmakers ensured Schwartz’s approach aligned with the evolving visual elements of each season. For instance, the consistent look of the vampire house, despite changes in lighting and colour, reflects the collaborative effort to preserve the show’s visual coherence. Schwartz’s ability to adapt to new techniques while maintaining this consistency underscores the importance of the collaboration in achieving a unified visual style.
The production of What We Do in the Shadows Season 5 showcased the intricate balance between creative vision and technical precision. From the footage crafted on set through the fine-tuning that happened in the colour suite, every element contributed to crafting a visually striking continuation of this inventive series.
