Journal Zero

As anticipated, last weekend’s shoot was snowed out. We’ve rescheduled for this weekend, and will be fast-tracking through post-production to maintain our ambitious schedule. Concurrent to this vignette production, we’re prepping for the final few shots needed to wrap up Episode Two, scouting locations for Episode Three (which features eight unique locations), and running our final rounds of proofreading for the book. Make no mistake, the Night Zero team is a busy, busy bunch.

I often speak of how Night Zero was formed as a combination of various, disparate influences. The influence that was major in jump-starting the project, but that’s been difficult to synchronize with the rest of the work, is the notion of ‘film noir.’ I love classic noir, both in film and fiction, and wanted my zombie comic book to play in that dark, ambiguous world. The pilot episode played a lot of strengths in this arena: heavy shadows, dark characters, cold narration.

It became more difficult in producing Episode One, when we shot in more vibrant environments with more colorful settings. The function of HDR is to minimize shadowing and even out depth, while the defining feature of noir is heavy shadowing and stark contrasts. For a long while, it was a constant battle trying to define the Night Zero look. We couldn’t make progress on the comic until we had a consistent style, but the struggle between tonemapping and noir was crippling.

What ultimately got us through was the unrelated trouble we were having with our desire to publish. As I’ve mentioned in the past, early on we learned that the visual quality of Night Zero on the computer screen is nothing compared to having it in print, and Forest and I were long deliberating how we could produce it in print at a reasonable price and a high value. The standard comic approach of releasing serial episodes (the classic “comic book” issue) was never going to work, not with the print quality and affordable price we were demanding. It came down to the decision to create books– larger volumes of Night Zero stories, including episodes of the serial comic, plus commentaries, short stories, vignettes, and other bits. By producing fewer, larger volumes, we could bring down the cost and provide more quality content to our fans.

In this decision, a new light came on– if we were to be producing vignettes and short stories parallel to the serial comic story, then I could have my cake and eat it too. The serial comic would be free to shake off the noir and run as a full, bright, colorful comic book, and I could use the vignettes and short stories to get my film noir fix. We then locked down the serial comic look and moved forward with a fresh energy.

Comparing the preview photos from Episode Two to the majority of Episode One, you can see that we’re getting a bit darker overall. Particularly that lowest frame, we’ve started playing with shadows and high-contrast again, but here we are using it as a visual device rather than a standard. Episode Three, which is even darker in tone, will have more shadows and darkness than Episode Two. Episode Four? Well, we’ll just have to wait and see.

One of the advantages of having an incredible photographer doing behind-the-scenes photos is that you get some amazing shots. More than just smiles and waves, the photos that Eli captures on location often inspire us to revise our framing and explore more angles and lighting. Today, while on the topic of shadows and darkness, I’d like to share some of my favorite of his behind-the-scenes shots that play with light composition. Most of these are from Episode Two, like a gift from the ghost of Christmas-yet-to-be.

This four page short story is an example of the broad artistic range that Night Zero is able to utilize. In the post-apocalypse, everybody’s got a story, from the highest leaders of the land to the lowest deviants that prowl the night. There are stories of life in the aftermath, chaos in the collapse of society, and dreams of days past, before it all turned to hell. We hope you enjoy these variations on the theme, and look forward to joining back up with Marion, Claire, and that whole saga in late January.

This has been a busy, busy production week for the Night Zero team. The scheduled vignette shoot for last weekend was cancelled due to severe temperatures. A replacement shoot has been scheduled for this weekend, and moved to an indoor location, but icy roads and continued low temperatures could bring this shoot to a halt as well. This past Tuesday we shot 8:00am to 6:30pm and completed an ambitious schedule, wrapping up the major shooting for Episode Two. The hardest part about it is now having these gorgeous and exciting photos that won’t be part of the story for another three or four months.

A challenging task in the pre-production process is location scouting and securing. On the one hand, we do have a number of advantages over film productions including that we can shoot in loud locations, we can work in short bursts, and that we can more easily stitch non-contiguous locations. On the other hand, HDR requires its own special conditions– we need to be able to secure the camera (no boats, no rafts, no trees), the actors need to be able to hold (no realtime action, no extreme cold), and we need a disproportionate amount of time to produce each segment.

Our possible locations are broken down into four major groups: personal, private, commercial, and public, and each has its own process for use. Personal locations are the easiest: these are locations directly owned and accessible by someone in the Night Zero family. Typically homes, yards, and apartments fall into this category, but offices and commercial buildings can as well. These require little coordination and are the most casual shoots.

Private locations are spaces owned and accessible to a person or business that is not part of the Night Zero family, but willing to allow use of their space. Typically, a location is scouted during an area sweep, or suggested by a crew member based on their own knowledge of it. If the location is directly related to a business or residence, we can send a permission request to their address. If it is not known, a check with the King County Assessors Office will reveal who owns the property, and we can then begin the request process. How it goes from there varies wildy from situation to situation– some people and businesses are more than happy to let us in with free reign, others won’t even give the time of day. For every location we always keep at least two backups on hand, because we never know what to expect.

The University of Washington is the largest private space we use, which requires coordination with the head communications director, the police department (for our weapons), and the head of the appropriate education department (in class halls) or facility (in student housing & common areas). The process begins with a proposal sent forth by Kelly, the Assistant Director, covering the times, areas, logistics, and special needs of the shoot. After discussions and clarifications with the head of communications and media director, we sign the paperwork that allows us to shoot, and we’re good to go. In the past year, this process has been friendly and fantastic, and we have the utmost respect and admiration for the entire coordinating staff at the university.

Commercial locations are about as easy to produce in as personal locations, except they can be more difficult to secure. A commercial location is any space that is made available as part of a business or service– hotel rooms, ballrooms, bars, and clubs fit in to this category. A large section of Episode Two was shot in one such commercial room, provided by a local theater group that rents rehearsal spaces for all manner of art projects. Once in the space, it’s a comfortable and convenient shooting location, but scheduling the cast & crew around when the space is available can be difficult, and overtime has to be planned for and reserved in advance.

Public locations are the most prevalent and necessary for establishment, and are generally easy to get. Sidewalks, streets, parks, alleys, underpasses, and other non-committed lands are considered public property, and are coordinated through the Seattle Mayor’s Office of Film + Music. When we have a location in mind, with shoot dates and logistics, we draft a detailed proposal of the shoot, including the number of cast and crew, the exact locations of the scenes, equipment, and vehicles, and a summary of the action that will be taking place, and send the complete package to the director of film projects for review. Within a week, a film permit is returned to us, at a very low price, and including any requests or requirements made by the police, fire department, or department of transportation. If any businesses or residences are within or bordering the shooting area, flyers of advance notice are delivered three days in advance, with contact information for questions.

The pilot and first episode were shot primarily on personal locations and UW property, to keep it simple. Episode two features more commercial locations, and episode three will feature a slew of private, commercial, and public spaces. What you’ve seen so far is just us getting our feet wet. I can’t wait to show you what comes next.

But oh, the places we’ve been…

Pilot Shoot - University Bridge

Pilot Shoot - Wall of Death

Pilot Shoot - Burke Gilman Trail

Episode One - Katrina's Place

Episode One - UW Courts

Episode One - Public Alley in Ballard

Episode One - Industrial Ballard

Episode One - UW Parking Lot

Episode One - UW Parking Annex

Episodes One & Two - Downtown Seattle

Episode Two - Downtown Seattle

Episode Two - Seattle Center

Episode Two - Theater Puget Sound

Episode Two - Coming Soon...