History of a Photographer
I’m Eli Black-Mizuta, occasionally seen here as a backup cameraman, behind-the-scenes photographer, and dead body.
I went to Night Zero’s first general recruitment meeting, and was amazed at the amount of work already done on the project. I remember making a vague offer to help at that point, but never really followed up on it. My first introduction to the Night Zero operation was as an extra. There was a call for anyone with a car to come to the shoot for the first scene of Episode 1. We made a traffic jam and played dead bodies… good times.
The amount of organization and energy on the set really impressed me. Being a photographer, I brought my Nikon D50 along and shot some behind-the-scenes pictures between takes, primarily with a Sigma 28mm f/1.8, which I had just gotten (and highly recommend).
At the next shoot (the one running this week), I was asked along specifically to act as a production assistant and behind the scenes photographer. It was in a classic downtown office, with great light from the windows. When there wasn’t much action going on I took advantage of the lighting to shoot some more artistic pictures. I think a couple of these even made it into the book. I had just picked up a Tokina 10-17mm fisheye lens, but again the bulk of the shots were done with primes - the Sigma 28mm f/1.8 and Nikon 50mm f/1.8.
By the time the basement scene rolled around, the Nikon D90 had been released, which I snapped up for its faster burst speed, bigger screen, and better capture resolution. In the cramped space, I did most of my shots with a Sigma 10-20mm f/4.5-5.6. including the wide shot of the room that was eventually used as the establishing shot for that scene.
In February, Forest took a shot at directing a scene, and needed a photographer to fill in for, well, himself. I haven’t done a lot of shooting on sets, so I jumped at the opportunity to do a full shoot as the primary photographer. It was a lot of work, but I was able to bring some technology and skills to to the table that I think helped the shoot go smoothly. I used a portable DVD player as a live monitor from the camera, allowing the director to direct without actually being behind the camera (which was impossible on overhead shots), and letting the cast see what we were looking at, which can be useful when trying to position people.
I was used to the battery in my D50 lasting a month between charges, and was surprised when I went through two batteries and a backup pack of AAs during the shoot. Apparently Live View takes a lot of battery power to maintain. The MB-D80, with its AA batty pack proved invaluable here, as I could just keep popping in disposable batteries. The next day I ordered two more batteries. Live and learn.
I got another chance to do primary photography a couple of weeks later, when we shot part of Claire’s flashback scene at Gasworks Park. The picture of downtown Seattle is a composite of eighteen photos, all shot on location. Five shots of the background (in HDR, so 3 exposures each) to get enough open water to remove all of the boats, and three for the foreground of Claire and Edge looking across the water. It’s hard to see, but I destroyed all of the boats in the harbor, and added some cracks and weathering to the buildings. It was shot with natural light, and a Nikon 70-300m f/4.5-5.6. The purpose of the telephoto lens was to compress the picture a little, and make the skyline seem closer. Here’s the uncropped version:
Working on Night Zero has been a fascinating experience. With luck I’ll be providing behind the scenes photos (and maybe some primary camera work) for some time to come. I might even write another blog post someday.
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