Journal Zero

And so the truth comes out… or does it?

It’s a challenge to pace out episodes that are both comic books and web comics, with some sequences working naturally more in one realm than the other and other sequences falling slightly flat by splitting the difference. Part of our growth as we move from the pilot episode to the grand conclusion is toying with these balances, and at this point in episode three we can begin to judge how we’re doing.

The first episode followed a highly linear structure, focusing entirely on a single plotline (with the exception of a few brief flashback sequences). The second episode pulled back a bit, following a primary plotline but peppered with a couple of bounces out to other scenes in other places. Here in episode three, we’re advancing that trend even further by having a “primary” plotline threaded throughout the episode. This “Claire” storyline occupies about half of the episode’s pagecount, and the other half is covered by the various stand-alone scenes. In episode four, the focus will shift again when we follow two different plotlines threaded back and forth between one another. Episodes five and six also have unique balances in the works, but I don’t want to give too much away.

While the secondary scenes throughout “House Calls” fill in the plot advancement and setup for what’s next, the Claire/Edge storyline is our character-development and relationship-building time. The shoots to produce these sequences were the first time Tamara and Christian were on camera together, while their characters were supposed to be operating with an established (albeit brief) history.

To help keep the shoot focused and give the cast a better understanding of the scene, I held Night Zero’s first stand-alone rehearsal during the pre-production phase. We took a nice Sunday afternoon at a rehearsal space on UW campus and set to work discovering how these two reluctant heroes would come together.

I’m an improviser by trade, so my natural beginning with this development was to engage both actors in a (legitimate) getting-to-know-you set of routines. Open scenes, smalltalk, telling one another stories from childhood, all under the umbrella of “breaking the ice” but simultaneously sowing the history of their characters. It’s reasonable to figure that when Claire and Edge first met, they passed the time with uncomfortable smalltalk and stories about how life used to be, so why not get a sense of their natural chemistry by engaging the actors in the same way?

They were asked to tell a funny story, a sad story, and a scary story about things that had happened to them, and as their emotions grew, I could see the faces of Edge and Claire as they recounted happy times before Night Zero, losses of family and friends during the chaos, and tales of fighting the infected in the months since. By their own communication and bonding, Christian and Tamara were organically bringing the scene to life before a single page of script had been touched.

It might have seemed odd to consider rehearsing for a comic book, but having suffered nearly a decade of “why do you have rehearsal if improvisers are supposed to make it up?”, I planned and scheduled a Night Zero rehearsal without a second thought. The shoot schedule for the skullhunters’ house was going to be rigorous enough already, and having the actors comfortable with their actions, their expressions, and their relationship would go a long way to not only getting the most authentic images possible, but doing so in a smooth and swift manner. Rehearsal proceeded as most all rehearsals do, beginning with a reading of the lines, advancing to a basic (on-the-fly) walk-through with scripted actions and movement, and arriving at a fluid, multi-layered interaction of dialogue, scripted action, and nuanced behavior. We were taking notes and snapping photos all the while, so when it came time to shoot, we had their actions and facial expressions ready for reference.