Archive for January, 2010

From a Single Shot

Posted: 29th January 2010 by Anthony van Winkle
Categories: "Special Delivery", On Location, Photography
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On shooting the “Special Delivery” vignette freehand, without the definitive ‘Night Zero’ HDR method

For the last two years, nothing has been more “Night Zero” than triple-exposure HDR, the very foundation that allows us to produce the surreal images that give Night Zero its unique look. With single-exposure shots, the low dynamic range lacks the information to calculate rendering such a look, and in the few instances where we’ve attempted to mix a single-exposure action shot with a page of multi-exposure HDR shots, the process is terribly time consuming and the result always muddy at best. High dynamic range means that the number of shades between the darkest black and the lightest light exceeds that which is physically visible at a single time, while low dynamic range has only a few shades between. From the same setup and procedure, a single exposure (after much fanangling) may be able to passably emulate part of the range of the HDR image, but the shadows will clip to black sooner and the highlights will blowout to white sooner, and the final image will be less colorful and more contrasting that its “true HDR” sibling. However, matching one single-exposure to dozens of HDR shots is different than shooting an entire story in single exposure.
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Delivering a New Kind of Night Zero

Posted: 22nd January 2010 by Anthony van Winkle
Categories: "Special Delivery", Concepts & Development, Photography
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On the artistic and logistic factors that together created a unique approach for the “Special Delivery” vignette

Like “Jezebel”, this vignette is based on a very simple premise (ten words or less) and designed to be shot bare and plain. At the same time, while “Jezebel” was built around heavy dialogue and a confined space, “Special Delivery” was built around no dialogue and a very open space.

“Special Delivery” was, more than anything else, an experiment in which our hard-developed production techniques were upended: our tried-and-true methods were abandoned in the pursuit of something new, and there were two major factors (one logistic and one artistic) that prompted this decision.
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Episode Three – Retrospective

Posted: 15th January 2010 by Anthony van Winkle
Categories: "Jezebel", "Sisters", Concepts & Development, Episode 3 - "House Calls", Events, On Location
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On Night Zero’s second full production year, 2009, and all that was learned and accomplished

My original design was to write a retrospective on the production of episode three, but as its conclusion coincides with the end of the year, it seems more appropriate to reflect here upon all that was Night Zero in 2009. I’ll try to avoid re-hashing too many of the specifics that I’ve already covered in posts throughout the year, and instead try and remain reflective of the experiences themselves… but no promises.

The year started right off with Jezebel, our first vignette, with three brand-new cast members and an ambitious shoot schedule. It was a learning experience about freezing temperatures, confined spaces, wonky costumes, and wow it was a blast. Even though episode two hadn’t begun online yet, we had already trumped the best of its shoots (thus far), and that’s really what would come to define the next twelve months. If 2008 was the year of “what the hell are we doing?”, then 2009 would be the year of “how can we do this better?”
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Act Three Exeunt

Posted: 8th January 2010 by Anthony van Winkle
Categories: Behind-the-Scenes Photos, Episode 3 - "House Calls", On Location
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On shooting the Skullhunters’ House segments for Episode Three

And so ends the third episode of Night Zero, and here’s how it tallies up:

  • 52 hours of shooting across 9 dates
  • 17 actors and 15 crew members combined
  • $9500 expended
  • 2,774 photos shot
  • 290 frames on 52 pages
  • 409 days from first draft to last page

Unlike our previous work on episodes one and two, wherein a single location provided the bulk of the content and repeated visits to that location were the majority of our shoots, episode three required a larger variety of locations and a longer list of shoots. Even though the number of pages spent at the skullhunters house is about the same as in the primary locations in each of the first two episodes, we didn’t have the time or the resources to keep returning to this location to shoot. We had to tackle everything here in one weekend, so that there would be time enough to scout and shoot the rest of the episode as well.
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Between the Lines

Posted: 1st January 2010 by Anthony van Winkle
Categories: Behind-the-Scenes Photos, Concepts & Development, Episode 3 - "House Calls"
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On transforming dialogue-heavy scripts to character-driven photocomics

During the course of Episode Three production I was often reminded of my experiences directing in theater, and one of the ways in which I found parallels between the two is in unwritten action. A stage script contains strictly the dialogue spoken by the characters and the essential (required) elements of stage directions. There are no instructions on how the characters carry themselves, or when they stand and move about the room, or even the mood and tone with which they deliver their lines. Everything is subject to the director’s vision and the actors’ interpretations, which is one of the reasons why a single show can be produced so many times and still be a different experience (for better or for worse). I don’t have as much experience on film, but I do know that (for the sake of storyboarding and cinematography) the stage directions are much more abundant and precise.

Through three episodes of Alexander’s scripts, the production team has gotten more comfortable with the logistics of shooting and can spend more and more of their energies focused on their particular unique tasks. Having story cards, the camera operator can spend less time worrying about what the angle is going to be and instead think about which lens and cropping to use. Having shot setup lists, the director of photography and gaffer can spend less time figuring out where the lights will need to be and instead work with more complex setups faster and more efficiently. And having an experienced team to handle all these aspects of the shoot and keep the production rolling, I can partially step out of the producer role and put my energies towards the finer aspects of directing. One such aspect that I’ve been pleased to explore (in episode three particularly) is the non-central action of the story– everything that happens that’s not in the script.
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