Securely in Security
As you can see, this next vignette is another character backstory piece, and a dark one at that. I’m very pleased with how it’s turning out, and I look forward to telling you all about it in the weeks to come—but first, some final reflections on the recently-ended episode four, “Insecurity”.
For many of reasons, the fourth episode was a paradigm shift for Night Zero, as a production and as a family. The technical challenges of the protest shoot I’ve already discussed on this blog, but it was more than just the impact of large-scale production. The scope of the protest shoot involved more than a year of planning and preparations, and the entire production team was heavily invested in its success. The timing of the shoot coincided with the end of production of episode three, so the event itself was a fitting “last hurrah” for five of Night Zero’s team members (including two from the very first days) before they moved on to their own projects.
Aside from two final shoots for episode three, the protest shoot marked the end of scheduled production and the transformation of energies to the proofing and development of Volume Three. Book productions are a wholly consuming task, and as 2009 turned to 2010 we found episode three finishing its online run and all we had of episode four was the protest shoot. No scripts, no sets, no shoots scheduled, and no writer, no director of photography, no assistant director, no production intern, no publicist. Night Zero was in a quagmire, without a map and running low on time.
In some considerations, vignettes are creative opportunities… chances to explore new situations and new characters without committing them to the full serial arc. In other considerations, vignettes are a highly efficient production tool that can create up to a month and a half of comic in a single day’s shoot. During a shoot for episode three we produced the “Special Delivery” vignette, so with another day’s shooting we would easily make it through the winter, buying some time to build back our strength and assemble a new team. Along came “Midnight” and onward we went.
Throughout this interim period Night Zero was most fortunate to have Justin, running double duty as production manager and assistant director, and Jana, whose combined acting and makeup roles were joined by all manner of UPM and PA work. Eli assumed more control on the camera end to cover the camera-side responsibilities that a DP would normally have, while Eric joined in as gaffer and covered the DP’s light-side. Chloe once again served as temporary assistant director while Phoebe learned up the ropes, and we even managed to bring some extra photographers and photo assistants around. And on the post-production end, with tremendous importance but little fanfare, we were blessed to be joined by Jen and her talented work on page layouts and design.
With new talent comes new insight, and with the turnover in staff we continued to improve our efficiency and quality of work throughout episode four. By the time we produced this newest vignette, (currently) titled “Devon”, we were back and running as smoothly as ever before. I look forward to the following vignettes and episode five, where all our new family members will be able to fully grow and flex their creative muscles.
It wasn’t until the final update of episode four, when the full credits were posted, that I realized how much our family had changed over the course of the production. Between the first and last shoots, nearly the entire production staff had turned over or shifted roles, yet the enthusiasm and energy remains strong as ever. All our retired members (whom I still often see) are doing well in their ongoing adventures (with decidedly more free time), and our new ones are just getting started. I can’t wait to see what this next year will bring, for all of us.