Journal Zero

If the updates these past few days have seemed later than usual, and the blogs less punctual, it’s not in your head. The whole of the Night Zero team has been working around the clock on the Emerald City Comicon, which took place at the Washington State Convention Center last weekend. It was Night Zero’s first convention, and it was a roaring good time.

At the primary Night Zero booth, we set a post-apocalyptic stage of chain-link fencing and barbed wire, decorated with photos of the comic, behind the scenes shots, and enough (prop) guns to fit a small army. Behind the table, where copies of Volume One were on display, we hosted a photo booth where attendees could get free HDR photos throughout the show. Across the convention hall, our makeup artists were goring it up for the guests, providing free gashes, scars, and all-out-undeadness to zombie fans young and old.

In case the stress of putting the show together wasn’t enough, this last week faced us with the task of compositing and tonemapping the seven hundred photos shot over those two days (as a point of reference, the entirety of Episode One is 167 photos). From stormtroopers to Watchmen, Wolverine to a Power Ranger, grandparents and babies and everything in between, the guests at the photo booth were an incredible bunch, and a pleasure to work with.

TARA MILLER - PUBLICITY & MARKETING DIRECTOR

“As my first comic-con, ECCC was magical. I learned that small children and storm troopers all enjoy holding prop guns. I met characters that I didn’t know existed. I judged a costume contest. I got Suicide Girls to take a photo at our booth and exchange information with us. And most importantly, I got to tell a whole lot of people about Night Zero. Our voices were raspy by the end of Sunday, but we had a great time letting people know about our graphic novel, and hearing some wonderful comments on our work. I had a lot of networking and collaboration offers, most of which we will be partaking in. If you were at comic-con and would like to be considered as a cast member for our comic, or have an event in the Seattle area you’d love to have us at, send me an email at publicity at nightzero.com!”

FOREST GIBSON - DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

“Comic Con was the first time I have ever completely lost my voice. I hate meeting a ton of new and great people when I am unable to talk or have some other afliction like when I smell horible after getting back from a camping trip or being a little too drunk after a party and not expecting there to be people over at your house.

Seeing so many people in costumes and taking pictures of them in HDR gave me some more ideas for some possible Night Zero side photoshoots. I am not personally a huge fan of cosplaying but I am always surprised and impressed by the effort that goes into many of the costumes. It was great asking folks what their costumes were made out of and finding out about the common household items that have been repurposed.”

JANA HEALY - MAKEUP HEAD

“When charged with the task of applying gore makeup effects to as many people as wanted them during the 15 hours of ECCC, I’d originally thought of pre-making latex scars, but with fairly common latex allergies to contend with, I decided to bring the arsenal of makeup we’ve accumulated over the course of many bloody Night Zero shoots and just wing it. I’m most certainly glad I did, as the great fun in the weekend was allowing people to sit in the chair and tell me what they felt they wanted. I was very grateful to have the assistance of Fern, who’d only dabbled in makeup previously. He was a quick study and created some amazing effects in his own style. We did everything from old battle wounds to fresh gashes to full-out zombies, and the attendees were wonderful and very enthusiastic. I really enjoyed when folks had specific ideas, but also appreciated those that just said, “go for it”.

No formal count was made, but we estimate (based on the number of gloves we went through) we applied gore to over 150 folks (maybe more?). It was a great experience and we’ve been hearing back many funny stories of reactions when people left the convention center. Multiple people were offered medical help…one even encountered a police officer that tried calling an ambulance. That’s high praise indeed for the gore makeup geek that I am. We didn’t think to take many pictures of our own, but I hope that people will eventually send in their own, along with stories of their time in their bloodied states. Email pictures!!!”

Many thanks to everyone who visited our booth and made our first comicon a success. Below are some shots of the convention in action, followed by a few of my favorite photo booth guests. For the complete set of galleries from the convention, head over to our Flickr gallery of ECCC.

Night Zero creators, ready for the crowd

Alexander handles the guns while Sidney handles the swag

Forest and Kelly explain HDR photography

Fern prepares to wound Chris Redfield

Ben Andrews, aka Yevgeniy, stops by for a visit

The Suicide Girls stop by for a photo and some gunplay

The Photo Booth Crew

Last month the Night Zero team took some time away from the zombie photographic comic book (check it out if you haven’t yet, here’s the first page!)–and produced a special homage to a new zombie video game, “Left 4 Dead“. Produced by the incredible team at Valve, the folks responsible for Half-Life, Counterstrike, Team Fortress, and Portal, this newest team-based shooter pits four survivors against hordes of the undead, in what is possibly the most brilliant execution of a zombie apocalypse game to date.

Unlike most modern games, where players can create their characters from a wide range of bodies, clothings, faces, and personalities, in Left 4 Dead there are only (and always the same) four survivors. This unusual design choice creates a unique play experience, as all players around the world become intimately familiar with these four characters—their voices, their mannerisms, they way they laugh and they way they panic. By forcing the millions of gamers to live as these four survivors, Valve has created a set of universal heroes, instantly recognizable to anyone who’s sat down with Left 4 Dead. Heroes that the team of Night Zero would sit down with as well, in our own special way.

Thanks to the wide networks of the Night Zero production team, getting a cast together that resembled the four characters was challenging but successful. Each of the survivors is very idiosyncratic and different, but none is beyond the everyday person, so pulling together costumes and props was no more difficult than any other Night Zero shoot. For a location with a range of backdrops and settings, we returned to the warehouse where the middle of Episode One was shot, and to match the game’s selection, we pulled together all the weaponry we could get our hands on.

If you’re not familiar with Left 4 Dead, I encourage you to first watch the opening cinematic, a delightful zombie flick in its own right, and a flawless introduction to every character and game element that makes Left 4 Dead so wonderful. Then, click on the image below to visit the Flickr gallery with our first batch of “fan art” photos.

These ten photos are just the first round, so keep your eyes out for another set in the next few weeks. Of course, this wouldn’t be a proper blog post without some behind the scenes photos, and boy have we got some great ones. Enjoy!

The greenroom, where guns and zombies and snacks collide

Francis getting psyched up

The witch getting her nails done

Zoey and Bill meet the witch

See how the hunter flies through the air...

...with a little help from the crew.

Even zombies need to a shoulder to lean on.

Startling the witch

Heading to the roof, where a safe room is being setup

Forest and Eli frame the shot

Like our stuff? Be sure to check out our post-apocalyptic zombie comic, done in the same style!

UPDATE: More behind-the-scenes info and photos are available on our second Left 5 Dead blog post.