Journal Zero

As the publicist for Night Zero, I get the pleasure of introducing the book to many different people, and get to work with creators of podcasts, comic store owners, and editors and writers of various publications. It’s a blast to get to market a product that is so unique- not just a website, not just a comic book, not just photos, Night Zero: Volume One appeals to a wide range of people, and it’s been my job to find that audience and put the book in their hands.

Finding and advertising a product to an unknown audience is a difficult task, and I’ve gotten to be really creative with our marketing approaches, which has been a lot of fun. We’ve done various forms of online marketing, some guerilla and some more professional. I’ve also personally walked into all of the comic shops and bookstores that carry our book, Night Zero “Survivor Pack” slung over my shoulder.

We’ve received positive reviews in two different podcasts so far, and you can check out those episodes here:

The Webcomic Beacon

Seattle Geekly

We’ve also received positive feedback and support from a number of local comic and bookstores. If you would like to see Night Zero: Volume One in your favorite store, have the owner or manager email me (publicity at nightzero.com), and we’ll make sure we get some copies in there.

But one of my favorite marketing techniques is free stuff and branded merchandise. From the beginning, I knew I wanted us to get Night Zero shot glasses. The characters need alcohol to survive, so clearly it would be the perfect giveaway or trinket to sell! Thanks to my persistence, those of you who attended the launch party received a branded shotglass in the survivor pack. Those of you who missed out can purchase one at the Emerald City Comic-con. They’re big. And awesome. Another product I’ve been wanting to make for a while are Night Zero t-shirts. I specifically want one that says “Scratcher? I hardly know her!”, but I’m not sure how the rest of the production team feels about that design. If you’d be interested in a Night Zero t-shirt, send us an email, let us know. If you have an idea for a design for a Night Zero shirt- send it our way. If we use it, we’ll send you a couple of free shirts!

My focuses lately have been on two upcoming activities. The first is Emerald City Comic-con. Night Zero will be there both Saturday and Sunday, April 4 and 5. You can purchase your tickets at http://www.emeraldcitycomicon.com/tickets.php or at many of the comic shops that stock our book. We will have the coolest booth there, complete with free gore makeup and a chance to get your own HDR photo taken!

The second activity is a bit more on-going. Night Zero is currently looking to recruit a Marketing Intern. This intern will be in charge of a Night Zero street team, as well as other marketing projects that he/she and I see fit. If you are a college student who would be interested in earning some credits by working with the Night Zero team, send your resume to publicity at nightzero.com. We’ve already had some interested students apply, so get the resumes in quickly if you would like to be considered!

Overall, I’m excited to get to market a product that I enjoy so much, and hope that you enjoy it as well. Be on the lookout for some new marketing campaigns in the future- we’ve got some great stuff planned!

Episode Two is titled “Quarantine” for no subtle reason, and it was a blast producing this segment with everyone’s new favorite sleaze, Claude. He’s a fun character to work with, primarily because it’s our first chance to put Marion out of her element and change her stakes in the game. She can’t always be in control, although sometimes she still manages to get the upper hand…

The quarantine room is a rehearsal space in the Seattle Center run by the organization Theater Puget Sound, and it’s perfect for that gritty texture I wrote about last week. At casual glance it seems a fairly clean, though well-used facility, but throw it through tonemapping and every dirt stain appears, every crack deepens, and every scratch sharpens. Seeing the results of these photos led to more conscious selection of our future shoot locations: given a choice between similar options, we had new eyes to see how tonemapping could affect the atmosphere of the space.

This scene was the first shoot of Episode Two, and in addition to marking that obvious step forward, it also had two symbolic “firsts” for the Night Zero team. It was our first time using the three-point light kit, which gave us more control over our work, and it was our first shoot on a hired location, which was much easier to schedule and more efficient to shoot. Night Zero was moving up, past the hobby phase and now past the amateur endeavor into being a full-fledged production company. We even had fashionable “CREW” tees for the team to wear, earning the treasured title “redshirts.”

Shooting with a light kit requires a different approach to the shoot schedule, which complicates things for the talent as well as the production team. In practical lighting we would shoot sequentially, skipping forward when we had similar shots or as various cast members took breaks. But actors are easy to move and lights are hard, so a lit scene is shot based on lighting configurations. For the Claude sequence we were less prepared than we thought, and lost quite a bit of time with constant light changes, but it educated us on how to better work pre-production for our later shoots.

The updates were a little wonky this week due to international travel, but everything should be smooth sailing from now on. Don’t forget to grab your tickets to the Emerald City ComiCon that’s coming up, and if you haven’t yet picked up your copy of Night Zero: Volume One, now’s a great time. Stay safe from scratchers, and here are your photos.

Thus begins production of Episode Two

Bigger shoots require bigger guns

What a difference three lights make

Forest does a last check of his shots

Justin reviews his lines

Getting the talent into position

We're professionals. Don't try this at home.

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