Archive for the ‘“Sorority”’ Category

Lessons on Lighting for HDR Photography

Posted: 6th January 2012 by Anthony van Winkle
Categories: "Sorority", Behind-the-Scenes Photos, Digital Production, Photography
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On the discoveries of how to light for HDR photography, and how the standard choices for film and theater create a lot of work for the post-production workflow.

As Syndicate moves towards its conclusion next week, I hope you’re enjoying not only the story but the soft beauty of the photography we present here. Photography is kind of our thing, our schtick if you will, but you’d be surprised how much we’re still discovering about how to do it well. Most of our team comes from theater and film backgrounds, where the rules and results of stage picture, presentation, and lighting are completely different. Theater light focuses on hitting the actors where they are and toning down everything else, counting on the audience’s eyes to adjust according to the changing overall light levels; film light focuses on contrast and multiple sources, each of varying brightness to make the actors “pop” on camera.

When lighting for HDR, the biggest factors are not how bright or dark the scene is overall (gamma), but how wide of a range there is between the brightest part (white point) and darkest part (black point), how many different measurements of brightness are between them (levels), how these levels are distributed (luminosity), and how smoothly or dramatically the levels transition between one another (contrast). Earlier I lamented shooting in and near direct sunlight for exactly this reason, but for shoots like Syndicate we’re in the opposite situation and it’s simply stunning.
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the Sisterhood

Posted: 14th October 2011 by Anthony van Winkle
Categories: "Sorority", Behind-the-Scenes Photos
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On choosing the name “Sorority” for Lucy’s vignette, by way of discovering the message of her story and its place in the Night Zero universe

For a long time, this vignette had no name because we weren’t really sure what it was going to be. We knew the story, we knew the characters, but didn’t know what the message was, what it was teaching us about the world of Night Zero. In the beginning it was just called the Lucy vignette, and when we named Lucy’s sister it became the Lucy/Dee vignette. Based on their relationship, the only other name that really seemed to fit was “Sisters”, but we already had a great vignette by that name.

Another thing that was undecided about the vignette was the ending. We knew where act two began (with Lucy and Jill meeting) and we knew where they ended up (a pair of messengers), but when and how their first meeting would end was unknown. It seemed fitting to have a scratcher encounter with the two of them, so at least that much was assumed in every version. The number of scratchers would be more of a practical matter, depending on what our location was, how well-armed the two would be to fight them, and how many extras we’d be able to cast on whatever day we shot.
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Sorority Production: Day Two

Posted: 7th October 2011 by Anthony van Winkle
Categories: "Sorority", Behind-the-Scenes Photos, On Location
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On the production of Sorority’s second act, and the challenges faced in the peculiar location where it was shot.

The day of shooting for part two of ‘Sorority’ came three weeks after we shot part one, and it was (in different ways) both easier and more complex. Like part one, we were shooting in a single contained location but still moving freely down hallways, although unlike part one, for part two we’d be shooting the contained portion first and the freehand portion second.

On the more favorable, simpler side, the action was more straight-forward and the lighting less dramatic, so the shots were more forgiving and easier to balance. It was also not the first full-day shoot for the principals, so they were more comfortable working with Night Zero’s unique production process. On the less favorable, more complex side, the location was more than willing to provide some troubles.

Our biggest concern going in, and one reason why we were hesitant to accept the location at first, was that the condominium basement storage area had no outlets. The nearest power source, aside from the moody incandescent lights, was a circuit powering some vending machines around the stairs and one floor up. More crucially, we would not have access to the breaker box, so if we accidentally overloaded the circuit and it tripped, we’d be stuck in the dark and have to cancel the rest of the shoot.
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To Reveal or Not to Reveal

Posted: 30th September 2011 by Anthony van Winkle
Categories: "Sorority", Behind-the-Scenes Photos, Concepts & Development
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On the developmental question whether to include Jill in the ‘Sorority’ vignette, how much of her story to reveal, and what that meant for Jack.

As a writer and a consumer, I really like mysteries. I like the large unknowns with only hints and allusions, I like the unanswered “what happens next” more than a perfectly-wrapped package, and I don’t think it’s much of a secret that this type of storytelling is a big influence in Night Zero. Right in our first vignette ‘Jezebel‘ I went for the ending of ambiguous fates, rather than pegging down where Jezebel went, whether Tracey followed or stayed behind, and whether Clint died, turned, or survived. The entire backstory of ‘Special Delivery‘ remains a secret, as do Jezebel’s motivations in ‘Devon‘ and the fate of Tom and Sadie from ‘The Things You Take‘.

It was with this same desire for non-closure that I put together the ending of ‘Inertia‘, where Jill and Jack take their chances out in the world while Richard and Elisabeth remain in their room and await rescue or death. In a perfect fictional world, that would be the absolute end, but I already knew deep down that Jill would become one of the primary messengers in Episode Six, so it never was an air-tight ambiguity. That said, though, I thought leaving the time between ‘Inertia’ and Episode Six a mystery would be suitable, letting the reader wonder what happened to the two of them, how Jill ended up with the messengers, and whether Jack is still alive.
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Dramatic Character Changes

Posted: 23rd September 2011 by Anthony van Winkle
Categories: "Sorority", Concepts & Development
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On the reintroduction and transformation of Jill from the ‘Inertia’ vignette to ‘Sorority’, and the unexpected surprises along the way.

In every fiction serial, especially those in visual media, one of the great creative freedoms comes from the opportunity to show existing characters in dramatically changed roles. From alternate-timelines like Fringe and Buffy, to space/time-leaps as seen in Heroes and Battlestar Galactica, and all the hundreds of alternate/non-canon comic book lines, there are few things as rewarding to the long-time fan as the complete displacement of a character (or characters) into a new environment, a new perspective, and a new aesthetic.

With Night Zero’s non-linear vignette style, we’ve done a number of time-jumps with our characters with varying changes (but no parallel universes or time travellers… yet). The ‘Sisters‘ vignette placed the Nazarovs back in time but without much noticable shift in personalities, mainly because not much of their personalities had been revealed in the serial to that point. Yevgeniy’s appearance at the end of that story was a fun change in appearance, but his real character change was in the vignette ‘Devon‘, which looked at him as a fresher, more rambunctious leader. And of course there’s the character of Jezebel, who changes dramatically at every turn and yet still remains ever the same.
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The Relay Vignette

Posted: 9th September 2011 by Anthony van Winkle
Categories: "Sorority", Behind-the-Scenes Photos, Concepts & Development
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On the origin of the hallway chase sequence, a shelved vignette known only as the ‘relay vignette’, and how its transplant into ‘Sorority’ led to some interesting decisions.

The hallway action sequence that separates the two acts of ‘Sorority’ is a piece that I’m very proud to have included, for a brief but action-filled interstitial. The sequence itself is more than a year old, and was initally developed as the third act in a story that never got so far as a real name, only a working description: the relay vignette.

The relay vignette was a sequence of three separate scenes, hitting on three separate factions of post-apocalyptic Seattle and underscoring how, despite their differences (differences which are fully explored and understood in the serial), each faction can be brought to work together given the right motivation. Additionally, it was intended to be an action-heavy piece, developed during production of the action-light Episode Five, as a way to continue challenging ourselves and keeping things fresh.
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