Archive for the ‘“Syndicate”’ Category

A Syndicated Location

Posted: 13th January 2012 by Anthony van Winkle
Categories: "Syndicate", Behind-the-Scenes Photos, On Location
0

On the day of the shoot for the Syndicate vignette, and how all the pieces came together to create this final origin story.

The shoot for Syndicate was a long and busy Saturday, tucked in the basement lounge of the Rendezvous bar in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood. Crew call was our standard 9:00am arrival, with Jana setting up her makeup station while Eric, Justin, and Jason loaded in the light gear. The shooting area was divided into two halves, with the script moving from one to the other and then back again. Our first setup would be the “middle act” in the far room, so all our gear was staged in the near room and we set to work making the space our own. Fortunately there wasn’t too much we needed to alter to create the scene we wanted—we put out a table, pushed some chairs to the side, and took some signs off the wall; but overall, the look we were going for was already there.

To avoid a huge rush of costume and makeup demands at the same time, the cast call was staggered and as our talent arrived and got ready, we began shooting some of the closeups and two-person shots. By 11:30am the whole group was there, and we did our wide shots and group conversation. Wide shots can be tricky in a place like that, not because of the distance of the walls (we have wide lenses to take care of that), but because with low ceilings all of the lighting gear and electric becomes visible. It’s possible to crop the photos to remove the lights, or digitally remove the stands and gear, but as I’ve lamented many times in the past, just having the light visible on camera really screws up the HDR tonemapping process. But we shoot on location, and that’s just part of the price we pay.

Read the rest of this entry »

Holidays with the Syndicate

Posted: 30th December 2011 by Anthony van Winkle
Categories: "Syndicate", Concepts & Development
0

On the storytelling value of two post-apocalyptic factions, and why the Syndicate is so much fun to produce.

The holiday season is upon us, so in customary webcomic fashion Night Zero is taking one day off each week and wishing the best for you and yours in the new year. Our production schedule is winding down to make time for our next book release, due out in March for the fourth consecutive year. More details to come!

In the meantime, though, “Syndicate” works its way onward, with two weeks left in its run. Although brief, it’s a vignette I’m quite pleased with, particularly as a final “originette” backstory piece. The relationship between the Syndicate and the New City is one of the oldest elements of Night Zero lore, and today I’d like to talk about playing with the power balance and how writing factions into the world mythos created a different kind of post-apocalyptic comic.
Read the rest of this entry »

A Few Familiar Faces

Posted: 9th December 2011 by Anthony van Winkle
Categories: "Syndicate", Concepts & Development
0

On the pressure and challenge of creating the “Syndicate” vignette, knowing it would be the last production before the premiere of Episode Six.

And so we begin “Syndicate”, the last vignette of the year (and possibly the last vignette ever). It’s a short story, compared to many, because it embraces the storytelling philosophy of “start in the middle” and is tightly trimmed from its original drafts. Which isn’t to say all the action and exposition is gone, rather that it’s been distilled down to a high concentrate of awesome.

Readers familiar with Night Zero may recognize many of the faces already, which is appropriate because this vignette isn’t the first time we’ve encountered the eponymous Syndicate in our storytelling. Obviously this new vignette takes place well before the others, as its purpose is to show how the schism between the Nazarov government and the Syndicate came about. And also to give guns to a load of good-looking people in good-looking costumes.
Read the rest of this entry »