This scene, entitled “Three Paths”, was shot on part of an abandoned freeway segment here in Seattle. Back in the sixties it was destined to be a shortcut between the 520 and I-90 freeways, but that plan was abandoned after only a small causeway and some onramps were constructed, so here it sits. There are three scenes in Episode Six that use portions of these “ghost ramps”, and they were shot completely differently.

There are two later scenes that take place on an underpass portion of the ghost ramps, they were shot together one day in a full-on Night Zero production with base camp, full lighting and gear, over two dozen cast and crew, and all the trimmings. This first scene here, on the overpass portion of the ramps, was an early morning guerrilla shoot with nothing but a handful of people and a camera.

With portions of our cast spread out, some of our shoots require scheduling and travel across the Canadian border, so it makes a lot of sense for us to try and consolidate calls in some situations. This shoot was one of those situations, an early Sunday morning after a long and challenging all-day shoot on Saturday and before another long and (very very) dirty shoot Sunday afternoon. Our call was early, to hit the rising sun, and with only natural light we’d have to be quick to keep it consistent.

The shoot ran as swiftly and smoothly as the scene itself, with little in the way of choreography or action to get in the way. Jansen freehanded the camera, the shot cards were roughly followed, and without lighting or gear, there really wasn’t much else that we could fuss with. The view was nice, the mid-August weather was pleasant, and we were done in no time.

With the call being much earlier than our usual time, and for asking the cast and crew to come out so early for such a short time, the shoot was followed by brunch at great restaurant just up the hill. Meals with the team out and about are rare, but this one succeeded in all three of its goals: one, everyone felt satisfied with the quality of their early morning; two, we got some relaxing time to socialize and catch up; and three, we passed the time comfortably before we had to head down south for our dirty dirty day shooting in the mud.

…But that’s a story for another time.