Posts Tagged ‘cast’

A Syndicated Location

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

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Downsizing Development

Posted: 6th May 2011 by Phoebe Richards
Categories: "Maternal", Behind-the-Scenes Photos, Concepts & Development
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On how the story of “Maternal” developed from a big picture to a defining moment.

I had wanted to write and direct a vignette for NIGHT ZERO since I started working as assistant director on the project. Last winter, when we were shooting the “Three Speeches” with the military, messengers, and skullhunters, we brought in so many talented people to play extras, and we realized some of them could star in vignettes that would broaden and enrich the core NIGHT ZERO story.

My friend Chris Allen, a very talented improviser, came in for the Military Speech shoot and I decided I wanted to write my first NIGHT ZERO script with him at the center. Originaly I planned on writing it for the big battle coming up in episode six, when the city has collapsed and the soldiers and messengers are trying to evacuate the civilians to safety among scratchers and skullhunters. The idea I had was that Chris’s character (eventually named Darren) had become haunted by the memory of his sister after he killed her when she became infected on night zero.

Inertia Part Two: Loew Hall

Posted: 25th March 2011 by Anthony van Winkle
Categories: "Inertia", Behind-the-Scenes Photos, On Location
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On shooting the students’ half of the “Inertia” vignette

There are times when the Night Zero schedule is relaxed, structured, and done well in advance. This February, with the production of “Inertia”, was not one of those times. Between proofing Volume Three (now shipping) and on the eve of a 2 1/2 week trip to Europe, there was not a lot of time available for the vignette, and while early plans had us shooting the two halves on consecutive weekends, the availability of the cast (on which I did not want to compromise) pushed us into shooting both halves on consecutive days. And due to the building schedules at UW, our second shoot day was moved to a new location that we didn’t see until the night before. It was going to be a tough day.
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Students and Professors

Posted: 25th February 2011 by Anthony van Winkle
Categories: "Inertia", Concepts & Development
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On the development history of the “Inertia” vignette, and how it came to be two tales side-by-side.

Unlike nearly every Night Zero vignette before it, the final product of “Inertia” is very, very close to the original concept from which it developed. The inspiration first came about when the production team moved in to shoot the military segment of Episode Five’s “Three Speeches,” in a mid-century building on campus at the University of Washington. Even though the scene itself had nothing to do with school or college personnel, seeing the environment prompted my brain churning. I wanted to visit the college campus on the night of the zombie apocalypse, and that’s where the vignette development began.

Some vignettes grow from a particular visual I want to actualize, some are inspired by a particular location I want to use, others by a particular actor I want to work with. My favorite vignettes, though, begin with a relationship, and grow into something from there. For “Inertia” that relationship was between two students, meeting for the first time as the world collapses around them.
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The Penultimate Finale

Posted: 11th February 2011 by Anthony van Winkle
Categories: Behind-the-Scenes Photos, Episode 5 - "Reversals", On Location
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On the various casting, costuming, and shooting challenges for the “Three Speeches” finale of Episode Five

Despite terrible weather battering the Midwest, the presses for Night Zero: Volume Three are alive and on-schedule. We expect to start shipping preorders the second week of March, with delivery to comic shops and the rest of our orders shipping the fourth week. If you enjoy reading Night Zero, if you appreciate the free thrice-weekly updates on a completely ad-free website, please show your support and preorder your copy today. Just twenty four dollars, independently produced and proudly printed in the USA.

On last week’s blog I talked about the movie-montage inspirations for the “Three Speeches” closing of Episode Five, as well as some of the developmental stages we went through to piece the whole sequence together.  That’s all essential to the pre-production, but coming up with a concept is only the beginning. The true success or failure lies, of course, in the execution of the design, and on that front I’m pleased to say it came together swimmingly.
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the Potentials

Posted: 28th January 2011 by Anthony van Winkle
Categories: Concepts & Development, Episode 5 - "Reversals"
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On the development and design behind the messengers at home, and their parallels to the Potentials from BtVS.

Since the very first episode, we’ve talked about “messengers” as some collection of runners and soldiers and spies, but the only evidence thus far was Marion’s regular presence and Natalie’s appearance in the Special Delivery vignette. In my design, however, they’ve always been a sorority of survivors, a sisterhood of support and cooperation that makes them a powerful force in the post-apocalypse. And now, finally, we have the chance to enter their realm.

When you take a world with supernatural creatures, form a collective of young women to fight them, and put them all in a house together… it’s hard not to draw a parallel to the Potentials of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, season seven. I was aware of this when designing the messengers’ scene, but rather than trying to find a way around it I opted to embrace it.
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