Posts Tagged ‘marion’

the Color of a Character

Posted: 25th January 2013 by Anthony van Winkle
Categories: Uncategorized
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On the conscious and continuing use of color in character costumes, and how that impacts the telling of Night Zero’s various stories.

For many years I’ve been looking forward to writing a blog post on the use of character color in Night Zero, but every time it felt appropriate I thought of another future scene I’d want to reference, and again this post would be postponed. Now, at the end, that time has finally come.

There are many design ideas and decisions endowed into the world and detail of Night Zero, little touches here and there that are neither important to nor referenced by the stories we tell, but that mean a lot to us. Some are small actor choices that affect the actions and demeanors of their characters without being made explicit. Others are tokens and trinkets that represent untold stories, perhaps at one point intended to be explored but now known only by those who would have told them. These all are little treasures within the fictional world of Night Zero designed to help the actors connect with their characters, but the most significant and deliberate secret of the production design is part of the storytelling, not the story: the subtle use of color designed to help the reader identify, distinguish, and remember characters across the span of Night Zero tales.
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Exit, Pursued by the Horde

Posted: 28th December 2012 by Anthony van Winkle
Categories: Behind-the-Scenes Photos, Episode 6, On Location
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On the conclusion of episode six act five, the official end of the graphic novel serial and the New City storyline.

And so has the tale of the New City come to a close, concluding six episodes of adventure, betrayal, and sacrifice. What began with the storehouse fires has ended with assassination, revenge, and the collapse of a struggling civilization. Page 101 marks the end of the day, the conclusion of act five, and the official completion of the Night Zero serial.

But wait. There’s more.
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the Essential Eulogy

Posted: 12th October 2012 by Anthony van Winkle
Categories: Behind-the-Scenes Photos, Episode 6
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On the final passing of Marion Clark, first heroine of the Night Zero world.

And so another chapter of the Night Zero world comes to a close, one of the original and most essential components of all we’ve done in the last five years. It is with great pride and respect that I congratulate Katrina on her four years of work as Marion “Marathon” Clark. She was Night Zero’s first cast member, the first hero, and she saw it through to the very end.

The pilot episode of Night Zero was a necessary step, with which I decided to begin production with me creating a character for myself to portray. As both actor and director, alongside Forest as photographer, we could get our feet under us about shooting HDR while wasting as little of other people’s time as possible. Unfortunately we would still need somebody to play opposite me, so it was Katrina’s time we would start wasting, and never let up.
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the Longest Day

Posted: 31st August 2012 by Anthony van Winkle
Categories: Behind-the-Scenes Photos, Digital Production, Episode 6
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On the meeting of Marion and Jill, and the considerable length of Episode Six in the scheme of Night Zero comics.

The scene that ran last week and this, entitled “Rescue,” is a brief but pivotal moment of Episode Six, as well as a notable crossroads. It is the intersection of Marion and Jill, two central characters of Night Zero and two of the most represented.

Marion was created at the beginning of the Night Zero serial, drawn from character ideas and discussions with Katrina. She began shooting on our first production day, attended every shoot for the entire first year, and appeared on every page of Episode One.

Jill was created at the beginning of the Originette period, drawn from character ideas and discussions with Krista. During the following year she attended more production shoots than any other actor (averaging more than one a month), and quickly became an iconic part of our world.
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The Second Eulogy

Posted: 13th July 2012 by Anthony van Winkle
Categories: Behind-the-Scenes Photos, Concepts & Development, Episode 6
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This week in Episode Six, we said goodbye to our second established character, brought in some new and returning ones, and finished up a scene we shot over fourteen months ago.

The two central characters of this scratcher-attack scene, the messengers Vanessa and Mandy, were created for this episode with their actors-to-be already in mind. This scene was the first time on a Night Zero shoot for both of them, but they took to the unusual style naturally and both gave solid, powerful performances. Many months later, each returned (on separate occasions) for their appearances in the Originettes (Vanessa in “Sorority” and Mandy in “Syndicate”), but through the aforementioned cuts and consolidations, their storyline in Episode Six was reduced to just this one scene we’ve come to finish.

This scene, or rather the two parts of this scene (entitled “Flanked” and “Mandy”) combined, are a far cry from what was in the original script. Part of that change was the result of shuffling around the sequence of events in the episode, and how the various storylines overlapped. Another part of the change was dictated by our location, as we were unable (despite numerous efforts) to secure a dead-end alley where the duo would more likely find themselves cornered. Additionally, an earlier scene was cut wherein Vanessa’s leg is injured, so like Jeff Goldblum magically understanding the aliens’ computer language, so too do we have a plot element (a messenger who’s too slow) that makes no sense superficially due to what got left behind. But who’s really paying that much attention?
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The First Eulogy

Posted: 1st June 2012 by Anthony van Winkle
Categories: Behind-the-Scenes Photos, Concepts & Development, Episode 6
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On the character of Jill, a strong presence in the last year of Night Zero, who’s passing marks the first major casualty of Episode Six.

The very first scene of Night Zero introduces the idea of messengers working in pairs (even though some, like Marion, prefer solitude), and from early in the development of Episode Six it was clear to me that while all our messengers would be featured, Lucy and Jill would be particularly important in the day’s events. We first met Lucy in the fall of 2010, when she and the other messengers gathered to hear Nadia Nazarov’s pre-battle speech. She was just one new face among many at the time, but even then I knew that hers was a face we’d be seeing again.
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