Posts Tagged ‘zombies’

Naked Zombies

Posted: 1st February 2013 by Anthony van Winkle
Categories: Behind-the-Scenes Photos, Episode 6, On Location
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On balancing the theoretical reality of zombie behavior with the practical constraints of live-action production, and shooting on location in the middle of the mountains.

In the earliest days of Night Zero, we on the production team spent most of our time discussing and debating the “rules” of zombies—which were universal, which were negotiable based on zombie type, and which we would invent for our own purposes. Some zombie rules are irrefutable, such as a bite or scratch leading to infection and their innate ability to distinguish their own kind from living persons. Other zombie rules are flexible, such as their cognitive abilities and whether they eat humans or just kill. We had our own rules on top, relating to the severity of infection and the counteraction of alcohol.

But there’s another class of rule to consider, often raised among fans but rarely (if ever) addressed on screen: impossible rules. For “living dead” zombies, the biggest impossible rule is the rate of human decomposition—within 20 days, all non-bone mass is on its way out. After a month, there’d be no zombies left. For the “infected” zombies, the biggest impossible rule is that the infected should have no clothes on.
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Enter the Bloodbath

Posted: 26th October 2012 by Anthony van Winkle
Categories: Behind-the-Scenes Photos, Episode 6, On Location
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On the creation of the Bloodbath sequence, the high-action three-way battle crescendo climax of Night Zero: Episode Six.

This current sequence of the finale, which we refer to as “Bloodbath,” is the climactic evidence of the Episode Six philosophy: go big and go outside. It’s one of the last scenes we shot, due to its scale and complexity, and was an incredible accomplishment by all members of the Night Zero team. With more than fifty extras, more than a dozen cast members, and nearly two dozen crew, we descended upon an abandoned building at the Sand Point Naval Base and spent a weekend creating and shooting chaos.

The production required an expanded basecamp, to quarter the masses of participants, the makeup, and food from potential rain and wind participation. While there was some wetness to manage the morning of the second day, overall we were very fortunate with the weather and managed to shoot for two full days with minimal interference.  Base camp was well secluded on the opposite side of the building from the shoot location, which added travel time for actors and production assistants but allowed the cameras to roll all day long while base camp managed its own responsibilities.

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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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Trapped!

Posted: 19th August 2011 by Anthony van Winkle
Categories: "Inertia", "Jezebel", "Midnight", "Sorority", Behind-the-Scenes Photos, Concepts & Development
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On the theme of zombie stories with characters ‘trapped’ together, how the common motifs of these stories draw parallels to our experiences, and how Night Zero tries to avoid rehashing while continuing to explore this topic.

One of our favorite things to do in Night Zero storytelling, it seems, is to trap some people in a room in the midst of the zombie apocalypse and watch their relationships develop or collapse. We had first considered a “trapped” scene as early as Marion’s flashback in Episode One when her boyfriend comes home wounded, but in that case (for pacing reasons) we decided to jump straight into the action. So, our first true “trapped” story was our first vignette, ‘Jezebel’, and in the following years, we visited variations on this theme with the ‘Midnight’, twice over in ‘Inertia’, and now again in ‘Sorority’… not to mention the handful of unproduced scripts and treatments in our back-catalog, all addressing a small group of survivors stuck together in a collapsing world.
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Character Deaths in the Zombie Genre

Posted: 5th November 2010 by Anthony van Winkle
Categories: Behind-the-Scenes Photos, Concepts & Development, Episode 5 - "Reversals"
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On the philosophies of creating and destroying characters in zombie fiction

This current group of scenes in episode five, collectively summarized as “The Death of Dariya”, is something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. It marks a significant point in the Night Zero timeline: for all the many characters we’ve explored and for all the dozens of zombies we’ve encountered, this is the first time we’ve actually transformed an established “main character” into an infected, striking them from the ranks of human survivors and tallying their name in the register of the apocalypse.

While some critics may argue that a lack of long-established characters’ deaths is poor zombie narrative, I consider it to be a strength of the Night Zero story and philosophy. In a typical zombie-genre work, be it graphic novel, film, or television show, an initial cast of characters is introduced and picked off, one by one, as their surviving party encounters new challenges. The reader can expect, by the end, only one or two characters to remain from the original group; in an ongoing serial story, new characters must be constantly introduced so that the regular eliminations can continue. To this end, character deaths in the zombie genre are essentially progress markers, and each story or episode will be sure to include at least one: the more significant the event, the more established and well-loved the character who dies.
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Fight, Baby, Fight

Posted: 3rd September 2010 by Anthony van Winkle
Categories: "Devon", Behind-the-Scenes Photos, Concepts & Development, On Location
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On piecing together the zombie fight for the “Devon” vignette

This second act of the “Devon” vignette, wherein our hero dost make most violent an altercation with a member of the infected team, was produced in the “quick and dirty” style of a Night Zero production, with a skeleton crew and a short day to produce a short segment. The quality and length of the finished product speaks volumes to how far Night Zero has come since its early days, when it would have taken a full day’s work and thrice the crew to produce something of still lesser quality. Here are a few disconnected thoughts on the piece: Read the rest of this entry »

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