Directions | General Project Research

Before considering the specifics of shooting the scene, I need to look into any details I need to bare in mind about it.

I decided to look at the comic that the show is based on, and the first thing I noticed was the pacing felt very different.  Of course, printed visuals are not paced in the same sense as film, but there is still a sense that the comic moves a lot faster than the show does on the whole.  Although, the scene I wish to recreate does move slowly compared to the rest of the comic.

Ricks's condition in the comic seems a lot better than it is in the show as well.  In the show, we really feel as though he is struggling to move or even speak, whereas he seems a lot more mobile in much less time in the comic version.

Regardless of the differences between the show and the comic book, I feel it is important to bear in mind that Frank Darabont and the directors that succeeded him had to consider how closely he should follow the visuals of the comic when adapting it for television.

I feel it is important that I look into the practical and technical aspects of how the episode was originally shot by Darabont, back in 2010.  One resource I will not have is the ability to shoot on location - the original pilot was shot in Atlanta, Georgia, which was very close in proximity to the location in the comic.

The pilot was shot entirely on 16mm film in anamorphic format - widescreen format in which "a distorted image is "stretched" by an anamorphic projection lens to recreate the original aspect ratio on the viewing screen" (source).  This is not something I have attempted before through my work, so this may be an opportunity to try it.  It is definitely something I will consider, and if I do decide to do this, this tutorial highlights how straightforward it is in the editing software.