Zombies! Everybody at the moment loooooves zombies! Truth be told…. so do I. It was a no-brainer (pun intended) when I got the phone call from the Creative Director over at Shenandoah University to fly out to Winchester, VA to shoot zombies for a cover feature for their alumni magazine.
Wait, so I’m gonna get hired for a client gig to shoot zombies? Where do I sign up!?!? I’ve said it a million times before, but I LOVE MY JOB! And it’s clients like SU that make it all the better.
After some initial discussions with the creative team over at Shenandoah, we came up with two key concepts for the shoot that revolve around an on-campus, community inspired game students play called “Humans VS. Zombies (HVZ).” The editorial feature was to focus on this apocalyptic-themed strategic game of tag, but shed light on both teamwork and leadership skills gained by the students involved. Granted the game itself doesn’t actually involve rotting, brain hungry creeps or the living dead, but it was my job to provide visuals to accompany the feature that made HVZ come to life.
Before making the trek to Virginia last month, we were given a handful of specific ideas for the feature and then narrowed them down to two select images for print. Along with that were a series of mock-up sketches made by an illustrator to base the photos from. Below is a look at the process.
Wait, so I’m gonna get hired for a client gig to shoot zombies? Where do I sign up!?!? I’ve said it a million times before, but I LOVE MY JOB! And it’s clients like SU that make it all the better.
After some initial discussions with the creative team over at Shenandoah, we came up with two key concepts for the shoot that revolve around an on-campus, community inspired game students play called “Humans VS. Zombies (HVZ).” The editorial feature was to focus on this apocalyptic-themed strategic game of tag, but shed light on both teamwork and leadership skills gained by the students involved. Granted the game itself doesn’t actually involve rotting, brain hungry creeps or the living dead, but it was my job to provide visuals to accompany the feature that made HVZ come to life.
Before making the trek to Virginia last month, we were given a handful of specific ideas for the feature and then narrowed them down to two select images for print. Along with that were a series of mock-up sketches made by an illustrator to base the photos from. Below is a look at the process.
PRIMARY FEATURE IMAGE
The overall concept of the first image was to feature a student running from a herd of zombie students emerging out of a campus building. Based on time contraints, the number of zombies we needed in the shot and the dark drama desired in the photo, I knew I’d be compositing the final image together to give it the aesthetic I was looking for.
COVER IMAGE
Below is the sketch concept we were given for the cover image. The concept centered around two students in front of the Shenandoah sign playing HVZ using a mobile device, with zombies coming out from behind the sign.
Below is the sketch concept we were given for the cover image. The concept centered around two students in front of the Shenandoah sign playing HVZ using a mobile device, with zombies coming out from behind the sign.
And here are the final images in the magazine layouts:
Photos by David Jackson
© 2012, DAVIDEJACKSON|STUDIOS
© 2012, DAVIDEJACKSON|STUDIOS
