With the season finale of The Walking Dead approaching, Gato Negro was looking for a way to get in on the excitement. They decided on a prank in which 6 contestant winners would be flown out to watch the finale in a creepy apartment featured in a previous episode. The winners were wined and dined before a horde of zombies surrounded them and chased them through the town.
We led production, providing gear, crew, and all coordination of this pretty ambitious project conjured up by Gato Negro. The logistics to pull this off were insane, not just in executing the plan, but keeping everything a complete secret from the contestants leading up to the "zombie invasion." We secured the location and worked with local city officals, law enforcement, and paramedics, and built out an all-local crew that absolutely killed it. We created a shooting plan and hid cameras all over the house, street, and neighboring abandoned restaurant to capture the action, along with 3 camera men and a 4th in the middle of the action, being chased with the contestants.
We teamed up with Zombie Army who provided the "zombie army" (many of which are regulars on The Walking Dead) and were essential in the stunt coordination and working out solutions for the 100 "what if?" questions we were juggling for this live, 1-take stunt.
DAf, out of Chile oversaw the project and handled post production.
Director: Martin Rossetti
Producer: Eric Loveland
Fixer: Laura Scott
Event Coordination & Catering: Brian Green
Zombie Army: Zombie Army
Director of Photography: Randall Blizzard
Camera Op #01 / Stedicam: Cole Cassell
Camera Op #02: Chad George
Audio Tech: Ace Harney
Medic: Timothy Miller
PA #01, Driver, and Crew Morale: Khadif Sanders
PA #02: David Moore
Agency: DAf