‘The Last Of Us’: Showrunner Craig Mazin Joins Craft Collaborators For Deep Dive On Show’s Look And Sound, Hopes Series Will “Be Around For A While” Beyond Season 2 – NAB
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Craig Mazin, co-creator, executive producer, writer and director of HBO smash The Last of Us, says there remains “quite a bit of story to tell” in the video game adaptation. “Our plan is to do it not just for one more season,” he said. “We should be around for a while.”
An hour-long panel about the apocalyptic drama on Sunday at NAB in Las Vegas didn’t offer many teasers about Season 2, other than the status report that it’s still in script stage and the fact it will be shot in British Columbia. Instead, Mazin and four key members of the production team drilled down on the craft elements in the first season, specifically visual effects, cinematography, editing and sound.
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As physical effects, prosthetics and visual effects converged, Mazin recalled the debut of the “clickers” in Episode 2 starting “fights” over the question, “Is it real, or is it effects?” His dry response, “The answer is yes.”
The season had more than 3,000 f/x shots, with motion-capture work by Weta Digital. Even so, VFX supervisor Alex Wang said the objective of the crew was not to rely too much on fully digital creation, but rather think of enhancement. “The first question that we all ask is not what visual effects can do, but rather, what can we get in the frame and do practically? The conversation starts there. What that means is a really tight collaboration among visual effects and the art department, prosthetics, stunts and visual effects.”
Mazin and supervising sound editor Michael J. Benavente also took some time detailing the sound of the clickers, which is an iconic element from the video game. Voice actors Misty Lee and Phillip Kovats, known for the Last of Us game, reprised their work as clickers in the HBO series. “They basically gave us a kit of all kinds of different sound that we could pull from,” Benavente said, but they were blended with other elements, including a performer familiar to the crew — Mazin. Lending his voice to the chorus, as it were, gave the co-creator of The Last of Us first-hand perspective on the way sound would affect the overall aesthetic experience. Despite all of the studio tricks, “it comes down to figuring out this very organic way of thinking about congestion.” For inspiration, he added, the team listened to people suffering from asthma and a host of other respiratory and medical ailments.
Characters on the show who are infected by the virus “are not monsters,” Benavente said. “We went a little monster-y at the beginning and then we pulled back. These are humans who are infected and diseased.”
Sound played a key role in Episode 7, which features a lengthy flashback set in an abandoned mall’s video arcade. The sequence, which revolves around the budding romance between Ellie (played by Bella Ramsey) and Riley (Storm Reid). In addition to heightening the setting-specific touches like coins dropping into the game console and the bass-heavy whoosh when a game of Mortal Kombat lights up, the arcade sequence also features key contributions from those looking after the visual elements of the show. Cinematographer Ksenia Serena had three cameras running continuously, which was a feat of choreography in a tight space but also essential for editors Timothy Good and Emily Mendez, who were able to cross-cut from a range of takes.
“Having as much of their performance feel natural was the key,” Good said. Having footage from multiple cameras “gave us so many possibilities. … We had the ability to make sure that if something happened that didn’t happen in other takes, we would have the ability to incorporate that into the story.”
Mendez, who also has done sound editing for the show, began production as an assistant editor but was then promoted to full editor. Good explained that her perspective was hugely valuable, given that she was an avid fan of the video game and he still has never played it. Additionally, handling the slowly advancing romantic aspects of Ellie and Riley’s relationship required a degree of sensitivity. “It was a gay love story and we felt it would be important to have [Mendez], as a gay person, to make sure that the story had its truth. … I knew that I couldn’t tell the story as well as she could.”
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