I’ve always loved diners. So naturally putting an alien to interrupt the usual diner scene seemed perfectly reasonable to me! Had a terrific time with a Nikon shoot featuring the pre-preproduction mirrorless Nikon Z7. The twist we introduced was that the diners weren’t, you know, superhuman, jacked like crazy outer space types who could vaporize you with a death beam from their eyes. No.
I wanted kinder, gentler aliens, so we went for an elderly couple look. Like a mom and pop couple who had been together for lots of years, out for a quick bite at the local diner. Thought it would make for a fun day.

We had an amazing special effects team on hand to create the intergalactic oldsters. Catrina Grieco and her assistants Tiffanylee Adorno and Bri Trischetta worked their magic and totally transformed the wonderful character actors Nik Pjeternikaj and Jeanne O’Brian into an outer space couple. Samantha Brown did her usual great styling, assisted by Alexa Casimir. Makeup for the rest of the cast done by Deborah Englesman.

The rest of the acting cast was headed by our astonished/perplexed waitress, Alissa Bourne. And we of course had to have weirded out onlookers, led by Nichola Skidmore, accompanied by the very talented Jeff Kucukisitipanoglu, and Meleza Morris. Our crew throughout the day was routinely wonderful. Casey Mathewson and Omar Rawlings were with me at camera, and Michael Cali took the video lead, along with fellow shooter Andrew Tomasino. Richard Marot backed us all up on the digital cart. Video editing by Steve Guise. And, as always, the entire shebang was produced, organized and orchestrated by Lynn DelMastro at our studio. Annie Cahill, our Director of Social Media and Marketing, shot terrific BTS stills, along with Marc Cutler from Nikon, who was on set as our technical advisor. Music licensing by Triple Scoop Music. https://TripleScoopMusic.com.

I wanted to challenge the system with an interior that featured mixed lighting, highly reflective surfaces, big exposure differences, and provide the camera with the unique texture of “alien” makeup. It was a busy scene, which was made to order, as one of the mandates of the job was to literally give the camera something to chew on, detail-wise, from front to back of the frame. We shot with a pre-production model of the Z7, using the new 24-70 f4 lens designed for the mirrorless system. We also got a chance to feature the FTZ adapter, by coupling it with the 19mm PC Nikon lens. Again, here, even with all the gear being pre-production, we had excellent results.

The mirrorless future is upon us! It was fun to experiment as always with the new tech, and see how all this can create advantages for future work. Loved the quiet shutter (it can be made totally silent, FYI) and the sharpness. The AF system was spot on. The LCD is super bright and has tons of information. Lots of stuff to explore with the new system. Blog to come, and a further discussion of the camera's potential. #nikonmirrorless #joemcnallylighting #specialeffectsmakeup