Post-Apocalyptic Pirates VS. Zombies...in a Bar...

[Hazelrah]

So As some of you may remember I am currently attending the Center for Film Studies here in Warren Michigan. I am rather proud to show you some of what we have been working on as of late. Our goal was to go all the way from initial concept and design all the way through to finished set. We are aiming to hopefully light the set and use it to take photos and possibly even shoot a short scene with.

Our premise is it is after the zombie apocalypse and a few survivors have banded together to create a small "safe zone" like shanty town... using what ever buildings and materials were available to them. We assumed that even though it is still the apocalypse there would still be some sort of commerce so we decided to set our scene in the local pub...

This shows our basic flats and the "security door"

flats in progress...

Here we started adding in the base for some of our textures and where some items might go...

Here we have started doing some of our final texturing and prepping for our final scenic painting that will bring it all together...this is where it starts getting really exciting...

I'll keep you guys updated as well as show you some of the props and set stuff we are building... let me know what you think...feedback is greatly appreciated.

 

[sesl]

Looks beautiful! I love that "latch" on the door!

 

[Wes R]

Looks great, it actually has an odd 1950s fallout shelter in disrepair look with the cement blocks. The exposed brickwork does the trick and is nicely done.

 

[Hazelrah]

Thanks guys. We wanted to have a bit of fall out shelter look to it actually, we felt it gave us the most opportunity to show off as many different textures as possible. We are covering everything from building the actual flats, to spray on textures, to hand applied textures, to faux-finishes to molding and casting parts to building original models and props. All in all it has been a ton of fun and I can't wait to see the final photos... I'll give a detailed list of what props we did and some of the processes we used...

 

[WarPig]

First: THIS LOOKS FANTASTIC!!!

Now, I have to be detail-picky: I'm assuming the building is of standard steel and cinderblock construction? Or is it an old building that is brick? The point I'm getting to is that if it is "cinderblock" construction using "brickface" decoration, the cinderblock surface should be recessed/beneath the bricks. Cinderblocks are basically ugly, so it is unlikely someone would cover brickwork with fake cinderblock decoration.

That said, here's how you deal with wiseguys that suggest stuff like that: the building is brick, a very old structure. At some point in history, a bomb was detonated in that corner, causing a sizable hole. Hasty repairs were made using readily-available cinderblock.

See? There's a way to handle every critic! :lol

 

[Wes R]

It reminds me of our basement, exposed metal supports and cinder blocks with homemade shelving lol. If you didn't live so far away I have a geiger counter and some other civil defense spares i could loan you as prop pieces. Actually I can take pics and scan manuals if you want to do some mockups of the stuff. you could get away using dowel rod for the dosimeter pens and cheap food containers for geiger counters.

 

[Hazelrah]

That pretty mush is the same rationale we came up with...the cinderblock is actually going around our very ghetto burn-barrel stove in the corner... our reasoning was it would help insulate and reflect heat back into the space... the window is going to house a mounted turret gun that will be attached to a coin slot ala and old fashioned arcade game for shooting zombies. The whole process has been nerve racking at times and yet still a blast to do. I have come in early and worked on it on days off to try to impress people to hopefully land a job... if that doesn't work out I've learned an awful lot that I can take elsewhere to hopefully find work

 

[outlander]

"Three zombies stumble into a pirate bar. One of them says...."

Very cool. Thank you for sharing. Having lived in the Detroit
area for nearly thirty five years, I realize that there is no
shortage of bombed out areas you could use if you decided
to do exterior shots.

In about. three months, you could set up outside Ford Field
and film the Detroit Lions fans stumbling around and drooling
whille moaning "W I n s... W I n s....". :lol

Uh, if you see me among them, please don't double tap me,
OK? I'm not a cannibalistic zombie, I'm just...living impaired.

Or maybe it was "Three pirates saunter into a zombie bar.
One of them looks around and says "Let's get out of here.
This place is dead.""

Thank you! I'm here all week. Don't forget to tip your
wait-staff! :lol

 

[Hazelrah]

It reminds me of our basement, exposed metal supports and cinder blocks with homemade shelving lol. If you didn't live so far away I have a geiger counter and some other civil defense spares i could loan you as prop pieces. Actually I can take pics and scan manuals if you want to do some mockups of the stuff. you could get away using dowel rod for the dosimeter pens and cheap food containers for geiger counters.

That would be awesome! Not to mention greatly appreciated! I'm not sure why we didn't think of a geiger counter in the first place...lol

 

[Wes R]

I'll get some pics for you tonight. i have the batteries recharging.

 

[Hazelrah]

So I am hoping to have some more update pics posted this afternoon or tomorrow... We got our window mounted gatling gun installed...(best use of a Hughes net satelite dish mount ever) and the bar is up and just needs some finishing touches... the door needs it's final faux finish which we will be doing tomorrow... all in all I think it will be pretty good. Now to just finish making some more weapons and ammo crates, doing some signage... a bit more paining... wow...we still got a ton to do yet...lol

 

[Hazelrah]

So after a long couple of days we finally have some more progress to show...

The handles on the door...still need a bit of weathering...

The burn barrel/stove still needs to be put in place....

Some of our texturing and paint effects on the beams...

Need some slightly lower wattage bulbs but it is coming together...

Someones at the door.....

Let me know what you think

 

[Hazelrah]

Is there no feedback to be had? we are looking for any suggestions we can do to improve our set... before final shoot on friday...

 

[Wes R]

All i can think of is maybe a pile of debris here and there, like where plaster has fallen off the wall or maybe some old trash in the corner like old packs of smokes or a tin can or two where people were holed up here when things got bad and nobody bothered to clean it up. Boxes of ammo or other odds and ends you can find laying around the house maybe?

 

[Interceptor6]

Fantastic work, but it needs grafitti!
Hash marks, counting the days, some bad poetry, Kilroy was here, sort of thing!
And a few bullet holes and blood trails of course!

 

[Hazelrah]

We have a few signs and other things to put up as well as some of the typical debris... bottles and cans and what not... We actually thought of something similar to the "counting the days" type of tick marks... only with zombie shaped stencils...sort of keeping score of number of kills...

 

[Hazelrah]

A few more updates.... Here are the "kill-tally+ stencils by the mounted gun...

Our burn barrel/stove....complete with molded campfire insert....

Some of the signage...and a big thanks to WES R for his help with the fallout shelter and civil defense stuff...

The radio I made myself...since we are thinking of using the set to film on I made it so the switches light up. the fan works, and the CB works...all on 8 AA batteries...

Again in more accurate lighting...

I love the way the signs look in the right light...

 

[Wes R]

Looks really good, the accurate lighting really makes the mood/vibe.

 

[Hazelrah]

There is still so much more to see once we do final set dressing and shoot it properly lit with hi def cameras... I can't wait for the short we are filming to be done so we can post it up on youtube and really get peoples opinions. This has been a total blast to build.

 

[Wes R]

I never thought of trying to find some screen caps of the various warning documents posted around the city in I am Legend with Will Smith. Those would have been a good touch to have scattered about or even have them used to set drinks on lol.