You might want to reconsider your title, because there's a bad British horror low-budget movie called 'The Bunker' :).

As for sets, generally anything you have to build costs at least twice as much as you expect.

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Originally posted by MarkG

You might want to reconsider your title, because there's a bad British horror low-budget movie called 'The Bunker' :).

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Yeah, I know that. I haven't actually seen it either but the trailers look OK. It's just a working title though so it's likely that we'll have a brianstorming session and choose a better title that hasn't been done already - something like 'Inside the Bunker' or 'The Thirteenth Bunker', 'Bunker 13'.

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You can't keep 'em out, they're already in!

Couple of thoughts on the Bunker. (1) The name creates an association with Hitler's final days which was not intended (2) The movie had two villians and really gave us noone to root for (I rooted for the zombies) (3) I can buy the Romans spoke the Queens English but have a tough time with Nazis speaking that way.

The whole movie would have been better if it was a bunch of Tommy's fighting Nazi zombies. There has to be a couple of British Infantry uniforms somewhere in the UK they could have used.

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA

Pretty much my thoughts on the movie too...

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Originally posted by rjschwarz

Couple of thoughts on the Bunker. (1) The name creates an association with Hitler's final days which was not intended (2) The movie had two villians and really gave us noone to root for (I rooted for the zombies) (3) I can buy the Romans spoke the Queens English but have a tough time with Nazis speaking that way.

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Why were there zombies in the bunker?

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You can't keep 'em out, they're already in!

Nazis were in the bunker, zombies wanted in. I think the Nazis had committed an atrocity but they had some kind of medieval connection to the zombies as well so I'm not 100% certain.

I just watched the movie (like many zombieish movies) rewriting how I would have done it. My version would have been a WW2 version of Zulu with a handful of Tommies and waves of zombies and Nazi zombies. Could have been a cult classic (still might be some day).

Instead we had a film most noted by WW2 nuts for uniform irregularities and Nazi infighting rather than zombie fighting.

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA

Same here: if it wasn't for the fact that zombie movies are pretty much dead right now, I'd be making that Nazi zombie movie myself.

I'm still amazed how people can screw up such obviously good B-movie ideas... 'Bloodrayne' is another example, where Uwe Boll managed to destroy a game based on a vampire chick with big boobs killing Nazis: how could you make a bad movie from that concept? Either way, it's no surprise to me that the 'Bunker' people apparently took eight years to raise the money to make the movie.

Interesting as it is, this isn't 'The Bunker' appreciation society, more dis-appreciation society actually 😉

Has anyone here made a set and if so can you share your experience with me?

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You can't keep 'em out, they're already in!

I just recently built a very spare set with white walls and floor, two solid walls and one "floating" wall that can be moved around as needed. I haven't done set dressing so I don't know about cupboards and tables and such. For wall coverings (especially if you're putting them up on existing wall studs) you may want to consider drywall, as it's cheaper than plywood, although you'll need to patch it (maybe even tape it) before it's painted, which takes more time. Also leave plenty of room for equipment. It's good if you can get away with just three walls, because then you have plenty of room for the camera/crew/onlookers. Also try and build somewhere with a high ceiling.

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Andrew Gingerich
Exploding Goldfish Films
Check out my vodcast on iTunes: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=96931870
and my blog at http://www.exgfilms.com

Yes, I saw that in your vodcast. It looked simple, although empty. I'm just wondering if anyone has any tips for picking up the props, such as the kitchen worktops and laboratory apparatus. Oh, and what did you think of my screenplay?

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You can't keep 'em out, they're already in!

If you want to do it Uber cheap you could use those spiffy faux texture painting techniques shown all the time on those do-it-yourself design shows. Especially the ones where they have a budget of 1,000 dollars and everything expensive is like a nice rug and the rest is one or two dollar pieces of junk.

Cardboard + Cheap paint you can get a nice texture, and cover it with dust and grime enough, probably couldn't tell the difference.

Also try "dollar stores" where they might have very cheap rolls of fake lining that looks like wood (if you really want it too look like wood).

Its funny, but I found that by going super cheap and spending hours on one little corner, then just limiting the shots to that corner, thigns don't look so bad.

Of course this is if you wnat to be cheap, not for a real movie.

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Its funny, but I found that by going super cheap and spending hours on one little corner, then just limiting the shots to that corner, thigns don't look so bad.

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Actually, that reminds me of a scene we shot for a friend a while back: there was only one wall we could use as a background, so we kept moving the furniture around between shots to make it look as though that was the wall behind the actors.

One thing I would say about building sets is that it's a good idea to over-dress them. They may look 'real' with a blank wall and a picture hanging on it, but that will look wrong on camera because it concentrates on a small area of the wall.

Two bits.

First. Roger Corman during Battle Beyond the Stars mentioned that he got the set designer and DP (or director I'm not sure) together and asked where the camera frame on the scene would be. Then told the set designer to stop building the set a foot or so after the frame ended. Why build it if noone will see it?

Second. In the low budget zombie movie Hide and Creep they shot a room from two angles and moved a desk and actors between camera changes to make the room look a lot smaller. A lot can be done if you have recongizable objects that can be shifted around.

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA

Example Set Cost:

50' x 14' x 30' (w X h X d) made from timber and fully painted cost me about ?1600 (GBP).

This was an interior for a starship bridge and was created on a studio stage.

This figure is for materials only and does not include labour, onset effects (eg. screens & inbuilt lamps) or studio stage hire.

??Goofy Horace??