Set construction time

A

Andrew McCarrick

Carbonite Member
I don't know how many builders, if any, are on here; but what would be the average build time for the interior of a house on a sound stage? Looking at houses in the range of 2000 sq. ft. to 4000 sq. ft.
 
ins't that a bit too much space?

is that like a sitcom/daytime drama (open face/fourth wall/ 2D), or on a rotating platform. multilevel?

does that include the stage floor, or just the walls? any other interior constructions, stairs, any other mock-ups, fire place, doors, windows. how many partitions, rooms. are the walls for a contemporary house, or a classic or period peace or a western.
 
I need to rebuild the interior of two house minus a few rooms (doors in a hallway that don't work). Primarily I'm doing it because 1.) I can't find the exact location I want, and 2.) we're filming most of the film in NYC, and it would be a PITA to move to another location just for house interiors.

So I'm probably going to be building all 4 walls of every room.



Here's rough layouts of a few other locations I need to build:

Apartment set:
http://www.diamondintheroughthemovie.com/apartment.png
The master bedroom in this set would actually have another set inside of it. It's not necessary to actually film in that room, so I'm sticking another single room set in there.


Diner set:
http://www.diamondintheroughthemovie.com/diner set.png
 
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Lot of "It depends", do you have 4 or 5 experienced carpenters, painters, etc... or 2 guys who kind of know what they're doing?

To frame, hang drywall, trim, paint, the whole nine yards, anywhere from a few days to a month or more.
 
gonzo_entertainment said:
Lot of "It depends", do you have 4 or 5 experienced carpenters, painters, etc... or 2 guys who kind of know what they're doing?

To frame, hang drywall, trim, paint, the whole nine yards, anywhere from a few days to a month or more.
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I'll be hiring people that actually know what they're doing. Probably a crew of 5-8.
 
oh, i thought it was like a theater stage or sitcom set.

well, the diner looks like a regular diner, a bit bigger with booths on both sides. but are you willing to pay for all the booth, and counter accessories. and do you need the kitchen. how many scenes or minutes are you going to use the diner. and how much would it cost to strike a deal to rent a place (after hours if necessary). barring in mind that a diner usually has a glass side looking at a street, are you going to make an underground diner/restaurant.

if the walls and the floor are made at the same time and your buying counter/tables/booth accessories/kitchen accessories, 7-10 days should do it for the diner(no pluming or electricity).

what's the 'L' and 'C' in the apartment?

the apartment looked a bit weird, first time seeing 3 different hallways/corridors in one apartment. and the guest bedroom has a bathroom but not the master bedroom. usually bathrooms and kitchen are close together and on the same side of the building(helps in pluming and what not). master bedroom is in the middle of the apartment, usually every room has a window? and the bathrooms are odd shaped? there is a hallway that just have bathroom doors? is this a real apartment or did you make the design yourself?
 
oh 5-8 is big crew. if they just stand in the place(2000ft), it will be a bit crowded. they will be in their own way. all you want is a faux apartment right? the diner is just four walls, or do you want them to do the booth and counters and kitchen in the apartment?
 
Amr Rahmy said:
oh, i thought it was like a theater stage or sitcom set.

well, the diner looks like a regular diner, a bit bigger with booths on both sides. but are you willing to pay for all the booth, and counter accessories. and do you need the kitchen. how many scenes or minutes are you going to use the diner. and how much would it cost to strike a deal to rent a place (after hours if necessary). barring in mind that a diner usually has a glass side looking at a street, are you going to make an underground diner/restaurant.

if the walls and the floor are made at the same time and your buying counter/tables/booth accessories/kitchen accessories, 7-10 days should do it for the diner(no pluming or electricity).

what's the 'L' and 'C' in the apartment?

the apartment looked a bit weird, first time seeing 3 different hallways/corridors in one apartment. and the guest bedroom has a bathroom but not the master bedroom. usually bathrooms and kitchen are close together and on the same side of the building(helps in pluming and what not). master bedroom is in the middle of the apartment, usually every room has a window? and the bathrooms are odd shaped? there is a hallway that just have bathroom doors? is this a real apartment or did you make the design yourself?
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Yeah for the diner, kitchen isn't necessary, don't plan on building that, just in the diagram for reference.


I did do the layouts myself.

You make a good point about the apartment master bedroom, not having a window.

The bathroom at the end of the hallway is a dual access bathroom. There's one door in the hall way, and one in from the guest bedroom. The other bathroom is only accessible from the Master Bedroom.

WC= Walk-in Closet (accessible from the Master Bedroom)
C = Closet (one in hallway, one for Guest Bedroom)
L = Laundry (accessible from hallway)


And just to note there will be 5 or 6 sets we need to build.

The apartment, the diner, two houses, a police interegation room, and maybe another.

The police interegation room would be placed inside the Master Bedroom (since we don't actually need to film in the master bedroom, nor the master bedroom bathroom).


We're probably looking at a sound stage that's 15,000 sq. ft. total.
 
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Just a really really quick and honestly... drunk estimation, with a building crew of 2-4, two weeks for building and misc stuff. Depending on project, add at least a week for paintjob / weathering. Plus a week for safety / fine-tuning would be nice if the producer agrees. No matter how much crew you have, there are always logistics, availability of materials, getting the cinematographer / director on set for last minute decisions etc. You can easily waste a whole day waiting for something, if someone gets sick or there is an accident, or changes in plans, so if you plan everything on paper, multiply it by 1.3-2, the same with materials... If you hire competent builders, they will make the time estimation for you, just remember to have enough unplanned time to fine-tune the paintjob and set decoration.
 
mörkö said:
Just a really really quick and honestly... drunk estimation, with a building crew of 2-4, two weeks for building and misc stuff. Depending on project, add at least a week for paintjob / weathering. Plus a week for safety / fine-tuning would be nice if the producer agrees. No matter how much crew you have, there are always logistics, availability of materials, getting the cinematographer / director on set for last minute decisions etc. You can easily waste a whole day waiting for something, if someone gets sick or there is an accident, or changes in plans, so if you plan everything on paper, multiply it by 1.3-2, the same with materials... If you hire competent builders, they will make the time estimation for you, just remember to have enough unplanned time to fine-tune the paintjob and set decoration.
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I guess it would be best schedule time in the sound stage during the last of production then.
 
it's a road trip drama, so the entire act 2 will be on the road/motel/diner(it's only a 100 mile trip, or is it suppose to be 1000)? how many minutes of footage for the apartment?
 
your spending that much of the budget on less than 7% of the footage, seems a bit excessive? and you will be on the road during the production anyway, can't you broaden the apartment search? it's not more than 2 days of shooting right?
 
Amr Rahmy said:
your spending that much of the budget on less than 7% of the footage, seems a bit excessive? and you will be on the road during the production anyway, can't you broaden the apartment search? it's not more than 2 days of shooting right?
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2 days shooting, over what would be about 8 hours of 1 story day. So we need daylight and night. And we need the city line of NYC out the windows.

Regardless we have to get the sound stage anyway, so the only additional cost is material and labor to construct it.
 
Andrew McCarrick said:
2 days shooting, over what would be about 8 hours of 1 story day. So we need daylight and night. And we need the city line of NYC out the windows.

Regardless we have to get the sound stage anyway, so the only additional cost is material and labor to construct it.
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Yeah, but if I was to pull a number out of the air I'd guess this is going to cost you between $5K and $10K.
 
I agree that it seems unnecessary to spend that much time/money on such a small portion of the script. But hey, if you have the resources, go for it.
 
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