Egg Born Son
Veteran
Would love a brief breakdown of some of the things you did to build that set. I'm particularly interested in the brickwork and whether those pipes are found objects, PVC or a combination (surely the valves are the real deal?...)
War Games
- Thread starter Zach Olson
- Start date
Zach Olson
Active member
Zach Olson
Active member
Haha, thanks! Funny you say that because I just learned that my cousin is a set builder on Grimm!good grief zach, that looks amazing! maybe you should be a set designer/decorator
Zach Olson
Active member
Because I am using my brother's warehouse I stapled cardboard to the walls so cleanup would be easy and his walls would stay clean. For the bricks/old concrete look I bought a couple of 5 gallon buckets of all purpose joint compound (Home Depot, $11.75) and plastered the wall with a thin layer. I then went back over it with a 4" trowel, putting plenty of mud on at a time, and forced the mud to squeeze out the top. I did that for every layer and periodically would stop to add a vertical line of mud. After it dried I painted it with a base of grey. I then took black spray paint and hit it with a light mist. I did the same with a dark brown but only in some areas. I also took a little bit of wet mud (not quite muddy water) and used a paint roller to apply just a small amount here and there for accents. Around any of the electrical boxes and other things I added a little more black and brown spray paint for shadow and dirt buildup.
The pipes are a combination or steal, PVC, and cardboard tubes. All of the long pipes you see are cardboard tubes painted a rusty brown. I then took a BBQ scrubber and lightly dipped it in a rusty orange paint, and dabbed that on top. Next came a mist of black spray paint. After I had things in place I took a spritzer bottle and lightly sprayed things with water immediately followed by blowing dust onto every wet surface.
The big 90 degree on the ground to wall is real, the 4" T with the valve on it is real but the pipe on top of that is cardboard. On the 'fake' wall is a 8" 90 PVC, painted. The other valve in the middle of the 4" vertical length in the corner is real but again the pipe is not.
Hope the explanation wasn't too long...
I will try to post some pictures that I took while building the set soon.
Egg Born Son
Veteran
Not too long at all, thanks for sharing in such detail. Well worth the effort, the final effect is great. The only reason I even doubted it was real was because it was too good (and the lack of a ceiling). Looking forward to seeing what you did with it.
Zach Olson
Active member
Just posted some pics I took while building it, thanks again!
ZazaCast
Major Contributor
WOW... it's going to be a shame to break that all down. Great job & thanks for the detail!
(I have to build a set in the next few months and this is a great help)
Back in the day, the festival film threads used to be a production blog of sorts and a wealth of information. I only wish it would get back to that.
These days (with a few exceptions) is seems to be all about the 'surprize, last minute' entry and no information about the production process...learning experience lost.
Thanks again and if you feel like posting more info. on the production...I for one will be following the thread.
(I have to build a set in the next few months and this is a great help)
Back in the day, the festival film threads used to be a production blog of sorts and a wealth of information. I only wish it would get back to that.
These days (with a few exceptions) is seems to be all about the 'surprize, last minute' entry and no information about the production process...learning experience lost.
Thanks again and if you feel like posting more info. on the production...I for one will be following the thread.
Chris Messineo
Veteran
That set is amazing and inspiring - it makes me want to build something cool like that too!
Lynchenstein
Well-known member
Me too... but the wife just won't have it in the living room. I've asked.
Shawn Philip Nelson
Veteran
Wow!! You never ran into him in all the days you were on set? Did he have any hand in any of the sets we were at this weekend?
Ryan P. Kelly
Well-known member
So impressed by that set! At the first photo of the actor in the chair I was thinking how I wish I could find a spot tlike that...then scrolling down revealed the work you did! Really greta..can't wait
Zach Olson
Active member
I never did run into him there. I guess he must have been working on the other soundstage or on different days. I guess it makes sense that I wouldn't have seen him given that I was there using the finished set while he is there during building, but again they are always building... I am not sure if he did any work on the sets we were on. I will be sure to ask him though!
Zach Olson
Active member
Thanks! I looked but couldn't find a location similar to the one in my head so I decided to build it. =)
Zach Olson
Active member
Glad that it helps! I will try to post more details when I get a chance. I meant to take more pictures of the different steps but got busy building and kinda forgot. =)
Zach Olson
Active member
Zach Olson
Active member
Poster added.
Zach Olson
Active member
Thought I would share a little more about the build.
The fake wall is an 8'X8' pallet that the neighbor let me have. It was nice to be able to have an "instant" wall. I simply screwed one side into the permanent wall and put a normal sized pallet on the other side for support. I then covered it with large pieces of cardboard from boxes that I broke down. The price was right and it worked great.
I found the cardboard tubes sitting outside of some sort of waterworks/plumbing place. They were used to ship long copper pipes. The other place I was going to go was a carpet store and see if I could get the cores from the rolls. These were also free. =)
All of the old electrical panels are I found sitting around in my Dad's barn. I did have some real ones that I simply dressed up. I couldn't paint these because my brother is leasing the warehouse so I made some mud and used a paint roller to roll it on. The DVX 'logo' is on this one.
I utilized wire and screws to fasten things to the walls and hold them in place. Because the pipes are cardboard I put screws in the back and wrapped the wire around them and a screw in the wall. The wires that border the top are borrowed from my brother's scrap pile. I made 1' loops with the wire to hang these up.
The light also came from the barn. I hung a chain from the pipes in the ceiling and ran an electrical cord down it. This was handy because it allowed me to raise, lower, move it around, easily as needed.
For the most part everything else (chains, barrel, bucket, fire extinguisher, misc pipes, etc.) used to dress the set is stuff that I found in Dad's barn/shop.
Hope this helps with any of your future projects!
PS I started taking it down yesterday because my brother needs his warehouse back. It was tough but not as bad as I thought it would be. The hardest part was removing the first screw, after that it got easier. =)
Shawn Philip Nelson
Veteran
Zach! Woohoo! I love it! Excellent short, the intro really works, your set looks fantastic and there's some good acting in here. I'll have some critique but I need to watch it again, the most obvious is you needed better sound fx on the hits (you should still add these before putting this up on vimeo or youtube). All in all a super solid entry, I hope everyone watches it!
Chris_Keaton
ScriptFEST Mod
Where'd you film all the weapons?