Set design advice

[David Desio]

Hey guys and gals. I need some help/suggestions on building a cellar.

Basically I will be converting my 2-car garage into a northern style cellar. The walls need to be cement block and/or brick.

 

The space I am working in is a standard ground level 2-car garage, why not just find a cellar? Well for thos that don't know, are, at our highest, around sea-level. That means if you dig down a few feet, you'll hit water!

 

I was thinking about building 3 flats and covering in faux brick. I need to build a set of stairs as well, or shoot around the actors walking down the steps.

 

The story is based on Poe's "The cask of Amontialldo". The actual climax is something of a different beast and I won't get into it here.

 

Thanks in advance,

Dave

[Bob Hayes]

It sounds like you are on a limited budget. I would still look around for a space that would work for you. It doesn’t have to be underground to work. Just and old storeroom would do.

[David Desio]

correct, budget is limited. If I did go with the old storeroom idea, I may still need to have faux brick of some sort.

[Brad Grimmett]

Many northern basements are decorated as if they're a "bonus room" in the house. They don't really look like a basement. So you may be able to pull off something in a more conventional type room with no windows. Of course, you may WANT it to look like a basement, in which case I've been absolutely no help.

[David Reynolds Lacey]

As Poe was writing in the mid 19th. C. and the story is thought to be set in the 18th C., cement block cellars were not around and cellars would have been brick or stone and I think that stone always gives a greater atmosphere to a cellar and is also easier to fake. However the walls of many purpose-built wine cellars (where the tale is set) were crudely plastered with a lime based mortar mixed with animal hair/wool and given a coat of light coloured lime wash every so often to keep them looking bright and thus reflecting light from the candles or oil lamps. So you could build walls from 4x3 studding, covered in plasterboard and roughly coated with a light-weight gypsum based plaster, finished coarsely with a wooden float (rather than a smoothing trowel) and then painted with an off-white emulsion paint, suitably aged. You may also add a couple of niches and maybe an arched doorway with studded door for effect.

 

Or you could come to England and shoot it in my genuine 17th.C. wine cellar :rolleyes: