When it came to finding a production designer (in charge of designing the visual “style” of a film- i.e., props, costumes, dressing rooms to look as they should, overall general “look” of everything in the film) for The Shelter, I immediately thought of a friend sitting only two or three seats away from me in class. Her name is Cate Zerega, and she did the PD on the “final” film I was Cinematographer on last semester. I remember she went well above and beyond what we needed to make a classroom look like an office, so she was the first person I asked as I knew her work ethic and dedication would never be an issue.
Upon offering her the position, she immediately said “absolutely” and was very excited at the opportunity to design my “period” bomb shelter film. We met a few times and exchanged countless emails on what would look appropriate, what would sell the time era, and what would just look all around badass. Budget was also a concern so we discussed and set an amount fairly early on, which we only went over by a little.
As of the day before shooting, I had only seen our actual shooting location (an actual Fallout shelter with a capacity for 1900 people in the heart of Chicago’s loop) once, due to difficulties with the location and having access to the shelter. So the majority of what Cate and I discussed involved just finding out what WOULD be in a period-accurate 1950′s fallout shelter with no updating since say 1959 or so. We also discussed what an intelligent middle-aged man who formerly worked for the Office of Civil Defense might have as adornments to his room or office. We discussed what a young 13 year old interested in radio might have in his room, and what a shelter occupied for 15 years might look like after going through an unrealistic amount of supplies.
We decided that what would be essential to “selling” the bomb shelter location would be the location itself, claustrophobic and dirty and filled with concrete. Not even I imagined exactly how perfect the location would be, but it isn’t all that surprising considering it was and actual shelter. That was not hard to remember once we got down in there.
We also decided that chances were high that the original supplies in the fallout shelter would no longer be there and that such items would immediately “sell” the effect and location, and time period. So Cate and I purchased boxes and barrels of supplies from (where else) eBay.
The first room we decided to decorate was Eli’s, (the main character’s son) and Cate started dressing the set as soon as we walked in. She did it largely without my direction, as we were busy shooting outside and I trusted her enough to bring my vision for the set to life. Here’s how Eli’s room appeared on screen:
Needless to say, Cate did a kick-ass job with this room. The only things that were original to this room are the Chicago and American flags hanging on the walls, but we honestly felt they added to the feel. As a brief note, we did briefly have to discuss whether the flag would have been current in 1959, and thankfully it was. The blankets are all army surplus, and the cot was from Walmart. Somehow, we were able to return that to save ~$40. The brown cyndrilical container on the left we found on eBay– it’s an actual Fallout shelter Sanitation kit and was filled with the original contents. It really had a shit load of sixty year-old sanitary pads in there, which we distributed throughout the shelter. The wooden radio I bought at a vintage radio auction for $6. This scene also beautifully demonstrates the color palette we chose for the film, seeking a generally neutral militaristic feel with a glimpse of hope thrown in- hence we ended up with Brown, Sage, Rust, Red, Silver, Blue, off-white, and finally our “hopeful and happy” yellow color. Eli’s shirt is one of the most dominant examples of the use of yellow in the whole film, and it represents (hopefully) his brighter future. The next example illustrates another use of yellow:
Note the bright yellow CB Civil Defense transceiver on the top shelf. That was donated to the production by a generous member of an antique radio forum I frequent, it is part of a collection in a civil defense museum in Washington. The color palette is also very present in this set, given the red can, silver tin of survival crackers (Yes, from eBay– 12 pounds of UNOPENED survival crackers from the 50′s) and also the brown packages of sanitary pads from the kit in the previous room. An interesting note is that the Civil Defense first-aid kit Guy is holding was actually found hanging on the wall of one of the rooms of the shelter and IS original. It happened to be luck that it was still there and still had supplies in it, so we added it in to this scene where the main character is looking for medical supplies.
This is the third major space Cate designed for the film. This room had to be completely rearranged, and while the desk was in the space (which was being used as the head janitor’s office for the building) all of the things on the desk are part of the set design. On the far left (this is more clearly visible while watching the film) is the actual lamp from Disney which the Pixar one is modeled after, which was provided by Guy (who plays the lead) who worked at Disney for several years. It is accurate to the 60′s. The two large vacuum tubes (center of desk) are part of my private and vast collection of vacuum tubes, though those two in particular are duds and useful only for display. They made excellent props, and it was nice not having to care when we dropped one. The tin cans were all still full of food, and Cate picked those up a day or two before the shoot and tore the labels off. I definitely feel they help sell the passage of time in the shelter, and they work with the silver in our color scheme. The green “box” is actually an old-ass filing cabinet Cate found on eBay. (I’m currently using it as a desk extension in my dorm as well) The recorder Guy is using in this scene and a few others was my Grandfathers and is not at all accurate to the late 50′s/ early 60′s (it uses cassette tapes and looks very 80′s), but it works well regardless.
This is certainly only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the amount I could write about working with Cate to design the look of this film. She did an absolutely fantastic job. I will surely write about a few other aspects I want to touch on regarding the wardrobe and visual style in the near future, but for now I’m signing off. I have several more articles to write on how “The Shelter” went from dream to reality over the course of almost a year and a half.
SBK
