Zombies!!! Endless fun on a sunny afternoon, with a big back yard and a bucketful of ammo. Lots of fun to film too, as it turns out... This was a quick test shoot to see what kind of look we could get for zombies, with an absolute minimum of very basic makeup. We've got a couple of fairly big, similarly themed projects in mind for further down the track, so that was all the excuse we needed to grab some cameras & willing volunteers and head off for a day in the country.

We had 3 main aims - do it quickly, make it simple, and have fun.

The only makeup used was pale foundation powder, watered down black facepaint, carob powder (for grime), and some fake blood. Couldn't get much simpler than that. Makeup time for the zombies was an hour for all 7 of them - and a big chunk of that was spent tryng out various options before deciding on the final 'look'. Filming itself took a little under 3 hours.

All in all, it was a successful day. We were very happy with the results, and everybody had a great time doing it. We're really pleased with the look of the zombies, especially considering how little time and effort went into them. With a couple of minor refinements, this'll be the look for our background zombies (or massed hordes of the things) in future projects - it's quick, easy, and cheap. Give it a go!

When we come to do zombie test #2, we'll go for something a little more elaborate with the makeup, for foreground zombies. But still keeping it as simple as possible.

Check out the test video here. (for best results, turn the volume up loud to get the full effect of that 70's style 'brooding menace'-type soundtrack)...