Introduction: How to Build a Frankenstein Mad Science Lab Backdrop [quickly!]

About: My girlfriend and I run a company called Deville's Workshop in Toronto, Canada. We build weird props for film and television and love this website - such a great resource for inspiration and discussion!


Hi peeps! We decided to see if we could build a mad scientist Frankenstein lab set in one afternoon, using only materials we already had laying around the shop (we have lots of weird materials in the shop). We have an Halloween party idea in mind that involves my brother as a mad scientist DJ bringing the Frankenstein monster back to life with funky beats; this wall is going to be the place where the monster is chained to. Behind the wall we can control a fog machine and a whole bunch of LED strip lights, plus a psychedelic green laser that makes patterns in the fog. We are also thinking about adding a 'dancing skeleton' that gets revealed when a curtain is drawn, but one step at a time!! So this is the first part of the build.

Anyway, please check out the video to see a time-lapse step by step and let me know if you have any questions. Here's what I can tell you from what I remember:

1) build a 2x4 frame, weld it to the floor and tapcon support returns to the wall.
2) add a ceiling to hang red lights from
3) start trying out different film walls (1x3s and lauan) to see what fits
4) screw everything in place
5) paint it with a grey primer paint
6) spritz the entire thing with watered down black and brown paint
7) add LEDs to the build
8) call it done and have a sip of whiskey, life is good!


Just a note: at the end of the video we started testing the LEDs we embedded in the set but my GOPRO can't handle the house lights going out and bleached out everything (so I put photos of the final build at the beginning of the video).

Enjoy!

DAZU