Disney Channel / Director: Paul Hoen
Disney’s Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 2 returns to the off-kilter world of Seabrook where the tightly controlled, highly conforming Human world has relaxed ever-so-slightly after integrating their zombie neighbors. Seabrook High School Cheer is the overriding passion of the community. Here is the Cheer Bus that takes the cheerleaders to their week at Cheer Camp.
Dictatorial cheer captain Bucky (Trevor Tordjman) runs his cheer team hopefuls through his self-branded obstacle course. This stunt/design/engineering challenge includes tumbling, choreography platforms, spinning rock-climbing walls, ziplines, and a mud pit.
A deeper view of the Cheer Camp obstacle course, showing the climbing wall/zip line tower with the mud pit and other obstacles beyond.
Here is the zip-line landing spot with the cheer-floor/finish line beyond.
Like in the first film, the resourceful zombies continue to be proud of the culture they built out of the debris of the human world, but since integration with human society, the no longer feared Zombietown is the cool place for everyone to hang out. Here is a view across the playground toward the shopping district.
A view of Zola’s Gruesome Groceriez in the shopping district. As it was the most cost-effective way to achieve the authentic look, we poured real concrete sidewalks and asphalt street paving.
We found curving the commercial street was extremely advantageous to extending the sight lines at the edges of the frame, rather than the flat-facade of a typical street. This also showed off each individual building to a greater degree.
We recreated the 1915 steel-worker's houses we used as a location in the first film on our backlot street, which 'T's into the commercial street. So Zed's (Milo Manheim), Eliza's (Kylee Russell) and Bonzo's (James Godfrey) houses would be right where the audience would remember them being.
Another view of the houses in our Zombietown backlot.
A detail of Zola's Gruesome Groceriez, one of many zombie-centric businesses in Zombietown.
The center of Zombietown is, of course, the Z-Town Zinema, right at the top of the street.
Here's a detail of the Z-Town theater marquee, in both Zombeze (a written language based on the folds of the human brain, the object of greatest zombie affection) and in human English in this newly integrated society. This week's film is "Night of the Werewolf". In a world that is supposed to be beyond its monster-phobia, one wonders how "woke" this matinee choice really is ( that's foreshadowing).
This is a fish-eye overhead shot of Zombietown. As money was tight, an early decision was made to leave the roofs off of the houses and rely on visual effects to add them in post-production.
As it turns out, there is another group of "monsters" on the edge of Seabrook's reality, and those are Werewolves, who were the original occupants of the area until the human settlers chased them off. They have retreated to their underground warrens deep in the forest, the main part being their lair, an astronomical chamber, sort of like an underground Stonehenge.
In this lunar temple, the Werewolves can observe the movement and phases of that which dominates their lives, the moon. Here you can see their astronomical wheels, their moon-phase spheres, etc. Visual effects completed the night sky beyond the set, as well as views of the Seabrook Valley below.
In this reverse view, you can see the pounded "bronze" moon disk that acts as a primitive mirror ball during the musical numbers staged here, as well as the phases of the moon spheres and the moonstone altar which rises out of the center of the floor.
Another view of the Werewolves lair.
Another view of the moonlit Werewolves’ lair.
Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 2 finds Seabrook high in the midst of a high-stakes school presidential election between the wildly popular cheer captain Bucky (Trevor Trodjman) and the underdog Zombie, Zed (Milo Manheim). Here the conniving Bucky has resorted to the monster phobia of yesteryear and festooned the presidential debate stage with altered images of Zed as a classic Zombie.
Music-loving Zombie Bonzo (James Godfrey) accompanies the presidential debate rap battle on his Zombie-tech DJ set up.
Zed's (Milo Manheim) devoted friend Bonzo (James Godfrey) don's this Zombie-style, political sandwichboard to leaflet for Zed's longshot campaign.
Much of the first film was shot in a cool but confining college location. Like with Zombietwon, on Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 2 we needed more elbow room. So we built larger versions of parts of that school on stage so we could expand our work. This hallway/staircase/cheer room is one such space.
A reverse view of our expanded hallway set.
All is not totally well in Seabrook. A plan to demolish the old energy plant, whose explosion brought the Zombies into being has set off an earthquake, causing an enticing fissure in this school hallway.
A reverse of the traversable school hallway fissure. The Werewolves, who are growing weak because of their distance from their stolen Moonstone, sense its presence through this opening in the earth, and then lead their new friends to help them find it.
The journey leads them to the Moonstone the Humans stole from them a century ago in order to harness its power and create the Seabrook Energy Plant. Touching their amulets to it will restore the health of the Werewolves for another 100 years. The destruction of the plant and the resultant earthquake have revealed the shameful secret of Seabrook's power. As all the gang, Werewolves, Zombies and Humans will have to work together to move the massive gem, I designed this elliptical, astronomical, wolf-tech handle for the whole gang to get a grip on it.
Unfortunately, the Werewolves' precious Moonstone is in a badly damaged chamber under the ruins of the Seabrook Energy Plant. The continued seismic activity makes time of the essence to retrieve the Moonstone before the whole place collapses.
Another view of the badly damaged Moonstone chamber.
With the world set back in order, the gang celebrates the biggest social event on Seabrook's calendar, Seabrook high's Mighty Shrimp-themed prom, the Prawn. A giant shrimp, pink carpet, and search lights welcome the young attendees outside the school.
Inside we transformed the cafeteria into an undersea themed extravaganza, with miles of mylar rain curtain, high-gloss black floor, and jellyfish balloon sculptures.
Another view of the dreamy undersea Prawn, with Mighty Shrimpy watching over the festivities like Poseidon.
A detail of the Prawn-photo moment in the Prawn, couples could take their pictures in front of our heart-shaped shrimps. Note the jellyfish balloon sculptures beyond it.
