Case study · Rooster Teeth · Haunter, Season 2

Kennedy Mines.

A mine shaft set for an episode of Haunter, a ghost hunting show that was part reality, part recreation and part improv. For this episode centered around the reported hauntings inside an abandoned gold mine in northern California, we needed a space to turn improvised candid dialog centered around fantastical retellings of ghost stories into live-action comedy. As the production designer I designed the set, sourced props, managed the build, shoot and strike over 13 days in 2019.

Sheet no. A-205 Case study — Kennedy Mines

ProductionHaunter — Season 2

ProducerRooster Teeth

StageSpiderwood Studios, Texas

FabricationRT shop — Austin Studios

RoleStephen Fay — production designer

StatusShot Aug 2019 · aired Feb 2020

Behind the scenes on the soundstage: a blue-lit carved-rock wall with a film crew and camera at its foot on the left, and on the right a raised platform holding a warm-lit, timber-framed mine-tunnel mouth, lit practicals hanging from its beams. — Kennedy Mines · Haunter, S2 Rooster Teeth · Spiderwood Studios · shot Aug 2019 Fig. 0 — BTS

Revisions — model to strike, in thirteen days

Mark	Issue	Description
	Brief	A section of timbered mine shaft for the episode’s reenactment.
	Design · 3 weeks out	A working model runs the concept past the director, DP and gaffer, and briefs the shop. Dimensioned drawings issued.
	Build · 8 days	Eighteen foam blocks carved and painted to read as rock, off-site in the RT shop.
	Assemble · 2 days	Set stood up on the Spiderwood stage, alongside two companion sets for the same shoot.
	Shoot · 2 days	Antique headlamps wired to dim; two tons of crushed basalt down for the floor.
	Strike · aired	Struck in a day. The episode aired February 2020 — the footage and these stills are what’s left.

Brief

A-205 · 1.0

In Haunter, every episode has five comedians turned ghost hunting enthusiasts gather at their clubhouse, where one of them shares the tales of a haunted location they’ve researched, which gets combined with comedic reenactments of the stories, then the crew goes to the location for a ghost hunt. This one drew on the real Kennedy Mine in Jackson, California, and my department was charged with building the set for the reenactment.

I was the production designer, running a twelve-person department — an art director, three carpenters, two sculptors, a scenic painter, three set dressers and a prop master. I drew the set and I ran the crew that built it, off the same drawings. This sheet follows it in that order: drawn, then built, then dressed.

Build to strike — 13 days

Build, off-site8 days
Assemble on stage2 days
Shoot2 days
Strike1 day

The plan

A-205 · 2.0

Design ran about three weeks ahead of the shoot. A 3D model of the set allowed the director, cinematographer and I to plan how to get the footage we needed out of the smallest footprint possible. My dimensioned drawings went out from there and work got started in the shop.

Nothing level

None of the tunnel is straight, flat or square. The framing fans and leans on purpose to give the sense of slapdash work and a dangerous atmosphere.

Untextured clay render of the set model seen from above: a long serpentine run of sculpted rock wall sweeping in from the left, and at right a timber-framed structure of stacked rails and posts sitting on a raised platform deck. — 2.0 · The mockup Design model · 2019 Fig. 2-A

Keynotes — 2.0

Four systems in one model

2.1The rock. Sculpted walls in a long serpentine run that reads as the mine cut.

2.2The timber. The bents, caps and rails the shaft is framed from.

2.3The deck. The raised platform the tunnel sits on, its front edge faced in rock.

2.4The flats. What the carved foam mounts to. Foam on flats, so the set builds off-site and stands up on the stage.

Built from these four — see section 3.0.

Plan view of the set model: the timber tunnel runs between two lengths of rock wall on the green deck; in plan the shaft is wider at one end and tightens along its length. — 2.0 · Plan The cap wall was disconnected from the main set to allow versatility and camera access Fig. 2-B · design model

The carved rock walls standing on the soundstage mid-assembly: painted stone faces at left, the raw plywood backs of two flats still exposed at right, a work table and paint buckets in the foreground. — 2.0 · Studio placement From visualization to install Fig. 2-C · design process

General notes

Fixed conditions

These notes govern section 3.0.

N1 · CameraSet built specifically to accommodate camera setups.

N2 · BudgetTight budget and tight timeframe meant I came in on weekends and worked as a sculptor and scenic painter.

N3 · ModularCarved foam on flats, built off-site to stand up on the stage. The whole set has to come apart.

The build

A-205 · 3.0

Eighteen blocks of foam.

On camera, the rock has to survive up close. We carved the walls from eighteen blocks of styrofoam — four by four by eight feet each — and painted them to read as wet, fissured stone. The sculpting-and-painting budget was thin for a set this size, so I stopped being only the designer. I worked the detailing pass alongside the sculptors, then over a single weekend laid the sealant, the primer, the base coat and the rough contrast shading myself so the scenic painter could put every hour into the fine work that sells it.

A labor of love.

Built to come apart

Nothing was built in place. Eighteen carved blocks went onto flats in the RT shop over eight days, then trucked in — the whole set had to break down, travel, and stand back up on the Spiderwood stage in two, alongside two companion sets for the same shoot.

Untextured clay render at camera height inside the tunnel model: timber bents and caps receding down the shaft, fissured rock walls closing in on both sides, board cribbing along the lower walls and a rubbled floor running out to the rock face at the end. — 3.0 · Drawn The shaft in the model, down its axis Fig. 3-A · design model

Inside the built tunnel, mid-take: a costumed miner in a hat carries two metal ore buckets down the shaft, a second miner with a lit helmet lamp and a shovel behind him, a barrel and crate to the left, caged practical lamps on the timber, rubble underfoot. — 3.0 · Built The same axis, lit and dressed, mid-take Fig. 3-B · as shot

Inside the tunnel mid-build at the shop: carved styrofoam walls still raw white, a ladder against the far wall, plywood sheets and foam scraps on the floor. — 3.0 · In the shop Sculpting in progress Fig. 3-C · build

Wide view of the soundstage during assembly: painted rock sections standing at left, the exposed plywood backs of unpainted flats at right, a paint table and buckets between them. — 3.0 · Assembly Set install Fig. 3-D · build

Behind the scenes on set: a section of the timber-framed tunnel with raked, off-square beams and burlap over the top, a costumed miner inside carrying buckets, with the soundstage ceiling grid, a ladder and stage walls deliberately visible around the set. — 3.0 · On the stage Fig. 3-E · BTS

The details

A-205 · 4.0

The details make or break the scene. The floor is two tons of crushed basalt, barrels and crates I’d bought for another show and had the crew age for this one. Other props like picks and shovels came from a prop house. And the headlamps are genuine antiques I tracked down, which turned into the one piece of real engineering in the dressing.

Dimmable by design

I wired the antique lamps to be dimmable. Some shots needed them bright, to punch through the atmospheric fog; others needed them low, so the light wouldn’t wash out the actors’ faces.

Tight three-shot of costumed miners against the carved rock wall, antique headlamps mounted on all three hard hats; the centre miner's lamp is lit. — 4.0 · Practicals Three lamps, three miners Antique headlamps, wired to dim Fig. 4-A · as shot

Keynotes — 4.0

Dressing & practicals

4.1Headlamps. Genuine antiques, sourced and then wired to dim. Bright for the fog, low for the faces.

4.2Barrels + crates. Bought for another show, re-aged by the crew for this one.

4.3Picks + shovels. Rented from a prop house.

4.4Basalt. Two tons of crushed rock, laid as the shaft floor.

Real materials, because the camera gets close.

Deeper in the built tunnel: a miner with a lit headlamp and shovel at centre and two more behind in blue haze, surrounded by a rich dressing layer — barrel, crate, a ceramic jug on a rail, burlap netting between the roof timbers, and a rubble floor. — 4.0 · In situ The dressing layer deep in the shaft: barrel, crate, jug, rubble Fig. 4-B · as shot

Two costumed miners side by side: the left in a metal hard hat with a lit lamp, the right in a soft canvas cap with a different carbide-style reflector lamp, showing the variety of period lamps across characters. — 4.0 · Lamp variety Different lamps for different miners: metal helmet, canvas cap, carbide reflector Fig. 4-C · as shot

Credits

A-205 · 5.0

The set was struck in a day along with two others built in the same studio. Being able to be out in a day meant being able to allocate money to my budget for upcoming episodes instead of soundstage rental.

The record

Neither the dimensioned drawings nor the set survive. The design model and the shoot stills are what’s left — and this sheet is built from both.

Stephen FayProduction designerSet design and dimensioned drawings; ran the department. The detailing pass and the weekend sealant-to-shading paint.
Art departmentRooster TeethArt director, three carpenters, two sculptors, a scenic painter, three set dressers, a prop master.
Prop houseRentalPeriod picks and shovels.
ProductionHaunter · S2A Rooster Teeth show. Aired February 2020 on their platform and other WarnerMedia platforms.

A single production still of a soft-cap miner retouched into a period photograph: sepia tone, a plate-style vignette fade and film grain turn the shot into an in-world 1800s miner's portrait. — 5.0 · Coda Our wardrobe department was incredible Fig. 5-A

The seven Haunter department heads shoulder to shoulder in front of a flint-stone archway on location, one holding the production clapperboard. — 5.0 · Department heads On location in Buckinghamshire, UK Left to right: Ezra Venitos, series producer · Derek Franzese, assistant director · Stephen Fay, production designer · Taylor Camarot, cinematographer · Daniel Fabelo, director · Jessica Vassami, production manager · April Schwartz, costume designer Fig. 5-B