Brain Eatin’ Zombie Babies - Steve Schnier

Posted by Steve on 29 July 2010 | 1 Comments

Tell us about your sci-fi web series.

Brain Eatin' Zombie Babies - is a micro-series. It's very short episodes that tell a joke - and then get out. There's character development, but that will come from viewings of the accumulated episodes. The micro-series comes from the original Simpson shorts that played as bumpers on The Tracy Ullman Show. And we all know how that worked out.

Where did the idea/concept for your web series come from?

The key idea behind the show was to create and develop a solely-owned property. I created the TV series Freaky Stories that played briefly on Fox Kids in the late 90's. It ran for 3 years in Canada and in most of the world. I wasn't happy with the way the distributor handled it. Although the show did very well with audiences, they couldn't find it a good home in the US - and broke the half-hour episodes up into shorts to sell piecemeal.

I felt that I should do my own thing - but budget being a consideration, opted to do a micro series of very short episodes. I'd rather do something small, very well - than large and poorly. I'm not big on gore. I don't really watch zombie movies - for the most part, they're illogical and poorly done. And they all boil down to something in the dark jumping out at you. I am however, interested in true Haitian zombies - and would LOVE to see a good movie based on that.

Name some of your sci-fi influences. Any favorite movies, TV shows, novels?

The usual influences - King Kong (1933), Star Trek (I've got Shatner's phone number), Star Wars, the Alien series. Blade Runner. I see all the big blockbusters. 2001 killed any desire that I had to go into space. It's so empty out there.

Tell us about the technical production of your show. What camera & equipment did you use? Editing software & hardware? For visual effects, etc?

We're shooting with 2 digital home video cameras. One is a Hitachi that burns blu-rays, the other a Sony that downloads from a hard drive. Editing is done in Adobe Premiere CS4. Visual Effects are all done as live floor effects. They're crude, messy and really add an oomph to the show. Plus there's the element of "Is this going to work?" - which keeps you on your toes. When someone gets slimed, they really get slimed.

Can you tell us any interesting facts or trivia about your show? Any funny stories

Alyson Court who plays "Mom" is "Claire Redmond" in the Resident Evil series. Alyson and I have worked together for many years, starting with my TV series Freaky Stories. She's brilliant, very funny, a complete joy to work with - and doesn't mind if you dump disgusting stuff all over her - which on a show like this is a good thing.

The puppets were *ahem* "borrowed" from a defunct puppet shop. There are actually 3 puppets standing in for "Daisy" - in various stages of decomp and FX useage. There's a mini "Daisy" where she looks all nice and sweet. All the kids want to play with her. There's a larger "Hero" Daisy that we rig for FX - such as the vomiting. I constructed an esophagus out of a bicycle innertube + a snorkle mouthpiece. Then there's the "blue" Daisy - its in an advanced stage of decomp with chunks of flesh missing. There is a fourth, male, older puppet who will possibly appear in the second series. He will be a full body "walker" - operated via Bunraku. He is actually more of a Haitian zombie and will be more frightening than the Daisy puppets.

The series from "first idea" to online presentation took five weeks.

The vomit is made from pea soup + alphabet noodles for good luck. The snot is actually the same stuff they used for ectoplasm in Ghostbusters (and alien snot) in Alien(s). It's actually 13 years old, left over from Freaky Stories. I keep gallons of it in my basement for just this type of occasion!

Brain Eatin' Zombie Babies can be found online and on Facebook.

Brain Eatin' Zombie Babies - SciFinal Page

More behind the scenes from Brain Eatin' Zombie Babies below:

Puppet creation zone

On location shoot

Steve Schnier on location

On location with Brain Eatin' Zombie Babies