Undead is a 2003 Australian feature film directed by brothers Michael and Peter Spierig. The genre for the film is a zombie horror comedy staring Felicity Mason, Mungo McKay and Rob Jenkins. The Making of Undead demonstrated the various challenges for the cast in the making of the film. The summary of Undead in simple words is a old-fashioned Australian fishing village is overcome by meteorites that turn its residents into the ravenous Undead, leaving a small group of those unharmed to find a way out. The three stages of production are pre-production, production and post-production, and out of all stages time and budget was their major concern.
The roles undertaken by the cast were set many tasks rather than one role each. Michael and Peter Spierig were directors, editors, producers and writers of Undead. After making over fifteen short films, dozens of television commercials and numerous music videos, the Spierig Brothers decided to take the leap into feature film production in early 2000. The production designer Matthew Putland said that in every film he was in there were always challenges and therefore he enjoyed the challenges that Undead portrayed.
Undead has been a two and a half year project for Directors Michael and Peter Spierig. Pre-production began almost eight months before principal photography. The film’s complex visual effects meant the directors had to spend an enormous amount of time planning and testing ideas. Due to the budget constraints every aspect of the film had to be planned carefully. A detailed 15 minute animatic of the film’s climax was created in order for the production team to grasp the complexity of the effects and live action requirement.
In the pre-production process of Undead, Hundreds of make-up effects appliances were created by Steven Boyle. The task would prove very daunting for the small effects crew. The team worked almost non-stop for 10 weeks to create the hoards of zombies and unique creature designs.
After principal photography wrapped, a smaller second unit would continue shooting for an additional 19 days. With the reduced crew, shooting became long and extremely difficult. A number of complex action sequences still had to be shot including a car crash at night. The cast and crew’s enthusiasm and dedication for the project made these very difficult days and nights possible.
Over 305 visual effects were created for the film taking over eight months of around the clock work. Many of the effects were created on Peter ’s and Michael’s laptop. The process was slow and at times extremely frustrating. During this time Michael and Peter were also the editors and sound designers, meaning very little sleep for the brothers. The end result is a film that redefines the low budget horror genre.
