How 'Backrooms' Used Blender and Practical Locations to Build a Horrifying World on the Big Screen

In 2022, we ran an article on Backrooms , the viral short film that was sweeping the internet. It was made by a then 16-year-old Kane Parsons, who had shaken up the horror world and who was quickly becoming a YouTuber to Hollywood success story.

Now, just four years later, we're about to get the big screen debut of Backrooms , now an A24 movie inspired by that short and still directed by Kane Parsons.

This is one of those exciting success stories that proves anyone can do it if they have an idea that feels fresh and they dare to put it out there themselves.

But for indie filmmakers, the most fascinating part of this story is how Parsons translated a world built entirely inside a free, open-source 3D software into a massive, 30,000-square-foot physical movie set.

In a recent interview with The Tab , Parsons broke down how he did it.

Let's dive in.

• YouTubewww.youtube.com

What is Blender, and Why Should You Care?

I have to admit, as No Film School's resident screenwriter, I was not super familiar with Blender yet.

So let me tell you what I learned.

Blender is a completely free, open-source 3D creation suite. It handles everything from modeling, rigging, and animation to simulation, rendering, and compositing.

When he was making the short, Parsons used Blender, and even when it came time for the feature version, he stuck with what had been working with him in the concept phase.

Parsons used Blender to sketch out concept art and test out specific scenes long before pre-production.

“It started just with concept art,” he said in the Tab article. “I’d go into Blender and try to realize these spaces without pulling punches, really, and present different shots from the hypothetical film before it’s been made.”

Those early, digital renders eventually became the actual blueprints for the movie. Once the project got greenlit, the production team used Parsons' original Blender layouts to map out how they would squeeze these massive practical sets onto multiple physical soundstages.

“We already had a file with the layout that we were looking for for the film,” he explained. “Then it was a period of fine-tuning the Blender map that I’d made so things would fit inside the fire lanes and everything.”

But what happens when A24 cuts you a check and tells you to build those digital assets in the real world?

The Films, Games, and Shows That Built Kane Parsons Credit: A24

Bridging the Gap Between Blender and Reality

The biggest hurdle for any VFX artist stepping onto a physical set is scale. When you’re working inside a computer, space is infinite. You can stretch a hallway for three miles with a few clicks. On a soundstage, you're boxed in by budgets and the real world.

But Parsons showed up with some digital blueprints and then was able to work with his Director of Photography, Jeremy Cox. According to his interview in Fangoria, Parsons essentially used the software as a pre-visualization sandbox to tech-scout a set that didn’t even exist yet.

“I was showing him the ropes in Blender, which allowed us to tweak the environment as we went to emphasize those visual moments. So the set is kind of a reflection of the cinematography as well. They’re all kind of talking to each other ahead of actually building it.”

They were then able to use real sets built out of these cinematography designs to shoot the movie. It's a cool way to see how low-fi and open source stuff can still be useful to filmmakers at any level.

For Parsons, walking onto the finished Backrooms set was less of a triumph and more of an existential trip.

“It was like stepping into... with no exaggeration, my eyes felt there was no barrier of disassociation where it felt like it wasn’t the place that I’ve been dealing with online for all these years," Parsons said. "It was incredibly bizarre... It’s weird, being familiar with a place that doesn’t exist and then it does.”

The Takeaway for Indie Filmmakers

Kane Parsons’ jump to feature filmmaking proves that the barrier to entry is just how creative and original you can be.

You don't need a film school degree or an expensive camera package to catch the eye of a studio like A24.

You need a distinct visual voice, an understanding of atmosphere, and the willingness to master the free tools available to you.

Again, this all started with an idea and a kid who was chasing it using the tools available to him, and now it's a movie debuting on the big screen that people think will be #1 at the box office.

Let me know what you think in the comments.