Five Nights at Freddy's 2 Production Design Secrets
- Olive Pritchard
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Watch out horror fans: a new installment in the Five Night’s At Freddy’s franchise is clanking its way into cinemas December 5th. Whether you are a devoted fan of the video games or a newly converted horrorphile, Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 (FNAF2) promises to deliver another thrilling, ominous chapter filled with all the nostalgia of the original games. Check out these 5 Five Nights at Freddy's 2 production design secrets that reveal how the team built on the initial designs to bring Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, + Freddy to life.
PD Secret 1. Jim Henson’s Creature Shop
Director Emma Tammi had a clear vision for the animatronics from the get go. She knew that to recreate the unsettling atmosphere that fans of the franchise expect, the animatronics needed to be practically created. Tammi turned to Jim Henson’s Creature Shop to bring the characters to life, who built the suits and heads for Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, and Freddy. By combining animatronic technology with practical design, Tammi + the team at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop were able to bring the iconic characters to life in a way that felt menacing but believable.
PD Secret 2. Building plug + play animatronics
Robert Bennett, the lead supervisor at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, needed to create animatronics that could be quickly + easily reassembled. To do this, his team built multiple versions of the characters with duplicate kits for extra limbs. This meant designing and making up to 12 extra arms + extra legs for each character, allowing parts to switch out quickly and shoot independently of the entire body.
PD Secret 3: Staying true to the video game
Scott Cawthon, creator of Five Nights At Freddy’s + one of the film's writers, shared the original game files with the production team and allowed them to develop the design for the movies based off of his vision. Staying true to the video games was one of the most important considerations for Robert Bennett and meant that cult fans got the same creepy feeling from the films as they did the game.
PD Secret 4: Controlling the animatronics
Bonnie, Chica, and Freddy were all controlled by stunt performers inside the suits, with an external team of puppeteers controlling the unsettling eye movements + head tilts of the masks that brought each character to life. Foxy was the only character controlled entirely by puppeteers - a team of six people were responsible for controlling his head, his arms, each leg, his torso, and his positioning on set.
PD Secret 5: Building a real pizza place
Production designer Marc Fisichella understood from the very beginning that the pizzeria needed to feel as real as possible to create a true sense of horror for audiences. He teamed up with cinematographer Lyn Moncrief to create a continuous set on which all the rooms were connected and all spaces were genuinely accessible. This maze-like set up added to the unsettling atmosphere we experience throughout the franchise.
Why is production design so important?
A production designer is head of the art department. On board from the beginning, they work with the director + producers to help bring the writer’s script, director’s vision + producer’s plans together as a visual whole. The production designer researches or "scouts" locations, eventually securing + preparing it for shooting. They budget the cost of materials, track expenses, and typically oversee the art director, set designers, illustrators + scenic painters to develop a specific visual style for a production. From minute details to overarching themes, a production designer must consider every aspect shown on screen, regardless of budget, they must be resourceful and think on their feet.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 continues to highlight the value of production design in bringing a story to life. From specially making the animatronic heads to building a continuous, connected pizzeria, the franchise leans into practical effects + creative decisions that ground the on-screen horror in the physical world. This ensures the same eerie thrill that has attracted devoted fans for over a decade, and we can’t wait to see what new frights are hiding in the shadows this December.
Written by Olive Pritchard -- Olive is a Marketing Intern at Onni Creative. She is passionate about understanding the industry, experiential marketing, and the intersection of culture and storytelling. As well as being a frequent customer at her local movie theatre, Olive loves to spend her free time travelling with friends and reading.
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