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Index:
- Definition of Set Construction
- Importance of a script and a storyboard
- Camera angles and camera movement
- Build only what the camera sees
- Using computers to help planning sets
- Leave room to move things
- Removable walls
- Making the set "animation safe"
- Remember scale
- Need for multiple sets
- Breaking the sets apart
- Using backdrops
- Light & Shadows
- Summary
Definition of Set Construction:
Set construction is the process of building the scenery where
the action in your movie will take place. LEGO is a great medium
for this, because LEGO bricks are so easy to attach and break
apart. You can easily try different things and if you don't like
the results, start again.
Importance of a script and a storyboard:
When you're building sets for your movie, it's extremely helpful
to know what is going to happen. If you plan to have a guy
running through a door, you need to build the door on to your
set. The script tells everything you have to build.
Storyboard is a graphical extension of a script, and when you
have a storyboard to work with, you'll know where the
door needs to be. Storyboard lets the animator see the sets
before they're built.
Camera angles and camera movement:
If you're trying to make a decent movie, you'll need to use
different camera angles. If you look at a typical Hollywood
action movie you see that the camera angles change constantly.
It's rare to see even five seconds from the same angle a time.
There is also camera movement, like zooms and pans, to consider.
Camera pans are currently fairly rare in amateur stop motion
movies, but as the community develops and more attention is paid
to details, camera movements will become more common. I have
used camera panning in my movies, so I know it can be done.
All angles and movements of the camera should be visible in
story boards, and you need to think of them when you're building
your set.
Build only what the camera sees:
We all love to build stuff out of LEGO bricks, don't we? Well,
when you're trying to make a movie, there's no point in building
details that the audience will never see. All this does is take
time away from the actual filming, and it also occupys bricks
you might need to build visible things.
You don't have to think about what the other sides of the walls
will look like. If the camera sees only one side of the wall,
what's the point of making the other side look good. Just take a
look at the next picture.
After you've build your set, see what it looks like through the
camera. If something is missing, add it, and if someting can't
be seen, you might want to remove it. If you have a large LEGO
collection you don't need to remove stuff you've already added.
I for one need pretty much every brick I can get, so I'll always
remove the excess stuff.
You might want to move the camera through the path you've
decided to use in the scene (that is if you're going to move the
camera at all) and see if everything is in place.
Using computers to help planning sets:
Some people have powerful 3D-programs that can be used to assist
in set design. You can plan camera paths and easily see what
works and what doesn't. There are also CAD programs made
specifically for LEGO, so if you know how to use those you can
build the set completely and see if you have the necessary
bricks for it. If not, then you can easily see what's missing
and go out and buy them.
Check out www.ldraw.org for
LEGO-specific CAD software.
Leave room to move things:
Don't build your sets too tight. You are after all making a stop
motion animation, and a crucial part of that is that you are
able to move the characters in between frames. Of course tight
corridors and such might give the animation some atmosphere, but
if you're not used to working in tight spaces then try to leave
room around the characters.
Tip: If you do build a tight corridor, you might need special
tools to move your character if you can't get your hand in
there. If I remember correctly, Russ Jensen (the guy that
animates Technic figures, and does it well) uses old dental
tools for the job.
Or you could make the walls removable..
Removable walls:
Just what it says: walls that can be removed. This could be one
solution to working in tight spaces. Just make some of the walls
removable, so that you can just shoot a frame, remove the wall,
move the characters, put the wall back and shoot another frame
and so on.
If you need the camera to pan around the action in a closed
room, you need to make all the walls removable. Just keep the
walls attached that are visible in the camera, and take the
others away.
Making the set "animation safe":
Basically this means that you need to make sure that you can't
accidently move the set when you reach to move the characters.
You can use double-sided tape, adhesive paste or superglue to
hold down your set. You can even drill holes in your baseplates
and screw them to your table or whatever. Just make sure the set
doesn't move accidently. Of course sometimes you want the
set to move, for example when you're making camera pans by
moving the set instead of the camera. That's the way I did it in
my Fight Club movie.
Remember scale:
Building to scale can seem hard at times, but it is important
when you're building your set. You don't want a 100 inch TV in
the livingroom (or I would) or a car that can't hold even one
minifig. Of course LEGO scale differs from human scale (just
look at the LEGO cars), but just try to make it look natural.
Need for multiple sets:
Almost every movie needs more than one set. Just think about it:
a man wakes up, brushes his teeth, gets in his car and drives to
work. I can see possibly eight different sets in it: bedroom
(waking up), bathroom (brushing teeth), hallway (walking out of
the house), front yard (walking to his car), the street (driving
to work), parking lot (arriving to work), company's hallway and
finally the office. All this just to show that it's morning and
that the guy works in an office.
If you want to make a movie that doesn't use that many sets, I
suggest that you go and buy (or rent) Cube
on DVD and watch the extras and listen the director's
commentary. I don't want to spoil the movie for you, but I'll
just say that the action mostly takes place in one single set.
Breaking the sets apart:
There comes a time in every poor brick director's life that he
has to disassemble a set he has spent hours building. If you
don't have a lot of bricks, you'll need to demolish a set in
order to build another one.
Just make damn sure that you've shot all scenes you need to
shoot in the set before you break it. Again, write a script and
make storyboard so you know when you don't need a particular set
anymore.
Using backdrops:
Backdrops are generally large pictures that represent the
background in a scene. A backdrop can be painted or
photographed.
Using a backdrop allows you to have impressive scenery in your
movie without you having to build anything. You can for example
have a picture of a desert as your backdrop, and then have your
actors in the foreground and it will look like they're actually
in Sahara or something.
Some backdrops can move. For instance, the LEGO set Movie
Backdrop Studio (1351) has a moving backdrop of a cityline.
You can put a helicopter in front of it, start rolling the
backdrop and shoot the helicopter flying in the city.
You can also use the computer to create backdrops. This can be
done with a process called bluescreening. The basic idea behind
bluescreening is that you set up a blue, evenly lit canvas
behind your set and shoot whatever action you need to. Then by
using a specific computer program you can replace the blue area
of the film with either a static background or even other video
footage.
There is software meant specifically for bluescreening called
BSOL (Blue Screen Of Life) in development by a fellow Brick
Director, Wandrer2 (of Yellowhead
Studios). The project's website
is www.stack.nl/~stefanvz/bsol,
but the program isn't currently available for general download.
You can email the programmer if you want to be a beta tester.
Light & Shadows:
Yup, you need to think about lights and shadows when you're
building a set. Lights are especially important when you're
doing camera pans, because changes in angles and camera
positions may alter the colors in your footage.
When you're making a pan by moving the set, the shadows will
move as well. You could attach the lights to the set, so when
the set moves, lights move too.
Lights and shadows are of course used to create ambience, so you
need to build stuff onto your sets that cast shadows if you need
them.
You have to be careful when you're using backdrops, since your
buildings and actors can cast a shadow on the backdrop, and it
will instantly look unrealistic.
Summary:
I've written a lot of text about Set Construction, some of which
is without a doubt a bit rambling (hey, you try writing a
tutorial!), so here are the main points:
1. Only build what the camera can see
2. Make sure that the set won't accidentaly move
3. Make sure you have room to move your characters
4. Use your own creativity to make the set look good
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