Monday, May 21, 2007

"Colin & Nigel": Behind the Scenes

It's time to strike the set now that the "Colin & Nigel" short is over. But before I start taking apart Faux-Hogwarts, I decided to take some pictures for posterity.



You would think that walls and a floor would be easy enough to build, but there were other things to consider, such as having enough room to fit my camera in for close-ups. I had the base and half of the wall height built when I decided to widen the set by about 30%, which meant taking down the walls again to work on the floor.

On the bottom, you'll notice the lower platform in front of the stage. This was where I mounted the camera for most shots (more details on that below). Above, you'll see an empty amber-colored DVD case used to diffuse the bright lamp I used for lighting.






The same set at an angle, for the hell of it. Also, you get a better view of the smaller details like the shelves of potions and the walkway I built.






One of my first ideas was to put an object in every shot that was constantly in motion. This ended up being the fireplace. On the left are three levers attached to special Lego blocks that light up and send that red light through tubes into the fireplace. On many shots with the fireplace in view, you can see the lights flicker, which is me tapping on the levers.

On the right is a crank that allowed the five individual flame pieces to turn inside the fireplace. This ended up not getting used, but you probably wouldn't have been able to see that much detail anyway.






This is the camera bracket I built so that the camera could be solidly anchored to the low platform in front of the set (It was a Canon PowerShot A80). I was able to find a screw amongst the spare parts in the garage that fit the camera's tripod hookup.


Ah, but all things must come to an end. Going, Going, Gone.













Incidentally, the next LEGO film is tentatively titled, "Colin & Nigel meet the giant robots that turn into various modes of transportation".

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