Masking, and the top of the building almost at ground level. Do you understand? Then when the Running Gag falls to the ground, it's a different set. It might work, and it is probably how I would do it.

MW, I know about masking. ha ha xD
It's just the big problem is keeping the movements steady, especially when you have so many different objects. With the chopper bursting, that's going to be at least a dozen or so separate objects moving and needing to be masked all at once. I'm not sure how you could make it all go properly.

Actually, Minifigure, the Running Gag is a pretty huge car, and it's especially massive at the back which hits the chopper which is relatively small. I think that the car would still continue spinning after the hit.

So, I'm mainly trying to find how to hold up all of the objects and easily move them down. (I know I'm probably going to spend a day masking this) haha

Here's a list of the shots I plan:

Shot 1: The Car skids to the edge of the building trying to stop.

Shot 2: From a lower angle looking up to the edge of the building the Running Gag breaks the railing at the top of the building and starts flying and spinning off. (I'll have the railing fall by attaching the pieces to the side of the building with sticky stuff)

Shot 3: The car hits the chopper and it explodes, pieces begin to fall.

Shot 4: The Camera will be fixed onto one side of a rectangular board, on the other side shall be the car, so that the camera is always in the same position relative to the car as the word spins around them. I will move the camera as I take the pictures, giving it a heavy motion blur. It will be so blurry that it will be completely unnecessary to animate falling chopper pieces.

Shot 5: A dolly shot on the street moving backward, the car lands on the street with the pieces from the chopper which bounce some, and the car moves forward.

And that's it for that part. Hope that made it somewhat more clear. My main problem is shot three. Due to the brickslosion and falling elements.

I plan to hold the Running Gag by a long LEGO shaft by hand.

Last edited by Squid (July 20, 2011 (12:39pm))

I am just going to mask the shaft. The Running Gag isn't a problem. I don't want to use stock footage though. I've never usually enjoyed the way it looked.

Shot four presents a problem, unless your set is in every direction?

For shot three You should prop up each corner of the car with a rig to keep it steady. It'd help if you could provide a visual explanation of what is to happen.

Could you make an animatic/storyboard and show us?

That's probably the best idea I've heard so far.
By doing that, I could focus on each individual piece falling down, and it would be much more likely to appear totally smooth. Still presents obvious difficulties, and I'd have to make sure and plan every frame to the letter, but it would be so cool.

Yeah, I build most of my sets in every direction.
There are a lot more open possibilities with cinematography that way, so, yeah.

Unfortunately, I'm the a horrible drawer. xD And anything I try to show will look just dreadful, and probably make any idea of this shot even worse. Haha
I was thinking of doing a visual representation in LEGO, but it would take a while since I would have to build so many buildings. D:
I might make one if I still feel I need any ideas in the far distant future when I have the set built.

I've never actually done blue screen, so I'm afraid I might fail at it. xD I think masking sounds great, and I don't see why I'd use anything besides that.

Thanks for help guys. It's nice to have some interesting ideas for this.

Haha, me too. xD

I could make a simple LEGO version, maybe with only with a lousy building. I would need to build a car to replace the Running Gag though.
(For certain reasons, I wish to not reveal the car until its scene in the movie, as I don't want to spoil it's lovely look which took me over a month to make, you'll be glad I waited until the movie)
I also might be able to do a miniature version.

I've been considering slow motion for this shot. As I do it a bit much more than most brickfilmers (Boardron is still way better than me still) I'm not sure about the impact in slow mo, but I might do the flying off the building part before it happens. I don't know. What ever it is, I'm sure it will be cool.

Another note guys: I never ever want blue/green screen. It gives it a weird fake look. Even when done by professionals in feature films sometimes. I'll do this with masking. I enjoy its look of extreme realism.

Anyway, I found a picture of my chopper:

Just in case you wanted to see that.
Also, yesterday I thought up the brilliant idea of spinning the blades just before I take the picture. This will give it an extremely realistic blur effect.

I my make a test picture substituting the Bat-Mobile for the Running Gag for shot three, as they're basically the same general shape. Just need to finish the Bat-Mobile.