Bricks in Motion
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Hey,
I'm trying to make a house seem old, like lets say 20, 30 years old, I have a bunch of white bricks to use, but they're too shiny, how do I make them look duller/older?
Coffee stains or dirt if your willing enough
-LASF
Last edited by LASF (July 19, 2011 (06:23am))
Any other techniques?
You could let it fly. A 20 or 30 year old house wouldn't look that old anyway, (I should know, my house is 75 years old)
-LASF
Last edited by LASF (July 19, 2011 (06:23am))
This is the look i'm sort of going for:
Or.... You could try making a new black layer in Gimp and screening it. Then select the house. Add a black layer over the house and increase the opacity. Then it makes a black hue over the house. You could use a color other than black though... You would have to do this to each shot so I'm not sure if it's worth it.
Yeah, that'd be too tough, I want it to look old in-camera.
Or you could make the film in sepia or B and W.
Last edited by Eddie (July 18, 2011 (07:38pm))
I wanted the film to be in color though, since following the opening, there is a first person scene inside the house, and I want it to look old.
You could try changing the white balance. I'm sure that there is a mode on there that will make the house look old, but the rest look like normal, or at least close to normal.
Hmm, any other solutions, which would be modifying the bricks, not editing the settings, since I want to keep some aspects of the shot the same, but make the set older, without altering the other settings.
Take all of the bricks you want to make "older". Find a box that will cover them without any on top of each other. They have to be flat. Get a white smoke bomb. The smoke has to be white. Lay out all of the white bricks studs up with enough room (as I said before) so that the box will cover them. Light the smoke bomb in the middle of the bricks, and make sure the hole where the smoke comes out is facing up, not touching any bricks. This will not work if it is not facing up. Cover it with the box. Wait. When the smoke bomb is finished, lift up the box and the bricks will be colored an old "marshmellow-y" color. Good for old wood, like in the picture. 
You might take sandpaper to the brick for a more distressed look. Obviously, this would be permanent, so make sure it's what you want.
I don't own a smoke bomb.
Thanks Jargon, I might try that.
Last edited by KinzCove (July 18, 2011 (08:56pm))
when the guy is walking inside have darker lighting( or more natural) and have the wooden floor 'CREAK' as they walk.
I get you want an easy way to do this and many difficult ideas passed through my mind. What was interesting is I have seen a model that was so good I made it the backdrop of my computer screen for awhile. Look here to see Mike Doyle's burnt three story Victorian house. The building technique in the fifth picture down shows a "stressed" sort of effect. Using the tan flat tiles with the light gray tiles creates the illusion of age. Another technique is in the first picture. Use other types of bricks to show age- the grill pieces look as if the wood is peeling and falling away. And you shouldn't limit yourself to standard sized bricks. Using plates can give you more detail while adding more colors to your stressful needs.
Some of the techniques listed above require you to abuse a piece. Have you thought of printing out a stressed image on sticky paper and applying it to your individual bricks? This would tone down the "newness" of each piece and you don't have to put them on correctly, as the aging process tends to move things around. Never tried this before but: Regular old Elmer's glue. Once dry it comes off easy. You could make some detail on your home with glue, wait for it to dry, film, then break it all off and wash your pieces.
My last idea is: Find a Lego lot on eBay that is heavily used from a pet full and smoker home. I have purchased some Lego from my friends when they outgrew them and their white bricks didn't age well as they played outside and beat the crap out of them.
Good luck,
Jared
I get you want an easy way to do this and many difficult ideas passed through my mind. What was interesting is I have seen a model that was so good I made it the backdrop of my computer screen for awhile. Look here to see Mike Doyle's burnt three story Victorian house. The building technique in the fifth picture down shows a "stressed" sort of effect. Using the tan flat tiles with the light gray tiles creates the illusion of age. Another technique is in the first picture. Use other types of bricks to show age- the grill pieces look as if the wood is peeling and falling away. And you shouldn't limit yourself to standard sized bricks. Using plates can give you more detail while adding more colors to your stressful needs.
While Mike Doyle's work is excellent, it is on a much larger scale than used in most brickfilms - minifigures would look quite out of place.
Use Drybrushing Kinz, if you don't know what that is, you take a paint brush with some, say grey paint here, make sure it's only a VERY tiny amount of half-dried paint that is n that brush, and sort of scratch the corners of the brick. See a tutorial online, because mine is rubbish.
OTHERWISE you could do as Jargon says and scratch the pieces, and then to make it seem even more old, take some gray and black paint add some water to the paint, put it on a sponge, and put it all over the brick, then take another sponge or rag of cloth and dry off the paint again, now the paint should be stuck in all the scratches and dents that came from the sandpaper, it makes it look a bit more aged.
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