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Topic: Creating Landscape Shots in Brickfilming?

I’m currently in the early stages of production for a brickfilm that takes place deep in the Australian Outback.  The scenery in the outback is breathtaking and I want to translate that to Lego bricks.  The problem that I’m having is presenting the depth in the shot.

Often in brickfilms we settle for putting a blue piece of card right behind the set to resemble the sky.  I want to have a very long shot with a lot of land in it.  I also don’t have enough room to create a ridiculously long set like in the Egyptian Holiday opening scenes.  My skills with CGI are minimal, my photoshop skills are on the upper side of average.  I would really like some help so that I can make the scenes look as real as possible. 

Here are some images I looked up that I could potentially base my sets on.

http://outpoll.com/australian-outback-landscape-no-water.jpg
http://www.absolutaustralia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/outback3.jpg
http://www.flindersoutbackdaytours.com.au/images/Flinders%20Outback%20Landscape%20Web.JPG

http://i.imgur.com/CSwoca1.png
  • Joined: December 26, 2008

Re: Creating Landscape Shots in Brickfilming?

I've never seen a solution for this I really liked, especially for something flat like that first one. Typically I resort to something CG. I imagine if you took a lot of stills and stitched them together you could make a really nice background matte in Photoshop that would look more realistic. Then you'd build the set as far out as you can and have a greenscreen or bluescreen beyond that.

The other option is to cheat this stuff with really shallow DOF all of the time and use printed backdrops or computer screens.

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Re: Creating Landscape Shots in Brickfilming?

Sméagol wrote:

I've never seen a solution for this I really liked, especially for something flat like that first one. Typically I resort to something CG. I imagine if you took a lot of stills and stitched them together you could make a really nice background matte in Photoshop that would look more realistic. Then you'd build the set as far out as you can and have a greenscreen or bluescreen beyond that.

The other option is to cheat this stuff with really shallow DOF all of the time and use printed backdrops or computer screens.

Both solid suggestions. I've given both a go several times and the second option, for all its deceptive cheatery, normally comes out the best by far.

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Re: Creating Landscape Shots in Brickfilming?

I'm not a fan of green screen but, green screen?

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Re: Creating Landscape Shots in Brickfilming?

I'm going to do a very similar thing in my films from now on - having made some tests that I really liked.

I usually just shoot in 4K, on whatever background somewhat matches the color that I want to achieve (like bluescreen for a water scene or a tan wall for a desert). Then, I just add in a background layer in GIMP frame by frame - I think this is similar to what Nathan Wells did for the rooftop scene in Beast...

I was kind of inspired by the look of these:

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=4721cdb01
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=4722cdb01

They are cardboard backdrops actually produced by TLG back in the early 2000's. This sort of thing was only used in some Harry Potter and studio sets, to my knowledge.

However, having gotten some of these for christmas, I was really inspired to use them - and even replicate their style, while adding in my own, for future brickfilms.

I intend to show a large museum and a book-filled study in my upcoming Johnny Thunder film - and will use a similar approach to a cluttered basement and a community park for Sliders - The Animated Series.

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Re: Creating Landscape Shots in Brickfilming?

If you want t do it all in-camera, then build in miniature. Instead of using a LEGO tree, use a 1x1 cone. Also, try forced perspective. (there's an awesome Flickr groups with plenty of examples: https://www.flickr.com/groups/1691094@N22/pool/ )

A second option would be to do like Smeagol said, take stills and stitch them together in Photoshop.

But you could always use CGI.

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Re: Creating Landscape Shots in Brickfilming?

Another trick is giving your set some topography. When you look at a hill, everything beyond the hill is hidden, as long as it's lower; the horizon is hidden behind the hill. Peoples' sub-consciences are okay with this because they've seen it in real life before, so if you give your set a slope, and then use a depth of field that's not too deep (but it shouldn't have to be crazy shallow) you should be able to give the illusion of a wide open space without having to huge of a set. You may need a bunch of tan plates of various sizes, though.

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Re: Creating Landscape Shots in Brickfilming?

You could always build the biggest set that you could fit on your work space. Then build a separate background with Lego bricks(could be mini landscape). Then just use green screen to add it, after you have taken a picture of it or animated it.
This is what Monitogo studios does:  https://vimeo.com/97494338

Last edited by BlackSmithFilms (January 20, 2015 (01:05pm))

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Re: Creating Landscape Shots in Brickfilming?

I would really love to give this a Crack with some forced perspective, I think you could do it but it would still require largish sets

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Re: Creating Landscape Shots in Brickfilming?

Looks like everyone who has posted so far has some good ideas. Since all of the ideas that came to my mind first have already been posted, here is one a little crazier to consider.
You need (at the least): One baseplate on which you can build a SECTION of the type of landscape you want, a large table a floor (your house does have a floor, right?), and a way to fix the camera in place and ensure the correct positioning of the baseplate.
1. Position the landscape baseplate in front of the camera, and take a photo.
2. Move the baseplate over so that it's right beside where it was, as if it were still where it was before and the baseplate now is touching itself, and take a picture. Did that make sense? mini/dizzy
3. Continue repositioning the baseplate, so that you cover the entire floor up to the "horizon" one picture at a time.
4. Edit the photos together, so as to show all baseplate and no floor.
5. As for the sky, I believe all of your best bets are suggested above.

This is so crazy, it just might work!

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Re: Creating Landscape Shots in Brickfilming?

rafael9522 wrote:

You could always build the biggest set that you could fit on your work space. Then build a separate background with Lego bricks(could be mini landscape). Then just use green screen to add it, after you have taken a picture of it or animated it.
This is what Monitogo studios does:  https://vimeo.com/97494338

Was about to bump the thread to post this video then saw it's already been posted. Seems like a good way to go, although it still requires you to have a decent amount of LEGO at your disposal.

http://i.imgur.com/wcmcdmf.png

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