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Topic: The Long Way Home (an adventure in cinematography)

I've been for the past few months slowly animating a film; the reason for the slowness being partly due to not having much time to animate but also because I'm really working to try and make every shot look amazing in this so called film. Because of this I've been describing it as "an adventure in cinematography". There is a story however: a minifigure goes the long way home from work and has a rather fun adventure.

I'm hoping for the brickfilm to be about 10 minutes in length. I'm about two thirds of the way through the whole film.

Anyways, here are some frames:

http://i.imgur.com/fPWyUej.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/BgQlNTU.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/QTe9JOw.png

I will try and update this thread regularly on the progress of the brickfilm and show frames and sets and other things that are related to this film here.

Last edited by animationIsaac (August 12, 2015 (11:05pm))

http://i.imgur.com/xufpmQ2.jpg
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  • GHB
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Re: The Long Way Home (an adventure in cinematography)

Hey Isaac. This honestly looks so cool I'm actually freakin out a bit right now because your films have always been something one of my greatest filmmaking inspirations. I'm glad your focusing on actually producing something worthwhile to watch other than doing what many brickfilmers (not saying all)have fallen into these days. I will return to this page quite a bit. Best of luck.

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Re: The Long Way Home (an adventure in cinematography)

This looks great. I like your use of lighting, and framing. Set design is fantastic too. I'm looking forward to following progress on this. How long do you estimate production time will be?

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Re: The Long Way Home (an adventure in cinematography)

This looks to be really fantastic, I can't wait to see it. I love the use of the red light in the first picture.

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Re: The Long Way Home (an adventure in cinematography)

Thanks GHB and Backyard Legos mini/smile

rioforce wrote:

How long do you estimate production time will be?

Well, I'm really hoping to have this out in the summer. It all depends though, I have exams this year meaning I may get a bit bogged down in work.

Last edited by animationIsaac (March 8, 2015 (03:13pm))

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Re: The Long Way Home (an adventure in cinematography)

You seem to use red colored lights a lot - I love that. You seem to use it to help develops your style.

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Re: The Long Way Home (an adventure in cinematography)

Gentry Studios wrote:

You seem to use red colored lights a lot - I love that. You seem to use it to help develops your style.

Yes, you're right about that, I have been trying to develop my style with the red lights; however I am also hoping for them to play a bigger part in the story... mini/eh

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Re: The Long Way Home (an adventure in cinematography)

animationIsaac wrote:

http://i.imgur.com/fPWyUej.jpg

mini/eek

animationIsaac wrote:

http://i.imgur.com/BgQlNTU.jpg

mini/bigsmile

animationIsaac wrote:

http://i.imgur.com/QTe9JOw.png

mini/confused


Uhh... What exactly is this movie going to be about? (And yes, i read your post obviously but with that last screen in mind, i wouldn't really know...)

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Re: The Long Way Home (an adventure in cinematography)

Wow, this looks absolutely fantastic.  The lighting, set design, and overall everything looks amazing, particularly in the first and last pics.  I'm really looking forward to this; it's really nice to see you tackle a longer Brickfilm, and knowing your style and that you're putting extra effort into it this'll be nothing short of brilliant.

Minor nitpick note: the lighting in the second pic looks a bit odd, as it's extremely low-angle and you can see the shadow of the minifig on the wall.  Obviously if it's intentional then go for it, but I felt I should point it out.  Also, I'd suggest making the horizontal arm of the cross 5 plates tall instead of 6 plates (or 2 bricks).  Right now it looks disproportionately broad in comparison to the vertical arm.  5 plates tall is equal to 2 bricks wide in LEGO geometry, so it would look much more balanced.

WoutStopmotion wrote:

Uhh... What exactly is this movie going to be about? (And yes, i read your post obviously but with that last screen in mind, i wouldn't really know...)

So what you are implying is that any film that depicts some form of cruciform object will immediately be intrinsically inferior than if it didn't?

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Re: The Long Way Home (an adventure in cinematography)

Apart from a small section of the film being in a church, there are no religious themes in any of the film really. The church scene merely adds to the feeling of strangeness that I'm hoping to achieve though the course of the film.

Btw, thanks for the feedback and critique Vertigo. In the scene with the second frame it is evening and there is a sunset so that is  why there's a need for a long shadow.

@Wout; I really don't want to give too much away about the film. The main idea is in the title but if I gave away more I would probably spoil the film!

Last edited by animationIsaac (March 10, 2015 (06:03am))

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Re: The Long Way Home (an adventure in cinematography)

It looks really nice.  People have probably said so before, but it looks really nice.  I'd recommend also trying some moving camera shots, a they can be an important part of cool cinematography.

I've noticed that Christopher Nolan has a good number of subtle dolly shots in his films, so I started putting them all over the place in mine.

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Re: The Long Way Home (an adventure in cinematography)

Squid wrote:

I'd recommend also trying some moving camera shots, a they can be an important part of cool cinematography.

Yes! I've used quite a few moving camera shots so far in the film. I also like very fast pans and zooms like in Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining". However you have to be very careful when filming them because if in the wrong circumstance they can look really ridiculous.

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Re: The Long Way Home (an adventure in cinematography)

animationIsaac wrote:
Squid wrote:

I'd recommend also trying some moving camera shots, a they can be an important part of cool cinematography.

Yes! I've used quite a few moving camera shots so far in the film. I also like very fast pans and zooms like in Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining". However you have to be very careful when filming them because if in the wrong circumstance they can look really ridiculous.

Or sometimes they're so ridiculous it's awesome.  Por ejemplo:
http://uproxx.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/django-gifs-13.gif

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Re: The Long Way Home (an adventure in cinematography)

Oh wow

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Re: The Long Way Home (an adventure in cinematography)

Squid wrote:

I've noticed that Christopher Nolan has a good number of subtle dolly shots in his films, so I started putting them all over the place in mine.

It's best to think about your camera movements, rather than just "putting them all over the place". Especially just putting them in to emulate someone else.

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Re: The Long Way Home (an adventure in cinematography)

Cartoonkid98 wrote:
Squid wrote:

I've noticed that Christopher Nolan has a good number of subtle dolly shots in his films, so I started putting them all over the place in mine.

It's best to think about your camera movements, rather than just "putting them all over the place". Especially just putting them in to emulate someone else.

I agree, one of the most telling factors of a student film for me is "over cinematography".  Don't show off, use the camera to tell your story.

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Re: The Long Way Home (an adventure in cinematography)

Greenshirt wrote:
Cartoonkid98 wrote:
Squid wrote:

I've noticed that Christopher Nolan has a good number of subtle dolly shots in his films, so I started putting them all over the place in mine.

It's best to think about your camera movements, rather than just "putting them all over the place". Especially just putting them in to emulate someone else.

I agree, one of the most telling factors of a student film for me is "over cinematography".  Don't show off, use the camera to tell your story.

I tend to think that the amount of subtle camera moves you do should depend on the sort of atmosphere you want to achieve. If you want an atmosphere that feels as if it's alive, subtle dolly shots work very well but if you a dead atmosphere, eg: empty street it's better to have still shots to emphasize the fact there is no movement going on apart from, say, your main character walking up the street. However, I'm not saying that should always be the case.

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Re: The Long Way Home (an adventure in cinematography)

Pictures of my current set:

http://i.imgur.com/M0ACo5c.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/GOGboKg.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/xufpmQ2.jpg
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Re: The Long Way Home (an adventure in cinematography)

Wow, it's been a really busy week and I've only managed to animate once. I'm doing un examen oral on Monday so I've been pretty busy really. Here are some legs:

legs

http://i.imgur.com/xufpmQ2.jpg
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Re: The Long Way Home (an adventure in cinematography)

Weird. I really like the ambiguity of it, as we can only see a random wall and some weird legs which reveal absolute nothing. To be honest, right now, this is my most anticipated brickfilm of 2015, so don't let me down!:P Jk ur doin just fine.

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