More filming and editing

Though it was not ideal filming and editing so close to the deadline, on Friday 2nd March we gathered at the house of one of our new actors to film the new half of our storyline that we planned to incorporate into the old footage saved from Youtube, as her younger brother had agreed to be a part in the film.
After setting up the Lego, including a small house and the tiny posters we had made for the previous stop motion experiments to enhance the mise-en-scene, we finished filming successfully.

On Sunday 4th March we edited the footage. This was difficult to do, as we had to download the first draft from Youtube and integrate it with the new footage, meaning we had to mute the original audio track as it was split up to fit in new footage and audio. This involved recreating the soundtrack we had made out of a mixture of music from scores of other films, dialogue from our film opening and sound effects (both downloaded from the internet and created by us).

The stop motion experimentation had definitely been useful in helping us to film the Lego Bro plays with in an interesting way. We tried to film the stop motion material in a similar way to how we would film the same events in live action, in a cinematic manner, a method which we transferred to the new filming. The Lego mise-en-scene we previously created for the stop motion was also useful, especially due to the limited time we were working with.

New storyboard

For the new version of our film opening, we created a new storyboard. We developed it from the storyboard used for our first opening but also incorporated the new aspects of the story (the boy's game of Lego reflecting the original story).

Another update

We have decided not to continue with the Lego stop motion idea. Instead, we will return to live action filming but incorporate a child playing with Lego to foreshadow the films eventual outcome. We chose to abandon the stopmotion technique because the result was not of the quality we had hoped for and it was taking a long time to complete.

However, we liked the idea of incorporating an aspect of childlike media into our film opening as it can be juxtaposed greatly with the horror and zombie theme. From this we developed our idea of playing out the original story with Lego, to a child's game of Lego reflecting the 'reality' of the live action elements of our first draft.

We are trying to find a child to play the part, and we plan to film on Friday 2nd and edit on Sunday 4th.

Update on filming stop motion

On Thursday 23rd February we began filming our stop motion opening using Lego. We filmed for around 3 hours after constructing a set out of Lego, which included building a Lego house to replace the pole in the original film and making zombie warning posters on the computer to add to the mise-en-scene (approximately 11mm by 8 mm). We also set up professional lighting softboxes and a green screen behind the set so we could include more mise-en-scene, relating to Western films.

After choosing the best Lego figures available of zombies and cowboys, we began to film using the original storyboard and taking around 600 frames in total for the session. We used a variety of shot angles and camera movement in combination with the stop motion technique, as we had done in our live action first draft.

This technique is not ideal, as it is very time consuming and we may not finish it by the deadline.

Looking for Lego

After researching Lego we decided to try to find some suitable lego figures to use. We looked in Boswells as it has a nice lego department, but there was only starwars and other models that weren't helpful for our project.
We have decided to ask Rosie's sister (who lives within walking distance of an official lego shop) to look for some cowboy and/or zombie lego. If she can't find any for us we will construct our own using our own lego collections.

Lego research

We need to use our research on the genres of horror and Westerns and the planning for our original film opening and apply it to our animation. Our original research relates to the mise-en-scene of our new project:

There are Lego settings of deserts which would be appropriate for our film opening. However, we will probably use a green screen to make the mise-en-scene more impacting and realistic.

There are a variety of Lego figures that are available, including zombie and cowboy versions which are appropriate for the characters from our original film opening. The different features of the figures will allow us to distinctly display each character e.g. the difference between the Little Guy and the Hero.

Animation research

Before starting the new film opening, we researched into the most effective methods of animating. We chose to use Lego as it is the simplest way to animate, rather than making our own models.

There are many tutorials on Lego animation online:



There are also internet guides from Wikihow on stop motion:

Get objects and figures to use in your movie. Some good choices include clay, wire, Legos or similar building block figures. Be imaginative in the types of objects and figures that might work for your movie. For amateurs, it's best to use a toy rather than making a figure, as it is easier to animate.

Set up the figures (characters) in a particular position and within the "set."

Place your camera in front of the "set" that you are going to take photos of. Make sure that it can view the entire frame. It is very important to support the camera or place it so that it is sitting steadily and cannot shake as you take the photos. Otherwise, the end result will appear chaotic and lack continuity.

Set up a good source of lighting. It might be a lamp or a flashlight. If your light is flickering, you need to shut off other sources of light like blinds or curtains.

Take a single photo of the figure in the selected position.

Begin the movement sequence. Move the figure bit by bit, in very small movements each time. It may be the entire body if the figure is walking, or it may just be an arm, head or leg. If you are moving only one body part and you find that the figure is tilting or threatening to fall over, make use of poster tack under the feet or other area touching part of the set.

Repeat the movement sequence until your action step is completed, or your camera's memory is full.

Save the pictures on to your computer in an easy to remember place.

Use your movie-making software as instructed (or see two popular software methods below). There are a few key steps regardless of what movie-making software you use.

Import the pictures into the desired program. Make sure the pictures are at a very small duration so they flow fast. If you are disappointed by the speed at which your program can animate, try exporting the project as a video file (before adding audio), then importing it again and using a speed effect on it such as double speed (these effects only work on video clips).

Then, if the resulting speed is sufficient, you may add your audio. Add titles and credits if you would like. You can also add effects or transitions, if desired. Make sure you like the end result of your stop motion animation. Keep going if you need to complete more actions to create a story.

Save the video. If you plan on having multiple stop motion segments, save each segment as a separate movie. Once the entire group of segments is completed, you can import all the segments into the final movie. This will make it will look much better and it will be easier to finalize.