Almost there

Three and a half seconds left to film. I almost hit my target of filming the whole thing in a single weekend. The only thing is, that three seconds mean another big set I have to build, and this one needs a bit of thought. I've got an idea for a practical effect that could either turn out looking really cool or really cheap. I'm hoping for cool because I don't want to have to rethink a load of stuff for the sake of one second of footage.

Things that I've learned today:

1. Always stick everything down, even if you're sure you won't be going anywhere near it and there's no chance of nudging it.
2. It takes a lot longer to build stuff out of Lego than you think.
3. Putting things back where they came from makes them a lot easier to find when you're in a hurry.
4. Homegrown radishes are like a little peppery slice of heaven.

No photos today because they're all give a bit too much away.

Progress

The supermarket interior shot is done. That's another three seconds. There's a couple of things I want to add to it in terms of post-production effects but otherwise it's finished.

That leaves about eleven seconds left to shoot, of which six should just be static or minimal movement shots, so I might be able to get them done today. Then there's just the shot of a car driving through a plate glass window. Right now I'm thinking that I might need to come up with a backup plan for that one.

Building again

I hate my stupid brain. A scene in a supermarket seemed like a really good idea before I had to stock all the shelves with products. I've had to dismantle some of the other sets to make it, so the whole desk is now swimming with bricks.

I made a nice Coke fridge, but I doubt you'll even be able to see it in the final shot.

Final tally

Sixteen seconds filmed, tweaked, and in the can. Some minor post-production to do on some spinning wheels, otherwise only fourteen seconds to go. Too bad a couple of those seconds require the building of an entire city street.

I've been sat at this computer for the best part of seventeen hours today, apart from breaks for lunch and Doctor Who. Time for bed, I think.

Photos!

Before I pack it in for the night, here's a handful of photos that don't give too much away.



This is what my studio area looks like when I don't give myself enough time to build everything beforehand.



Some intriguing bits. What's that writing there?




The box of delights. This is where I put the stuff that's going to be in the film so I don't trip over it.




The car that I took apart and attached to the baseplate. The shot didn't end up being used because it looked rubbish.




These school pupils are only shown from behind in the film. It amused me to use all my Harry Potter heads. It's been a long day.

Simple vs complicated

I had this idea for a practical effect. It was quite an elegant idea and I was pretty pleased with it. I spent a fair while scrabbling around looking for the right pieces (hint: don't set a film predominantly in a grassy area if you have no green Lego), then set it all up so that I could work it with the minimum disruption while I was filming and did some quick tests and everything looked fine.

Just as I was about to start shooting, I had one of those "hey, I wonder if this'll work" moments, so I added an extra little bit of business to sell the shot. Turns out that extra little bit of business is amazingly effective and I bet a lot of people won't even notice the original, more complicated effect.

Car maintenance

Taking a break while the camera cools down. I don't think they're designed to be just left on all day. I've taken some behind-the-scenes photos as I've been going along and I'll upload some of them later.

I'm busy dismantling a car at the moment and fastening bits of it to a baseplate to stop it wobbling about. Fascinating stuff, I'm sure you'll agree.

I just looked and it's sunny outside.

Timing is everything

Still on that first shot. 210 frames, 14 seconds. I finished the animation part of it about an hour ago. I'm now in the process of adding and dropping frames in order to get the timing exactly right. It's a music video, you see. Has to be on the beats and everything.

17 seconds to go.

Hints and tips

When filming a shot that requires extensive movement of set elements, many of which cannot be easily set back in their exact position, always consult your notes on a regular basis. Never imagine that you can remember the sequence of activities that are needed for a scene.

Sigh.

Fun with computers

I've been planning this film on and off for a couple of weeks. It's only going to be thirty seconds long but there's a lot going on in it and it needed a bit of pre-production work. I only really have this weekend to do the bulk of the filming, so I'm on a pretty tight schedule.

During the week just gone, I built some sets, made a video storyboard and worked out what sequence I was going to shoot everything in. This morning, I got up at 7 and was at the computer ready to begin work by 8. First things first: I grabbed some of the set elements I'd built and laid them out in the "studio area". With that in place, I set up the tripod, attached the camera to it and switched on.

"USB device not recognised"

I switched the camera off again and started up Firefox to see if I could find any information on the web. Typed "google" in the address bar but nothing happened. The keyboard was dead.

I did what every good pc user does in these situations - I rebooted. When the computer came back up, the mouse was dead too. No way to actually get in to Windows at all. Switched off, disconnected all the USB devices, plugged the mouse and keyboard direct into the main USB ports, switched back on again - nothing.

So now I'm starting to worry. A couple more reboots for luck don't do any good, so I break out my girlfriend's laptop and look around on the web for answers. USB problems, it turns out, are pretty common and extremely varied in their causes and solutions. In the end, I opted for about the only answer I could find that didn't involve a working keyboard - took the back off and systematically disconnected and reconnected every cable in the box.

And what do you know? It worked.

So that cost me a couple of hours and a few grey hairs. Once I got the camera working, I then realised that I hadn't planned nearly as much as I needed to and I've spent the rest of the morning blocking one ten second shot. Just stopped for lunch, and then the filming starts, five hours later than planned. Might be a late night.