The film set is one of the most important components of a film and significantly influences the appearance of the entire film. It is therefore all the more important to take the design of the set seriously.
Choosing the Location
Before you can even begin with the construction, you first need a suitable place for it. Here you can already do a lot wrong.
The most important requirement is that the room can be darkened. So you have to be able to cover all windows with blinds, thick curtains or the like. Why? The filming will take several hours to days, during which time the daylight changes constantly. So if the daylight falls on your stop motion set, the light situation changes constantly between the individual pictures, which leads to an unpleasant flickering in the finished film. For this reason, you can only use lights and spotlights for lighting.
The second important factor in choosing a location is that you should be undisturbed in the room. The room should therefore not have to be used for something else for the duration of the shoot. For example, if you set up your set on the dining table, your parents or roommates will not be happy. On the other hand, you do not want to have to set up and dismantle the set three times a day.
The Build
I use the same “backbone” for each set that I build on a small table. The table is placed in the room so that I can freely access it from three sides. On the fourth side, I build a back wall with a box. I then cover this structure with a sheet of white paper.
Next you need a base for the LEGO®. For the 38x38cm LEGO building board asphalt is perfectly suitable. It’s big enough for almost any set of setup. So that it does not slip during the shooting, you should attach the LEGO plate with some adhesive tape on the ground.
As you can see in the picture, I illuminate the set with two desk lamps that I can place anywhere around the set and can create any lighting situation.
Based on this basic structure, I can now build any set for my stop motion film with LEGO® bricks and slabs. Thanks to the elevated position on the table I can place the camera freely around the set on a tripod.
