Behind the Scenes: The LEGO Awakens "Air Assault"
This shot involved the most complex setup I have attempted yet, and I'm still blown away to see how the concept came together. I have no doubt there was probably a better way to tackle ever bit of this shot, but that doesn't stop me from being proud of my results.
How did it all come together? Read on for the details.
The Source:
If you've read my 'proof on concept' post, you know I've been chasing this shot for a while now. I had to shelve the idea for a bit though due to a lack of time to commit to it.
The final setup ended up taking me around 2 hours to put together. Most of that time can be attributed to making adjustment after adjustment to get the look and feel right.
The Force Awakens Chat:
I'll probably get flamed for this, but I feel like the whole battle at Takadona scene was a little weaksauce. I don't hate it, but I feel like it could have been a lot better. At no point during the scene did I feel like the Stormtroopers were any real threat.
The scene also has two cringe worthy moments for me - first, when Han Solo emerges from the rubble and blind fires on a Stormtrooper. That was too much cheese, even for me - and added to the weaksauce recipe.
The second moment was when one of the stormtroopers requests more troops from Kylo Ren, The delivery is just so deadpan and flat like he was asking for more lunch money or something.
The scene certainly does redeem itself when those X-Wings come blazing across the water and unleash hellfire on the TIE Fighters.
The Setup:
I have to say, I get a ton of mileage out of my Fotodiox Pro 42" 5-in-1 Collapsible Disc Reflector. The thing is versatile as all hell, and I use it in every photo I shoot. If you're looking for gear that can go along way in a basement studio, you can get a lot of bang for your buck with one of these things. I've used it for backdrops, diffusing, and now for as as a screen to create an artificial sunset.
I suppose everyone's individual usage will vary, but for me it's been an indispensable tool.
In order to build a sunset, I first needed to build a sun. To accomplish that, I used a projector shining through a broken, Canon 50mm lens covered with an orange gel.
I positioned this rig a few feet behind my diffuser to create a nice, large sun for the photo.
With my sun in place, I started assembling the other elements of the photo. First up was the mountain range along the bottom of the frame. This was real easy to pull off. I just tore a strip of black paper and taped it up between the projector and the diffuser.
In the source image, you can see two circular objects (moons?) obscuring a portion of the top and bottom of the sun. In order to do the same in my photo I cut two circular pieces of paper and positioned them between the projector and diffuser.
I used a sheet of plastic wrap to add some texture to the light, as it was a bit too clean coming directly from the projector. It also came in handy for attaching my bottom 'moon'.
So from the projector to the TIE Fighters the setup went like this:
To get a bit more color in the frame, I pointed a LED Light panel at the backside of the diffuser and covered it with a red piece of tissue paper.
With my sunset in place, it was time to arrange my TIEs. I picked up a bunch of the First Order TIE Fighter polybags from Bricklink but it was obvious I wasn't going to be able to reproduce the 'depth' seen in the source image with the.
So I made some mini-TIEs to go along with the bigger ones. I built them using random LEGO bits, but I think they turned out great.
I should take a minute to give a big thanks to Versa Lehtimaka for his book, LEGO Star Wars: Small Scenes from a Big Galaxy. Not only did his book serve as a great source of inspiration, it also made a great platform to stand the TIE Fighters on :)
My assistant helped me arrange the fighters in front of the sun. As payment for his services, he ended up taking one of the TIEs with him, but I guess that was a good deal for both of us.
Here's a look at the whole setup taken with my Ricoh Theta S camera. It's a neat little gadget. I'll post a full write up on it after I spend a bit more time with it.
Air Assault Setup (lights on) - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA
I was struggling with ideas on how to pull off the 'clouds' but thanks to Whip Smart Banky for the idea to use tissue paper. I'm not sure if this is what he had in mind when he said it, but moving a piece of torn tissue paper in font of my 'sun' did a marvelous job.
The way I worked this was to start my exposure (duration 8 seconds) and while my camera's shutter was open I slowly moved the tissue paper through the frame. It took a few tries, but the results were dynamite.
Here's the shot straight out of camera. I was beyond psyched when I saw this image pop on my camera's LCD. My assistant and I spent the next 10 minutes dancing and jumping for joy (best assistant ever, right?).
My settings for this shot where 8 sec at f/13, ISO 50. I shot it with my Sony A7 and Sony FE 24-70mm lens zoomed to 60mm.
If I had the same stands for each of the TIEs I would have left them in the shot, but what I ended up using looked really sloppy in the image, so I made the concession to photoshop them out.
To do so, I used two photos - one of the TIEs in position, and another with them removed from the frame. Then, in Photoshop I layered both images and masked out the stands. I'll admit, I didn't do a great job at as my Photoshop skills are sketchy. I was happy enough with the results though and too tired at that point to try it again.
Here's a look at the final image. It's slightly different from the one I posted to Instagram. For the IG shot, I blurred the focus of the image in an attempt to make it 'hazier' like the source.
I regretted doing that though, as I liked the sharper, original shot that I've posted here better. Both are up on my Flickr account if you want to see the side by side difference. I'd be curious to know which one everyone thinks is better.
In the end, my shot isn't a true representation of the source image but it is a fun homage. I'm happy with the way things turned out, and the new tricks I picked up in the process. Hoping to put them to use again in the future.
Oh, and only one TIE fighter was harmed during the making of this photo :)
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