MAKING OF: An Unexpected Trip

"An Unexpected Trip" - a LEGO Stop Motion Movie

In this entry I take a look at how I made my LEGO stop motion movie "An Unexpected Trip" in 5 simple steps. Read on to see the process that led to the finished stop motion movie.

1. SYNOPSIS

The last thing Jackson remembers was boarding a plane on what seemed like just a routine day. Now he's up to his neck in shackles, Stormtroopers and a very chatty skeleton.

2. ORIGIN OF THE STORY

This LEGO stop motion movie came together after I was contacted by Brick Agogo (a great YouTuber who creates LEGO stop motion movies and plane MOCs). He wanted to know if I would like to collaborate with him on a film. We decided that he would create Part 1 and then I'd continue the story in Part 2. All we knew was the ending of Part 1. Other than that, we were free to shape the story however we wanted.

3. CONCEPT BOARDS

After several script drafts I settled on 2 main locations for my part: 1) open fields 2) dungeon. I like to create these concept boards (above) just as a reference point. 

4. SET DESIGN & LIGHTING

I found images from Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, specifically the battle of Naboo. I liked the look of those rolling green hills and open countryside.

This first set is made up quite simply of a sheet for the sky and 2 pieces of card that I cut and painted to act as distant hills.

You can be quite clever about how much set you have to create if you start with the framing first. Build the set whilst looking through the camera. You can see from the above photo that my green base plate barely covers a tenth of the table but it's not important. I've framed the table out of the shot.

The second set (above) takes a lot of inspiration from Star Killer Base in Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens. I really liked the idea of combining classic dungeon brick work with technology in the form of an electronic prison cell doorway

The brick walls are actually just chopped up wooden lollipop sticks that I painted different shades of grey.  The white card on the ground is to bounce some light onto the character's faces.

To get a behind-the-scenes look at this stop motion film, check out this set visit video.

5. FINISHED FILM

Here is the finished version "An Unexpected Trip: Part 2".

And don't forget to also check out Part 1

For all my animation content including movies, trailers, set visits and tutorials please visit the Speak Broccoli YouTube channel