A Storm of Bricks and Pixels.
LEGO® —
Doomsday
From a conceptual standpoint, the client presented a highly defined visual direction from the very beginning. Our primary focus was establishing an apocalyptic atmosphere, articulated through toxic-green hues and imposing volumetric cloud formations.
We took those initial references, refine the art direction, and execute that vision to a cinematic reality behind the miniature sets.
When introducing some of the most formidable villains in the LEGO® universe, a standard backdrop simply won’t cut it. HeadWorks recently had the thrill of teaming up with the incredibly talented stop-motion artists at MegaSpaceFighter to launch the latest wave of epic LEGO® sets.
Our mission? To build a cinematic, apocalyptic environment that matched the sheer scale of the threat. We were tasked with generating imposing CGI storm clouds, dynamic lightning strikes, and an ominous atmosphere to seamlessly surround the practical, frame-by-frame animation of the LEGO® figures.
Client:
Agency:
Year:
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Setting the Scene.
Atmospheric Engineering
Contrast was everything for this environment. To ground the stylized LEGO® sets in a serious, high-stakes battle, we sculpted a hyper-realistic, heavy storm system using custom VDB volumes. The lookdev was all about capturing the right light transmission, allowing the vibrant green energy to bleed through the dense clouds and set the perfect apocalyptic mood.
ML-Assisted Compositing
To handle the heavy compositing demands of this project without slowing down our timeline, we integrated machine learning into our pipeline. Using the CopyCat tool, we trained a custom neural network on a handful of meticulously crafted keyframes. The ML model then accurately propagated these complex masks and effects across the rest of the sequence, automating the most tedious parts of the workflow so we could focus on the creative polish.
Credits
Client:
LEGO®
Agency:
Our LEGO® Agency
CG:
HeadWorks
FX & Lighting Artist
Compositing Artist
Damian Kowalski
Michał Natorski
Grzegorz Żołnowski
Production:
MegaSpaceFighter
Director/Executive Producer
Producer
Director Of Photography
Set Designer/Stop-Motion Animator
Stop-Motion Animator
Kamil Janko
Martyna Kacprzak
Szymon Jarząbek
Martyna Koleniec
Filip Bałdyga
Storyboard Artist
LEGO Builder
Sound Designer
1st AC
Maria Kościelniak
Kamil Ziółkowski
Mateusz Gajos
Dawid Wysokiński
Michał Sieńko
Model Mover Operator
VFX Artist
Heiko Matting
Maciej Thiem
Jakub Ciupliński
Riccardo Stefanelli
Peter Cornell
