Here we are again with a collaborative storytelling: we formed a group of photographers who had to choose sets from a selection belonging to a specific theme and build a single story or three distinct stories, but in any case, there should be something in common that could connect them in some way.

The set chosen was the 3-in-1 Creator 31142 Space Roller Coaster.

We invited paps.bricks, sdphoto_bricks along with a moderator which this time was toy.story.yana.

After many ideas and considerations, here is the story they created!

A day in the Space Training Campus

Welcome to our UFO: Ultimate Flying Opportunity training campus! Here we can teach everyone who wants to be a part of the Space life, how to be a good and responsible astronaut, achieve high results, and keep friendly relationships with the guys from other campuses. You will see three different training areas from our center.

Here we give you the opportunity to step into a world where future astronauts prepare for Space adventures. You can explore the training grounds where dreams of reaching the stars come to life!

Enjoy your training session

Meet our astronaut and scientist duo! They’re here to welcome you to the UFO campus, where the journey to Space begins.

We start with demonstrating the importance of having the correct gear and how the Space facility utilizes each machine to teach our future heroes Space safety.

After you know what gear to use in different situations, I’ll lead you to our rolling rocket. You should have guts to get in. This course will teach you to think fast, and keep an eye to the fast-moving objects near you. We recommend no eating two hours before you take this training course. 

After this course is taken, we recommend you to head to the Zero-Gravity zone. It helps your stomach to feel better. We have a machine that shows our trainees what happens when the gravitation is turned off. You better hold on tight if you don’t want to be randomly floating around.

There is another area of the Zero-Gravity zone. We call it “Walk this way”. There’s less force here and you can step on the ground. It’s where we teach you how to walk gracefully when you’re on another planet. Make your best jumps and be careful you don’t roll over!

The final training area for today is the Angry-Alien-Get-Though training mission. Here we teach astronauts to be very quick and slick and to pass through our alien without harm and leave it with no angry feelings, otherwise he will leak ink and you would be compromised.

When you finish the entire course, you will be able to explore the wide Space and go on different missions.

Do you like it around here, is it interesting? It’s time to go and rest, we’ll see you in a few days!

Day 2

Welcome back, future astronaut! Did you manage to get a good rest? Good! We need you to be well rested and concentrated this time! Get your gear on, we’re ready to continue the course!

Get ready to jump in the Zero-G Plunge and the Orbital Shuttle! The Zero-G Plunge offers a thrilling free-fall experience, simulating the weightlessness of Space. The Orbital Shuttle invites you to step inside and feel the excitement of a real launch simulation, just like a true astronaut!

Looks like someone is experiencing the thrills of the Zero-G plunge a bit too intensely…

Step inside the cockpit of the Orbital Shuttle! Here future astronauts learn to operate the controls and prepare for liftoff. 

It’s a hands-on experience that brings them one step closer to Space travel! Ready for blast-off? Ready or not, here comes the launch! 3-2-1-Heuston, here we go!

After the rockets have taken into the deep and wide sky of our training campus, you have some missions to do. 

There are asteroids that try to hit the rocket, but you must keep yourself safe and try avoid them. We hope you remember where is the button for the laser gun, because you have to hit the flying asteroids as soon as you see them.

Here’s a look at how the planets and asteroids look when they’re not in a training mod.

But what is this? On the way to get in a rocket for a new mission, some of the trainees see some odd little astronauts, they had never seen before. Why are they so tiny? Have they been in touch with toxic plants? Have they been drinking violet water from the district area? What is going on?

Look, there’s even tiny rockets for them to fit in. And some newbies having fun with them. It looks like a very comfortable rocket and some of the new guys are waiting in line to get in. In fact, this is one of the top 3 safety rockets in our training campus. Experience the joy of Space travel at it’s fullest! Take a fun spin while learning about what astronauts do, all in a safe and exciting environment!

These tiny astronauts are actually pretty good in flying! Look at them go through the radioactive rays of light! Whoa, they are really fast! Still wondering where they came from? 

Come back soon to find out more, you need rest now. You have lots of new skills to sleep through.

Day 3

Welcome back, trainee!

This is your final day at the UFO training campus, hope you have fun and finish the course! Today you will be assigned to take the Centrifugal Force Roller Coaster mission training. This machine allows our trainees to experience the speed and force at which it takes to go to Space! Each attendance gets a ticket to ride and test out their stamina against the spinning.

Some trainees wanted to go a second time around

While others found out they prefer to keep their feet on the ground and maybe they need more practice.

Now, you remember the small astronauts from the last training, right? No, you weren’t dreaming and you weren’t breathing rarefied air. They are normal trainees and astronauts, that had visited the photo booth. Wait, what?! Yes, the photo booth is a machine itself! When the person inside pushes the special button on the camera, you get the option to be shrunk down to be a miniature trainee or mini astronaut! How cool is that?!

Look how cute the trainees look!

When they are shrunk, they can get in the little battle rockets and train on ground.

This course is to teach you to learn how to act when launching and going back on ground level. It also has a light simulator. Remember the radioactive light rays? This is the machine that teaches you how to avoid them when they appear next to you. You better pay attention at this course, it could save your life!

When the mission is complete, the green lamp is automatically activated and the next in line can step in.

After a long day of training, our fearless astronaut needs to get some shut eye and take a quick break. But not without first receiving a hello from an unexpected visitor to our UFO facility.

At the end of the day, we hope we inspired you to always follow your dreams, be brave and fearless! And know one thing- only the sky is the limit! Have a safe flight!

Behind The Scenes

toy.story.yana

I made the background using 2 types of Christmas led light with warm and cold light. I put them on a cardboard, I made a tiny hole for each led and placed it as my background.  I wanted to recreate the stars in the wide black outer space. 

I used a luminescent lamp as the main top light. For my wide shot I used an Ikea lamp clicked to the tripod of my camera. And I had a small Led light with blue cellophane attached to it to make the background a bit more interesting.

I decided to use a lamp with fibers to create effects and I like how they turned out. I used low shutter speed and made movements with the lamp in order to make interesting light effects. Other thing I used to make a practical effect is a facial mister. I used it to make the atmosphere more interesting. I used little silver rocks for the ground. After I made the setup, the shooting process went pretty smooth. There were no aliens and astronauts harmed!

sdphoto_bricks

I used 4 video lights to create the different colors of the set. The blue light from the top to create the overall cast of light, and a green kick light from the back to separate the set from the blue background. 

Then I used two additional lights, pink and yellow/white, moved around to light the specific figure or scene. For my gear I shot on a Nikon z6 with my Lensbaby Velvet 85 & Lensbaby Sol 45 with the Macro filters attached. The background is scrap book paper from my craft store taped up to a VFlat and a random canvas print for the black flooring.

paps.bricks

For my main background I used a dark blue cardboard paper and drilled a bunch of holes and then placed a desk lamp right at the back of it giving the illusion of stars (great tip guys, thanks).

For the ground I used coffee… a lot of it!!! As for my lights I tried to go as natural I could with minimal lighting I  order to achieve the emptiness of space but it felt too dull. 

And after all, everything is taking place at a fun park so it should have been more playful and colorful so I ended up using a Ulanzi RGB Led light here and there. My camera is an Olympus Pen E-P1. Overall, it was a great experience, even though Space shots are not my comfort zone.