At “Lego Masters”, the time/efficiency ratio is unbalanced. “Last year, we filmed for six weeks for four prime time shows, that doesn’t exist anywhere else,” emphasizes host Eric Antoine. The fourth season, launched this Monday at 9:10 p.m. on M6, was not more economical in terms of hours spent.
“For each test, the candidates have between ten and fourteen hours of construction. It therefore takes between a day and a half and two days of filming,” explains Edouard Charuit, artistic producer at EndemolShine. “The duration allocated is defined on the basis of what a professional like me could do in a given time,” explains Georg Schmitt, juror of the show and one of the fourteen Lego certified in the world. To this, we add a certain percentage of time because the pairs have to look for the pieces, make their choice among 12,000 references and around thirty colors, respond to interviews… So, generally, we double the duration envisaged at the start. »
“Psychologically, it’s very special”
For the participants, used to taking their time at home to give free rein to their imagination in the constructions, this can be destabilizing. “At the semi-final level, they can have up to 25 hours to complete the test. Psychologically, it’s very special. There is a notion of a marathon that is quite complicated to manage, underlines Edouard Charuit. At first, they get excited, they get the idea and they head off. But after a while, they say to themselves “It’s missing this, it’s missing that” or outright “It’s not working”. At the end, they are rinsed. »
If there is one thing that fans of the show do not suspect, it is certainly the time required to film the works once they are created. “When there are eight pairs, for a single event, it takes a full day of filming,” reveals the producer. All the stories that the candidates thought of in their creation must be shown. For example, the princess who tries to escape the castle while, in the distance, attackers arrive, we must show that. »
Showcasing creations takes time
These images, in television jargon, are called “beauties”, that is to say, the enhancement of creations. “This requires very specific light and cameras because you have to take shots through the constructions, which are fragile, and you have to be able to dive inside. There is a huge job there, insists Georg Schmitt. I worked on several adaptations of “Lego Masters” around the world, in Finland, Spain, Norway, Germany… France is clearly the country which spends the most filming time on the beauties candidates’ constructions. »
“Beauty using light makes sense to enhance the work and ideas of the pairs. It’s an essential passage because it’s where everything is told, where everything makes sense,” recalls illustrator Aveline Stokart, the other juror.
The subject is not taken so lightly that the jury sometimes intervenes to influence the creative process of the candidates. “When they build, we observe them and try to suggest to them to use one color rather than another because what our eye sees during filming is not the same thing as what we see on television with a different contrast,” says Georg Schmitt.