Topic: Lego Batman: The Jury Of Death Part 3

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Lego Batman: The Jury Of Death Part 3

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Harvey Dent has disappeared from his hospital bed after being in a horrific accident, and Batman needs to track him down. But Harvey is changed, under the alias of Two-Face, he has begun killing people, and gathering forces. Will Batman be able to stop him?

Re: Lego Batman: The Jury Of Death Part 3

I really liked the music, sound, and most of the voice acting. The animation was clean not jumpy. The story was also interesting and engaging. You did a nice job with pacing and a number of your special effects. I liked watching this, which is more than I can say for most Licensed Character fan-fiction brickfilms.

I'm going to give an in-depth analysis of your brickfilm. I do this for people who are doing well enough that I can get really specific. For a lot of brickfilms I can only suggest things like, work on the smoothness of your animation, reduce your light flicker, set bumps etc. Your film is better than that. You're doing well, and I want to offer ways that you can take yourself up to the next level. I see a lot of potential in your work. So let's get down to brass tacks...


My one big contention is with the writing. Which if you got this directly from the comics, then it really isn't your fault how some of the lines come off wrong, or excessively wordy, or in a few spots, downright cheesy.

If you did write this, here's my breakdown of why this film (while I did enjoy it) bothered me.
NOTE: When I say writing, I'm referring to the DIALOGUE. Your story and concept are excellent. Save for one scene, I give your story development high marks.

First scene: The audio level of the lines are not mixed well. We can barely hear Batman, but Gordon is super loud.
My real problem though is the sequence of lines.
"What happened?"
"Nurse came in to check on him and he was gone"
That's what happened to the nurse. But that is NOT what happened to Harvey Dent. Dent has disappeared after a visit from the Joker. Put yourself in the characters' position, what don't you know? What would you ask?

Batman has come to Harvey Dent's hospital room knowing that something is wrong. Obviously he already had at the very minimum a text message from Gordon. Which means he probably doesn't need to ask what happened. Also, Gordon is not incompetent, and Batman knows it. Instead of asking "Did you check the security cameras" it would make more sense for him to ask, "What did you find on the security cameras?" It gives Gordon more credit to the audience as a worthy cop. Batman would probably ask for a copy of the recordings so he can look for anything the police might have missed. That would be more in the style of Batman. No one is stupid, but Batman is a genius.

Batman is the quiet type. He says only what he needs to. I have a hard time believing Batman saying the line "Oh god."
Even if it is in the comics, I still don't believe it.

Here's how I would re-write this...

Batman appears in the window.
Gordon: "The Joker came to visit."
Shot of empty bed.
BM: "What did he do?" (Gravely emphasis on DO to indicate the seriousness instead of "Oh god")
Gordon: "The hospital security recordings didn't show much. Came in. Talked to Harvey. And left." (beat) "Then Harvey left" (beat) "I don't get it. Why would Harvey Dent talk to that bast@%#?"
BM: "I don't know."
End scene.

I feel this would clean up some of the exposition and it gives Batman the short sentences that better characterize his interactions with the Police. While it is less dialogue, everything that needs to be there IS. And nothing more than what is necessary. Also, I think playing around with shot angles would make the scene more interesting. The scene is mostly them talking and standing, which I understand getting a tighter shot is difficult if you don't have the right camera for it. But anything other than straight-on full-body shots would have been nice. The lighting is very bright and it washed out the set quite a bit. Hospitals have white bedsheets, but the room colors aren't necessarily all white. My suggestion is to borrow from real life for ideas of how things look, set-wise. I'm not a set expert, so I can't criticize, but there's a lot of good animation set builders on this site who are and can be a useful resource for tips.

Scene Two: Really nice sound effect compilation. The car driving by and the guy getting beaten up. Good solid sound. I also like the writing for this scene... except for "Where were we?" "Oh, uh, what kind of deal?" It's too cliche for me. Which incidentally I could barely hear him asking "where were we?".

Perhaps rewritten as...
Guy running away, Two-Face shoots him twice.
"You're my new employees. (beat) but I only hire the lucky." (The word 'but' instead of 'and' carries the conditional statement and leads more naturally into him flipping the coin and shooting the alleyway hooligan)

Also, I can identify with the desire to do voices in your own movies, (it's a lot of fun!) but your voice doesn't match what I expect to hear for Harvey Dent. You've got a bunch of different voice actors. One more wouldn't hurt to improve the quality of your film, especially for such a significant character. You did such a nice job finding someone who does a Mark Hamill type Joker, why spoil it with favoritism on another character?

Lastly for scene two, the lighting. I have a fairly bright computer screen and I can barely see the right side of the alleyway. A little more time and thought put into the lighting would have made this scene work superbly.


Scene Three: This is probably the weakest scene for me personally. The lighting doesn't feel like the batcave, batman is barely audible, and the lines are unbecoming of a batman film. Plus from a camera viewpoint, it's mostly talking heads.
On the character of Batman --- He is not preachy. He quietly listens to the preachy criminals and then he gives them a good wallop and then points out the flaw in their reasoning. He may talk more to Alfred and his bat kids, but it's still not as much as what you're putting into this scene.
I realize a lot of what he says to Barbara is meant to set up his character as protective of his bat-children, but again Batman is the quiet type. When Robin gets mad and leaves, Batman is silent for most of it. Here
Moving on...

Scene Four: As for writing, this is your best scene. This is where a different voice actor would have really made this stand out. Also, love the arm shoot bit. Totally in the spirit of Two-Face.
Mood lighting would have been nice in this scene. And an actual pan for the establishing shot instead of a still photo digitally zoomed would also have been nice too.

Scene Five: This scene is completely plot driven. It has no purpose other than to bring about the final scene. As my acting professor always said, there are no good or bad choices, only Strong Choices, and Weak Choices. This applies to writing as well. Batman driving along a random street in Gotham and he finds exactly where Two-Face hired his first set of goons? That's not the Detective we know! That's just random luck! Which, if you point that out later in your story it can be a plot device, but simply using it out of convenience is weak story writing. Guy laying in alley way after being shot fatally TWICE is STILL ALIVE?!? After a FULL HOUR?!?! Oh, and he has the presence of mind to give Batman a full report too, instead of moaning "help, please helpppp..." I'm guessing that he wasn't shot fatally, but it sure looked like it by the amount of blood he lost.
Also, "really beat up victim" I'm sure isn't the lingo that Batman would use. "I have a victim with Two GSW's. He's bleeding out and needs immediate medical attention" would be more believable. He'd also probably give the address first instead of last. That way they can have someone on the way while he continues to explain the situation.
Also, as far as audio goes, there are effects that can be done to make it sound like a radio is being used, instead of straight audio.
Lastly... Batman was abducted - Okay fine, I'll accept that. Batman didn't get unmasked? - I don't believe that. One thing that all criminals have in common is the desire to know who Batman is. Except perhaps the Joker, he's the wildcard who one day might want to know, and the next day prefers it to be a mystery.

I will say that Batman getting abducted was a nicely executed transition (despite not sounding like the voice actor who is recording Batman's lines.)

Scene Six: I really like this scene overall. Perhaps Batgirl giving sass before Two-Face yells "Get her!" was a bit cliche. Batgirl dancing around all the machine gun fire was cliche too, but I expect these things. It's part of what Batman is, and as an audience member, I'm okay with that. There is a cut in that scene that didn't work for me. I'm pretty sure because it violated the 30 degree rule, it felt strange. Here is a link that can explain the rule quickly and clearly. I'm referring to the pan/turn/cut from Two-Face over Batgirl to the empty chair where Batman was.
Also, how did he get out of the chair? And why didn't he get out sooner?

Scene Seven: Again with the brutal gunshot wound and the character pulls through! Working at Minifig scale is a challenge, and it's easy to overdo it, especially with blood.
Batman's emotion in his voice doesn't quite match what he's saying. That's a voice actor/ voice directing issue. It wasn't really noticeable in the other scenes except this final scene where the writing is decent so it is more clear that his performance is the issue.

So, in review (TLDR)

Story Development: Great concept and execution. Your concept for Two-Face was a very well thought out character, which is good because the story is clearly about him.

Writing: I can tell what scenes you enjoyed writing, and when your heart wasn't in it. Put yourself in the shoes of the character and try to think what THEY would say, and not what the story needs them to say. Also, if you ever want to cut down on wordiness in a scene, Imagine that your characters are standing next to a loud sound and they have to shout in order to talk. It forces you to cut their words down to what is absolutely necessary.

Lighting: Put more time and thought into illumination and creating mood and a sense of setting.

Audio: Have someone else preview your film and tell you if they can hear/understand everything. You know the lines, so you stop hearing whether it is audible or not because you've listened to it so many times. Excellent choices for sound effects and music.

Voice Acting: A lot of good casting in this! Don't spoil your work because you want to do the voice of a certain character! Also, Batman has the right sound to his voice, but his intonation and emoting doesn't quite match his lines. Especially the final scene in the Batcave. If you as the director know how you want the lines to sound, it doesn't hurt to give the actors a few notes on things you want to stand out. And if you need to re-record. Do it. Don't settle for anything less than exactly what you want to hear.

Effects: Blood oozing was over done in comparison to the severity of their wounds (though I really liked the splatter on the wall in scene 6). Nice animation of the batarang!

Cinematography: New angles. Find ways to move the camera around in the scene more. If a cut feels funny, go back and figure out what is making it feel funny.

Set Design: I can't speak on this subject with authority. But you can ask Squid for suggestions on how to add complexity to your scenes. Or NathanWells. they both know what they're talking about.

Again, I want to make it clear. You did a really nice job with your film. When I can give specific notes like this, it means you are doing enough things RIGHT for me to analyze and find things to say about your film.
Keep up the good work!
This was definitely a worthy addition to your brickfilmography!
-nswihart

http://orig13.deviantart.net/3968/f/2017/197/d/c/faaf_logo_4_1_by_orignl_ninja_knight-dbglsld.png

Re: Lego Batman: The Jury Of Death Part 3

Thanks so much for the advice! I'll try to incorporate some of your advice into the next episode. The thing you said about me wanting to voice Two-Face, I didn't want to voice him actually, I just couldn't find anyone and the video was sitting finished except for his lines, so I just decided to voice him.

Re: Lego Batman: The Jury Of Death Part 3

joebor1777 wrote:

Thanks so much for the advice! I'll try to incorporate some of your advice into the next episode. The thing you said about me wanting to voice Two-Face, I didn't want to voice him actually, I just couldn't find anyone and the video was sitting finished except for his lines, so I just decided to voice him.


Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't realize it was because of that. Did you post on the forum for casting calls?

I would think a lot of people would be interested in voicing Two-Face.
If you ever need an extra voice here or there, let me know and I'd be happy to email you some recorded lines.

Again, nice work on your film. I look forward to the next episode!
I could really tell how you improved from one episode to the next. I have no doubt the next one will be even better!

-nswihart

http://orig13.deviantart.net/3968/f/2017/197/d/c/faaf_logo_4_1_by_orignl_ninja_knight-dbglsld.png

Re: Lego Batman: The Jury Of Death Part 3

I really liked this film.  You do a very good job of setting up Two-Face as menacing.

My profile picture is deep fried lol

Re: Lego Batman: The Jury Of Death Part 3

Great job bud.
Keep em coming.
You ever stuck for voice actors feel free to ask me.
Also loved your Two Face.