BricksInMotion.com Presents the STAR Animation Contest

STAR Results have been announced!

The Winning Entries

1. The River by Nikolas Jaeger
Total Score: 94.1/100
Story: 80.5/100
Theme: 100/100
Presentation: 100/100

2. CYCLIC by David Boddy
Total Score: 82.8/100
Story: 75/100
Theme: 72/100
Presentation: 91.2/100

3. Crisis Reverted by AncientBricks & PdoubleyouC
Total Score: 66.1/100
Story: 80.5/100
Theme: 72.2/100
Presentation: 91.7/100

Remaining Finalists

4. Time and Space by Filmyguy
Total Score: 49.7/100
Story: 73.1/100
Theme: 69.4/100
Presentation: 27.8/100

5. ExTerrestrial by Fatal Extraction
Total Score: 46.7/100
Story: 58.3/100
Theme: 41.7/100
Presentation: 41.2/100

6. Mind Control by the Leftfielders
Total Score: 45.8/100
Story: 50.9/100
Theme: 41.7/100
Presentation: 44.4/100

7. Clic-Clac by Timfee
Total Score: 28.6/100
Story: 13.9/100
Theme: 38.9/100
Presentation: 33.3/100

8. Through the Years by Moo-C-J
Total Score: 25.3/100
Story: 13.9/100
Theme: 50/100
Presentation: 22.2/100

9. Time Police by The Frozen Brick
Total Score: 23.8/100
Story: 2.8/100
Theme: 11.1/100
Presentation: 41.7/100

10. Time by Darkman
Total Score: 14.2/100
Story: 5.6/100
Theme: 0/100
Presentation: 25/100

Thank you to the other judges (Noodle, Keshen, 0ldscratch, in addition to myself) and to all our entrants for support of the contest. Thanks as well to Cheshire for agreeing to donate the 1st prize. Congratulations to everyone who completed a film for this contest and especially to the winners.

Films were judged in three categories: Story (30%), Theme (20%), and Presentation (50%). Note that all though score deficits are large, they are not necessarily a direct indicator of quality as determined by the judges -- they are based on rankings in the respective categories. Effectively, a zero in any category is 15th place in that category.

Transcript of the results chat

The theme for the 2009 Bricks In Motion animation contest is 'Space, Time, and Reality.'

What does the theme mean? This contest is intended to be relatively open ended, so we will allow for free interpretation of the theme. How well films adhere to the theme or themes will be taken into consideration during the judging process.

Despite the name and term 'Space,' this is not a science fiction contest. While 'outer space' is an acceptable interpretation of the theme, it may also be understood in the sense of “the space/time continuum,” spatial relationships in art, or any other logical interpretation. Entries could range from an action-packed space battle to a mind-bending story reminiscent of The Twilight Zone. Entrants are encouraged to play with perception of space, time, and reality in their films.

Rules & Requirements:

Each entry you submit must:

Be primarily composed of stop-motion animation. 3D, Flash, or other animation techniques may be used to in addition to stop-motion as long as the finished product is at least 50% stop-motion animation.
Use LEGO or similar building toys as primary elements.
Not contain adult language, excessive violence or sexual themes.
Contain only images, sounds, music, and story material which you have the rights to distribute.
Be longer than 2 minutes. There is no maximum running time restriction.

Though there is no maximum running time restriction, remember that it is better to focus on quality and attention to detail than to make a very long and ambitious film, but let the quality suffer. A highly polished 3 minute movie is better than a 10 minute movie that falls apart as it goes because the director ran out of time.

Deadline:

The deadline for submissions will be Sunday, July 26th, 2009 at 8:00AM UTC time (Greenwich Mean Time). This will provide most parts of the world with a full Saturday to wrap up any last-minute work. Films may be submitted as early as desired, though they cannot be made public until after the deadline.

Trademarks:

No trademarked properties which might be confused with commercial enterprises may be used. This means you can not use storylines based on characters from Stars Wars, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, or other trademarked series. You cannot base your work on copyrighted material; however, old works that are now in the public domain are acceptable source material.

Copyrights:

All material included in films submitted must be original, or content that you have expressed permission to use. If you use content that is not your own, you must be able to provide proof that you have received permission to include it in your film. All music must be credited, even if you made it yourself.

Submission:

Films must be longer than 2 minutes. To submit your film, send a private message in the BiM forums to username “STAR,” including your name and a link to download the entry. We will accept .avi, .mov, and .wmv formats. Try to keep the file you submit to us to a manageable size, without sacrificing too much image quality, and when you are allowed to post your video publicly (after the deadline) please include a minimum of either a streaming (YouTube style) video, or a download that is less than 30 mb.

Entries may not be made public before the deadline, so YouTube, Vimeo, and other such video websites will not be a good place to upload your film. We recommend uploading your film via a .zip archive to either your own hosting or a file hosting site such as MediaFire. Submissions may have been submitted to other contests or premiered for live audiences as long as they have not appeared for a public audience on the Internet.

Judging:

All major aspects of filmmaking will be taken into account in the judging process. For the purpose of determining rankings and winners, the panel (yet to be determined) will judge films on the basis of storytelling, presentation, and use of the contest theme.

Prizes:

Forum member Cheshire has generously agreed to donate the grand prize, a Community Workers LEGO set. Prizes for this contest are as follows:

1^st: Community Workers

2^nd: Vintage Minifigures 1 & Vintage Minifigures 2

3^rd: The Final Joust & Dwarves' Mine Defender

If you have any questions, visit the STAR Contest Thread in the forums.