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		<title><![CDATA[Forums - Bricks in Motion - An Idiot's guide to Brickfilming (a.k.a. what NOT to do)]]></title>
		<link>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/topic/22938/an-idiots-guide-to-brickfilming-aka-what-not-to-do/</link>
		<description><![CDATA[The most recent posts in An Idiot's guide to Brickfilming (a.k.a. what NOT to do).]]></description>
		<lastBuildDate>Sat, 16 Jul 2016 09:41:25 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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			<title><![CDATA[Re: An Idiot's guide to Brickfilming (a.k.a. what NOT to do)]]></title>
			<link>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361523/#p361523</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Glad you like it :)

I fine tuned my camera and studio space yesterday and began filming the build video of the crane. I must admit, rather begrudgingly, the pictures shot on that new backdrop look much nicer!

Now I just need four more grey plates to cover my entire studio floor.

I also dropped my lighting down to two lights, that produced a very dramatic effect on reducing wash out.]]></description>
			<author><![CDATA[dummy@example.com (LegoDad)]]></author>
			<pubDate>Sat, 16 Jul 2016 09:41:25 +0000</pubDate>
			<guid>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361523/#p361523</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Re: An Idiot's guide to Brickfilming (a.k.a. what NOT to do)]]></title>
			<link>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361505/#p361505</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Nice fade into the horizon.  It's also a pleasant yet vibrant blue tint.]]></description>
			<author><![CDATA[dummy@example.com (HoldingOurOwn)]]></author>
			<pubDate>Fri, 15 Jul 2016 17:01:05 +0000</pubDate>
			<guid>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361505/#p361505</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Re: An Idiot's guide to Brickfilming (a.k.a. what NOT to do)]]></title>
			<link>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361482/#p361482</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Thanks for the recommendation, another source to add to me vacation reading :)

I had a few complaints about the background being too busy so I put up a blue back drop and laid base plates down for the floor.

Here is a photo test 

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v83/NoRemorse/DSC_0052.jpg[/img] 

Thoughts?]]></description>
			<author><![CDATA[dummy@example.com (LegoDad)]]></author>
			<pubDate>Thu, 14 Jul 2016 12:31:03 +0000</pubDate>
			<guid>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361482/#p361482</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Re: An Idiot's guide to Brickfilming (a.k.a. what NOT to do)]]></title>
			<link>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361479/#p361479</link>
			<description><![CDATA[An EXCLLENT RESOURCE (and this should be added to the RESOURCES section under renovation) is CARTOON ANIMATION by Preston Blair.  I think a moderately abridged version of this book also can be found at craft stores.  My pre-brickfilm hand-animated cartoons were possible because of the knowledge contained in this book.]]></description>
			<author><![CDATA[dummy@example.com (HoldingOurOwn)]]></author>
			<pubDate>Thu, 14 Jul 2016 11:41:18 +0000</pubDate>
			<guid>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361479/#p361479</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Re: An Idiot's guide to Brickfilming (a.k.a. what NOT to do)]]></title>
			<link>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361472/#p361472</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Welcome back to continuing saga of "The Man who was One Stud Shy of a Full Brick"

It may be hard for you to believe that I could top the masterpieces I have put out for public consumption before but, I may have succeeded in doing the impossible!

I present to you my penultimate work! (at least until I film my next latest and greatest video)

[url]http://youtube.com/watch?v=8BvQnQ28BLM[/url]

So I know what your thinking. How rude of me to cut that guy off at the beginning. Listen, that guy just won't shut up! Put him in front of the camera and he goes on and on! You have to put a stop to it at some point, you should have heard how long he went on after I turn off the camera. HOURS I tell you!

Fingerprints on the windshield? No, no, that was just some streaks of water left after Chief drove through a mud puddle.

Yes, tires actually do go flat like that! I saw it once the exact same type of poorly implemented fading happened then too. I tell you really it's true! Oh yeah! Have you ever seen a tire go flat? Huh, that's what I thought :P

I think the people of New York City would be honoured to have me putting their little city on the map by me doing an impeccable imitation of their local accent. I am expecting the Keys to the city to arrive in the mail any day now.

It literally took me hours to get Jack to understand how to use that saw so expertly he could cut away the hook from the wrecking ball without damaging either! That was a feat I don't think could be repeated. I think it must have messed up his back a bit because he seemed a bit out of step when he put the saw down and grabbed the hook.

Notice how still that truck was when Jack was moving around the bucket. I don't know how he was moving around a huge vehicle like that, I think there is more to Jack than meets the eye. I mean did you see him hold himself on that hook with ONE HAND!

Look how smooth the bucket of the pay loader approached the front of the dump truck, that was some serious movie magic.

Now you may ask yourself, "How does a small pay loader and a crane lift a dump truck and move it with such ease?" "Science," I say, "basic physics really, I mean c'mon..."

Brenda needs new brakes, they are awfully squeaky.

We made Chief clean the cab of the truck out later. Do you know what it looks like after a Mini fig gets sick??? You don't want to, trust me.

I went out and actually spent days following around a work crew just to find the perfect sound for when a cable get released when under tension "Peewwown" was it exactly.

Now I don't know if a crane would flip over so elegantly like that in real life. I took a lot of precautions to make sure the cab wouldn't be crushed on Sal, so I took a few liberties with that shot.

We all know that Mark the Muffin is a Demolitions expert, he was well aware that standing at least ten studs away from the explosion would ensure his safety. Not only that he placed the explosives on the opposite corner from Sal's cab to make sure he was not hurt either. Neither got so much as a scratch. The same thing can't really be said for the crane...

There we have it, another Stop Motion video par excellence.

In a couple days time I hope to have the build part of the crane posted. It will be full Stop Motion as well.

Stay tuned! (and subscribe :P)]]></description>
			<author><![CDATA[dummy@example.com (LegoDad)]]></author>
			<pubDate>Wed, 13 Jul 2016 23:44:18 +0000</pubDate>
			<guid>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361472/#p361472</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Re: An Idiot's guide to Brickfilming (a.k.a. what NOT to do)]]></title>
			<link>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361444/#p361444</link>
			<description><![CDATA[I really wish I had a grounding in animation, but flying by the seat of pant is usually the way I approach learning new things which has it own fun, and no small amount of frustration as well.

I have a trip coming up and am going to use the down time to read through your guide and familiarize myself with the principles of animation, as well as get to know my camera a bit better.

I am just finishing up my latest video so it should be up in the next couple of days, I personally think it is a big improvement. But we shall have to see how others feel.]]></description>
			<author><![CDATA[dummy@example.com (LegoDad)]]></author>
			<pubDate>Tue, 12 Jul 2016 15:17:50 +0000</pubDate>
			<guid>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361444/#p361444</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Re: An Idiot's guide to Brickfilming (a.k.a. what NOT to do)]]></title>
			<link>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361437/#p361437</link>
			<description><![CDATA[I learned ab out easing in and out from my personal work with hand-drawn animation before I began brickfilming.  I also learend about delayed secondary reaction.  Like a squirrel wil run and come to a sudden stop, but her tail will keep moving forward and then "snap" back.]]></description>
			<author><![CDATA[dummy@example.com (HoldingOurOwn)]]></author>
			<pubDate>Mon, 11 Jul 2016 23:33:40 +0000</pubDate>
			<guid>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361437/#p361437</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Re: An Idiot's guide to Brickfilming (a.k.a. what NOT to do)]]></title>
			<link>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361427/#p361427</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Thank yo very much for taking the time to give such an in-depth explanation of easing! I had watched a video or two on easing so had a rough idea of what easing was, but you have definitely increased my understanding a lot.

I will take your advice and look into the principles of animation, that sounds very useful!]]></description>
			<author><![CDATA[dummy@example.com (LegoDad)]]></author>
			<pubDate>Mon, 11 Jul 2016 09:59:23 +0000</pubDate>
			<guid>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361427/#p361427</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Re: An Idiot's guide to Brickfilming (a.k.a. what NOT to do)]]></title>
			<link>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361426/#p361426</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Just when I finished the longest essay on easing in and easing out... It disappeared... so I'll oversimplify what I wrote.
First of all, it is not making the frame rate higher or lower.
Secondly, easing in and easing out is inaccurate when describing stop motion animation because the name was primarily coined for handdrawn and 3D animation. I'll explain why it isn't after I explain how easing in and out works. A more correct term is acceleration and deceleration, you'll see what I mean as you get towards the middle of my text.

Note: When I draw the "|" diagrams, imagine each line as a frame, the first one on the left and the last one on the right.

This is what you call constant speed:
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
As you can see, the spacing in between each line is equal.

Wider spacing between each frame means greater speed:
|    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |

And thinner spacing means less speed:
| | | | | | | | |

Note:keep in mind that each of the diagrams above should be interpreted as having the same frame-rate.
You should notice that more speed means you're covering more distance and less speed means you're covering a smaller amount of distance in the same amount of time (the diagrams shows nine frames).

Now into more advanced territory...
This is what you call easing in and easing out:
|| |  |   |   |   |  | ||
In this diagram, you can see that during the middle of the shift, the spaces are wider apart and at the beginning and the end have closer spacing.

|| |  |   |
Above is what you call easing out, or what I'd call acceleration. The line gets further apart from the previous one every next frame.

   |   |  | ||
Easing in or deceleration is the opposite. The next line gets closer to the one after than the one before.

The definition of acceleration is change in speed over time. Positive acceleration (easing out) means increasing speed every next frame. Negative acceleration (easing out or deceleration) is decreasing speed every next frame.

When it comes to animating minifigs, you won't be moving a car back and forth. Instead you be pivoting body parts around a joint. In comes angular acceleration. Instead of increasing or decreasing the distance (displacement) of the object, you'll be changing the angle of the object around the pivot point.

Most of the time, you'll be easing in and out everything there is, from driving cars to head turns to eye blinks. However, there are times where you do not ease in, mainly when there is impact such as something dropping to the ground, a car collision, or a punch. Usually, the object abruptly stops moving (a beanbag drop), bounces back (ball bounce or something thrown at a wall), or follows though (a punch).

Don't be too worried about counting and measuring. The animation process does not require much mathematical knowledge but just estimation. The onion skin feature in most animation software will guide you in how much you should move your object in relation to the previous frames.

With enough practice, it will come to you naturally and you won't need the onion skin.
------

Traditional hand drawn animation is just like stop motion because they're both succession of still images, but what sets the two apart is that stop motion straight ahead. Straight ahead animation means one frame after another. Hand drawn animation mainly consists of pose-to-pose animation, meaning you can jump from frame to frames. If you make a mistake in stop motion and notice it too late, that means you'll have to start again, but for hand drawn animation, you can erase and redraw certain frames you don't like. 3D animation is also pose-to-pose, meaning an animator with traditional animation experience can jump into 3D without much fuss and vice versa. A stop motion animator will not pick up 3D animation as well as a traditional animator, but can with a bit more practice.

Here's the process in which a stop motion animator would animate:

Start by easing out
|
||
|| |
|| |  |
|| |  |   |
Convert to constant speed
|| |  |   |   |
|| |  |   |   |   |
End motion by easing in
|| |  |   |   |   |  |
|| |  |   |   |   |  | |
|| |  |   |   |   |  | ||


Here's how a computer animator or cell animator would animate:

Start by drawing the first and last frames
|                         |
Fill in the parts in between
||         |          | ||
|| |  |   |   |   |  | ||

--------

Watch some video tutorials on YouTube or Vimeo to see how easing in and easing out looks like in motion. It doesn't necessarily have to be brickfilm tutorials, nor stop motion tutorials.

After that, if you have enough time on your hands, check out the [b]Twelve Principals of Animation[/b] by Googling them.
Not all of them are able to be applied to stop motion, and you should be able to tell which one they are. Following that, watch some more YouTube tutorials about them. As far as I know, there aren't any 12 principal tutorials with stop motion as examples.
One thing that you shouldn't do with the principals is treat them like checklists because only some are important in certain situations.]]></description>
			<author><![CDATA[dummy@example.com (Kd2000)]]></author>
			<pubDate>Mon, 11 Jul 2016 05:44:16 +0000</pubDate>
			<guid>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361426/#p361426</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Re: An Idiot's guide to Brickfilming (a.k.a. what NOT to do)]]></title>
			<link>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361424/#p361424</link>
			<description><![CDATA[I am :D I have two little girls, 5 and 8, both who are as a obsessed with Lego as I am.

It was them who were the motivation behind me starting this channel. They love watching all the Lego videos on Youtube and wanted me to start one. Of course, being a big sucker for my girls I had to oblige. That is also why my channel is targeted towards kids rather than adults.]]></description>
			<author><![CDATA[dummy@example.com (LegoDad)]]></author>
			<pubDate>Sun, 10 Jul 2016 18:07:50 +0000</pubDate>
			<guid>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361424/#p361424</guid>
		</item>
		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Re: An Idiot's guide to Brickfilming (a.k.a. what NOT to do)]]></title>
			<link>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361413/#p361413</link>
			<description><![CDATA[By the way, are you a real-life Dad?]]></description>
			<author><![CDATA[dummy@example.com (HoldingOurOwn)]]></author>
			<pubDate>Sun, 10 Jul 2016 15:36:58 +0000</pubDate>
			<guid>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361413/#p361413</guid>
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		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Re: An Idiot's guide to Brickfilming (a.k.a. what NOT to do)]]></title>
			<link>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361395/#p361395</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Time for another installment of the hit series "What to do when you are bored and want to read the inane ramblings of a mediocre-at-best stop motion animator"

The great burden of responsibility fell upon me to provide quality a quality video for all of my six Youtube subscribers (My wife and my other Youtube account not withstanding) last week and that is exactly what I set out to do!

You are fortunate enough to be able to see before a work of true... hmm, Vision? No. Artistry? Not really. Splendor? Most definitely not! Shi... Don't say that kids could be reading this!

Dear reader I shall let you decide.

[url]http://youtube.com/watch?v=S4KnQF30GSs[/url]

I can tell by your stunned silence that you are at a loss for words. I shall take your awestruck expression with the greatest of humility. I know it is not everyday you see a video of that calibre.

That special effect with the ever changing colour balance in the intro took some doing, hours of painstaking editing went into making sure each was just a little bit off from the one before. Look at how smooth LegoDad moves! Notice how you can hardly tell where I repeated the loops for his headshake and emphathic gestures. Oh, you did notice... Well NOW you see it because I just pointed it out, obviously! An look how his hair moves so naturally as he moves his head, it is almost like it is actually real. Can you imagine the work that went into that effect!

Did you hear the music? That is called production value! Only the best for people watching my videos, I do after all have subscribers to please.

Easing??? That's what I do on Friday night with a few pints of Guinness. How the heck does that apply to brickfilming? Unless, you mean, it helps to be slightly inebriated when filming or watching this stuff. That makes sense, I mean the blurred vision would be useful in blending the images together, just like a mask for photo editing. That makes total sense, thanks for clearing that up!

Ease in. Ease out. Ohhh, now I get it. Speed up the frame rate as I get to the apex of the action then slow it down at the end! Got it! No? But... argh, that should work in theory right?

Okay, okay, that doesn't work. Well then, what about adding in extra frames to blur the action? That sounds all technical, so it should blend the whole sequence together, just like those Guinness I mentioned before. Oh.. they needs to be high speed so you don't actually see the blurred part hmmm.... might need to work on this easing stuff a bit more.

But wow a pay loader drove OVER a dump truck! Magic I tell you, pure studio magic! I bet you did even see the bricks holding the wheels in place as she went over the ramp. Yeah, yeah, sure you did. Just like you noticed the recycled loops pfft your such a liar :P

And what a flawless explosion! You could just feel the concussive blast waves coming off that one couldn't you. So fluid how the pay loader fell apart like that, exactly how it look like in real life. Rushed you say! My Guinness had just settled out, of course I was rushed to finish. I had some easing to do.

The subtle smooth panning seamlessly followed every movement on the screen with no distraction added at all, you could hardly even tell that you were looking through a camera lense. Such a marvel of filmography! I really don't know how I could improve on that. Oh, yes, I am sure you do!

The sweet lovely tones of the pay loader driver's voice took me hours to perfect. Sadly, no, that wasn't a joke... Her grating voice was a result of mixing a terrible Miss Piggy impression with and equally horrendous Southern US accent. Wrap that up to a stereotypical country bumpkin persona and you have sheer genius!


I will be hard to top that level of stop motion excellence. I have taken over a week to film my next video and I am not even close to complete yet. Maybe, just maybe, I will be able to do better. You will just have to wait and see! Hint, hint, do what the little man says at the end of the video so you don't miss an genre altering videos ;) Of course, you could always wait until I post again, but where is the fun in that!

Between now and then my Guinness and I have a lot of easing to do.]]></description>
			<author><![CDATA[dummy@example.com (LegoDad)]]></author>
			<pubDate>Sat, 09 Jul 2016 14:31:02 +0000</pubDate>
			<guid>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361395/#p361395</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Re: An Idiot's guide to Brickfilming (a.k.a. what NOT to do)]]></title>
			<link>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361384/#p361384</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Sure! the most recent edition is here:
[url]https://app.box.com/s/tourqzz1fu5iqojhu82i[/url]

It tries to cover all aspects of brickfilming, from writing/scripting to set design to voice casting and acting, animating, walk cycles, dialogue animation, tips, post-production, and some surprises.  I hope you find it useful.]]></description>
			<author><![CDATA[dummy@example.com (HoldingOurOwn)]]></author>
			<pubDate>Fri, 08 Jul 2016 19:29:43 +0000</pubDate>
			<guid>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361384/#p361384</guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Re: An Idiot's guide to Brickfilming (a.k.a. what NOT to do)]]></title>
			<link>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361378/#p361378</link>
			<description><![CDATA[[quote=HoldingOurOwn]It grew into what's now alled "The Holding Our Own Guide to Brickfilming", which I share to gie back to the next gen in the community what they gave to me. You know, paying it forward.[/quote]

My thoughts exactly. Where is this posted? It sounds like something I need to read :)


[quote=Zachary Volt]That's a big mistake there. NEVER use automatic settings. Any settings that you are able to, turn it to manual.[/quote]

WOW, Wow, wow! I took several test shots playing around with different settings this morning and filmed a segment of my latest video with the best settings I could find. What a difference! Thanks for pushing me in that direction! Now I will have to go back and try to emulate those settings with the magic of editing, but still this will be a HUGE time saver when filming my next video!]]></description>
			<author><![CDATA[dummy@example.com (LegoDad)]]></author>
			<pubDate>Fri, 08 Jul 2016 14:32:00 +0000</pubDate>
			<guid>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361378/#p361378</guid>
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		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Re: An Idiot's guide to Brickfilming (a.k.a. what NOT to do)]]></title>
			<link>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361376/#p361376</link>
			<description><![CDATA[it's great reading accounts of brickfilmers gaining experience along the way.  I was helped here by so many and still am being helped.  I began writing a personal .txt file called "WHAT I LEARNED".  It grew into what's now alled "The Holding Our Own Guide to Brickfilming", which I share to gie back to the next gen in the community what they gave to me. You know, paying it forward.]]></description>
			<author><![CDATA[dummy@example.com (HoldingOurOwn)]]></author>
			<pubDate>Fri, 08 Jul 2016 11:56:16 +0000</pubDate>
			<guid>https://bricksinmotion.com/forums/post/361376/#p361376</guid>
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