Bricks in Motion
We are a friendly filmmaking community devoted to the art of stop-motion animation using LEGO® and similar construction toys. Here, you can share your work, join our community of other brickfilmers, and participate in periodic animation contests!
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I was just wondering when you actually start to lose interest. Now I understand that it depends on the plot, and how well the entire film is flowing, but even when something is good, can it be too much to deal with, especially when working with LEGO?
For me, it really just depends on the quality of the film. I can watch Nick Durron for hours (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpiAnP-vrCk), but I could not sit through two minutes of bad brickfilming.
I'd say go for as long as is needed for the plot without compromising the quality of the production.
Edit: By "quality" I mean both the story aspect and the technical aspect.
Last edited by FilmmakersGuide (April 6, 2011 (01:13pm))
Oh man I agree, Nick is amazing his animation is stunning. His stories, however can drag a bit but none the less great great brick filmer.
For me, the fact that it's LEGO doesn't factor into it. I gleefully put over an hour into The Great Disturbance despite its technical shortcomings because the story held my interest. The problem is that so few brickfilmers these days manage to create a narrative anywhere near that level; there's almost always a point where the viewer loses interest.
True dat, boy. True dat.
Brickfilms are becoming the Pixar story, we had some great classics in the beginning, but today, most of what we produce is, well, crap. The length of a film depends on the type of story you want to convey to the audience. If it's a short, one-joke flick, 45 seconds max. The length of the film depends on the length script. The quality and watch-ability depends on how good the script is. I'd rather watch 45 minute film with below-average technical qualities, but a great story, than a 5 minute film with incredible, better than life film, with a so-so story, and rather bad delivery (aka almost every film that comes from "the greats" of today. Their films are usually in the recomended because of their technical aspects, not the story. When will they realize this?).
interestingly enough, I have a very small patience for watching brickfilms. If it is more than 3 minutes I just turn it off, but some that hold my interest such as this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-QgSllmhvU I don't turn off.
I don't know why, but I geuss it can be as log as you want, as long as the story is not overextended and really dragged out... If it is a story that works for a feature length film, then film it as a feature length film. If the story works for a 2 minute film, then film it as one. But don't try to overextend a short film's length, or overcompress one into only a few minutes (like I did with my failure Merlin's Robot) 
When I write a script, I try to put in as few lines as possible, therefore making the film as short as possible. The only time I would have long sequence of dialogue is for a comedic affect. Plus, my method makes it easier for voice actors.
Doug Vandegrift Jr.'s movies are over 30minutes and they still are too short IMO but most of the brickfilms usually aren't top quality so watching them for over 6 minutes makes it really really boring. So yeah it depends on the quality of brickfilm and plot offcourse!
True dat, boy. True dat.
Brickfilms are becoming the Pixar story, we had some great classics in the beginning, but today, most of what we produce is, well, crap.
That sounds more like Dreamworks. Pixar's last two films were nowhere near crap.
When they are made long just to be long.
In my opinion, no film can be to long, as long as it's done well.
Last edited by Duke Boy (April 11, 2011 (09:14am))
There isn't a limit for this kind of things. At all. It's not even the plot what keeps you watching the movie, it's the way the story is told, the director's work.
In my opinion, if you're going to have a long brickfilm (and I'm talking like 20-40mins), it all starts to rely on the plot. Animation, indeed, will only keep the viewer interested for so long. But if you have a really interesting and compelling plot, then I believe the brickfilm will keep the viewer interested for however long it is.
Of course, your average youtube viewer, or your average movie watcher for that matter, may just not be interested in watching a 30min LEGO FILM. I think the community would take it as something great, if you really did make something that good, and you may win over a few "average" viewers who are not experienced in Lego films as well. But I still think the mass of them would get bored with it, no matter how interesting the plot was. Now of course if your film is somewhat interesting visually, and I don't mean perfect animation necessarily, but rather a fancy set or fantastic special effects, then this might suck the viewer in and keep them interested in addition to the plot.
So all in all, I do not think there is such a thing as a brickfilm that's too long, I think there is such a thing as a pointless, visually uninteresting, brickfilm that could be too long for its own good. So if you're going to make a long brickfilm, I suggest you get together a decently interesting concept/plot, and I suggest you think of ways you can make it visually interesting as well...that is, if you want to expand far beyond the reach of the brickfilming community.
In my opinion, if you're going to have a long brickfilm (and I'm talking like 20-40mins), it all starts to rely on the plot. Animation, indeed, will only keep the viewer interested for so long. But if you have a really interesting and compelling plot, then I believe the brickfilm will keep the viewer interested for however long it is.
Of course, your average youtube viewer, or your average movie watcher for that matter, may just not be interested in watching a 30min LEGO FILM. I think the community would take it as something great, if you really did make something that good, and you may win over a few "average" viewers who are not experienced in Lego films as well. But I still think the mass of them would get bored with it, no matter how interesting the plot was. Now of course if your film is somewhat interesting visually, and I don't mean perfect animation necessarily, but rather a fancy set or fantastic special effects, then this might suck the viewer in and keep them interested in addition to the plot.
So all in all, I do not think there is such a thing as a brickfilm that's too long, I think there is such a thing as a pointless, visually uninteresting, brickfilm that could be too long for its own good. So if you're going to make a long brickfilm, I suggest you get together a decently interesting concept/plot, and I suggest you think of ways you can make it visually interesting as well...that is, if you want to expand far beyond the reach of the brickfilming community.
Yep, I mean take a look at LEGO Clan film by Jonny Paquette. The film is like 30 mins and the animation is far from perfect but many people still love it because the plot is pretty good and funny. It's a dark comedy.
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