Bricks in Motion
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My next brick film will be in the first century AD, and it will therefore need Romans.
I want it to look authentic, so I would like to have large rectangular shields, and good, tall helmets.
Does anyone know of a way to make realistic-looking Romans with just Lego parts? Or should I go with custom made gear? Brick Forge.com has some cool custom stuff. (Scroll down to the pic near the bottom of the page.) But I don't really want to pay that much. 
Look at BrickLink. Look at the Spartan Warrior. He has some Roman looking parts.
@Eddie, Yeah, the spartan would be good, but the cheapest one I could find was $5.75. That's a little high for me.
@Golden 
That's awesome! But the price is not.
I'm thinking of ordering from Brick Forge, I can get the Shields, helmets, and decals from them, and bodies and weapons from Lego Pick A Brick. With that I can get 24 soldiers and 4 civilians (See Decal pic #2) for only $100. Or 12 solders and 2 civilians for around $60.
How's about 9 figs for $3.49 each?
I suggest you create an account in order to buy and see quantities.
Last edited by Eddie (July 21, 2011 (12:47pm))
Yes, I'm already on Bricklink.
When I clicked the link I saw this: "Super Lot #19552-----Contains the following lots": and then listed nine different figs.
So that would be one disco dude, one spartan, one explorer...and so on. But thanks everyone for helping. I may just be forced to spend good money if I want a good movie.
Brickforge is what you want (combined with some BL orders for minifig body parts)! They have got all you need - shields, helmets, swords, plumes, stick 'n' peel decals, etc. and it looks goood!
Now if you are willing to spend the money, you can't go wrong with Brickforge.
If you don't want to spend the money necessary for cool minifigs, props and sets, I would rather advise against making a Roman-themed film. Of course, it depends on how good you want the final result to be BUT if you're planning on putting some real effort and hard work into it to make an awesome film (for example reshooting scenes until animation is flawless, getting rid of all the light flicker, making realistic sets, etc.) then I don't think the film is really going to shine without proper minifigs. In that case, I would rather make a film that's not so difficult to pull off properly (with less unorthodox minifigs and props in general), and make that one as good as you can.
If you don't want to take that much of a hassle with your film and are happy if it's "rather good" (that's perfectly fine), then yes of course you can take cheaper-looking minifigs sans problèmes.
I would say it all depends how serious you are about your project, and where your ambitions lie.
PS: After having watched parts of your TOY film, I think your films will look much better if you put more emphasis on backgrounds. For example, you could experiment with chroma keying (blue/green screen) a bit. Painting your own backgrounds is also something very much to consider - I'll try that, too, soon. And you don't need to be a great artist to do it, the ability to hold a paintbrush is enough for most generic backgrounds.
(if that was all gibberish that doesn't interest you, you had better stopped reading after paragraph 2! 
)
Thanks for the advice! It looks like I will have go Brick Forge for the parts, and just do Lego PAB for the bodies.
I'm just going to have to spend my money. 
Yes, I'm serious about the quality on this movie, for that matter I've had to throw out half of the clips I've filmed because of mess-ups. And the project is actually just in that time period, the Romans aren't really the focus of it.
Well, one Roman is.. 
With the backgrounds, I'm a horrible painter. Therefore, I'm looking into some green-screen/chroma key stuff.
I'm glad you said something because now that I look at them, I see that they wouldn't really help the movie much.
So, thanks for the help. I need all of it I can get!
I also want some people to help me with the script. I'm not that great of a writer, so if you would like to preview it....
(Well, I only have Part One scripted, but it shouldn't take too long to get the rest.)
Sure, I'd love to have a look at it. Just PM or send it to me via e-mail when you're ready.
About the backgrounds: just be careful with chroma keying and be sure to test it before you start filming. It can get really messy and ruin a lot if not done correctly.
Best of luck with your film!
I can help. If you need some. Just PM me the script and I'll look at it too. Or email me at [email protected]. I'm kinda getting into this and I like writing scripts so I'll try to help as best as I can. 
About the backgrounds, what I did in 2008-2009 in my beginning years was Google some pics, print them, and paste them to a baseplate. I haven't tried that since then but you might be able to put it to use.
Or let's say you're doing a nature shot but you want a city in the background. Just put down a lot of baseplates, make a mini city out of LEGO (keep building height in consideration) , and place it in the background. Then, put your fig in the foreground and film. Thus, it will look like the guy is doing whatever you want him to do with the building in the background. This can work with pretty much anything. You might want to check out this video. Wait for the part where the villain is trying to fly a plane into the city. That mini city is what I'm talking about.
What I can say for chroma keying is make sure you have the whole screen lit evenly and don't put any objects in the scene that are the same general color.
Last edited by Eddie (July 24, 2011 (11:17am))
I hadn't thought of that, maybe Green-screen wouldn't be the best idea. 
In my opinion Real-world pics and Lego people just don't match well,
so at this point I'm just going to use the backgrounds I have. That is, until I figure out something better.
But I have a question:
Would you rather me send you the Microsoft Word file, or just copy-paste the entire script into an E-mail or message?
Microsoft Word file in email. That way I can make some suggestions in red and then send it back.
As for me, I don't mind. Whatever you prefer.
OK, I send y'all the script, so if you don't get it soon tell me.
Also, as soon as I get the money I'm going to buy the stuff from brick forge. 
I'm not sure what I'll do with the backgrounds yet, but I'll figure something out.
Thanks for the help!
EDIT: I've ordered the stuff from BrickForge. 
Can't wait until it comes in.
Last edited by Pritchard Studios (July 31, 2011 (01:01pm))
Sounds kind of interesting, I love historically based stories. Based on your timeline, you're going for the Empire part of Ancient Rome, which sounds interesting. Do you intend on including any actual historical figures, or is it just set in ancient Rome?
P.S. TO THE NUIMOBILE!!
Why would you want to make a film about the Romans? What have the Romans ever done for us!?
...The project is actually just in that time period, the Romans aren't really the focus of it.
Well, one Roman is...
Like I said, this is only in the same time period as the Romans.
In fact, the story focuses on a Jew, and later his Arabian friend.
But when they are shown, the Romans are (with one or two exceptions) portrayed as the evil, cruel men that they were.
On the other hand, the main bad guy is a roman, but he is not shown on-screen much.
I'll give more details later, but right now I want to keep the story secret. That is, until I have more of the script written, and a few scenes filmed. 
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