Re: Café Corner
For every guy brickfilmer, there is a brickchick out there somewhere...
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Bricks in Motion
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For every guy brickfilmer, there is a brickchick out there somewhere...
Wise words Brick7, wise words. 
Walter Benson wrote:That ad made me think of Sonjira's THAC entry. (If you've seen it you'll understand what I mean)
For a second, I thought you were talking about Squid's ad, which made me really confused as to what messages my film was sending.
Oh gosh I bet that was confusing for everyone! Haha no, I meant the one with an empty role of toilet paper.
Although maybe your brickfilm was really about Asian dating sites and I just mis-interpreted it. 
Brick7 wrote:My understanding is that dating sites are linked to the gaming sites since mostly young men are a part of those sites.
And most brickfilmers are single, so I guess it makes sense.
But Repelling Spider just got engaged, which makes me happy that there may actually be hope for the rest of us.
It feels too good to be true. :')
damn spidey u old (congratulations you should invite us all to the wedding)
also it may shock some of you to know that 45% of video game consumers are female. The industry just loooves to discount that demographic though.
By the way I turned off addblock and I got an ad for Tim Gunn. Seems accurate to my interests.
I have AdBlock, though I turn it off for this site, so Smeag can get those sweet ad-monies for running the site.
In fact, the only sites where I turn off Adblock are here, reddit, TGWTG, and YouTube (I like supporting people who do it for a living)
Just on a side note, what music is everybody listening to right now? I know there is a thread for this, but I'm a rebel and a delinquent.
Here are some of my thingies:
Lights
Pop Danthology 2013
GET LUCKY
There's other stuff that I'll put up as I remember them.
...Just on a side note, what music is everybody listening to right now? I know there is a thread for this, but I'm a rebel and a delinquent.
Here are some of my thingies:
Lights
Pop Danthology 2013
GET LUCKYThere's other stuff that I'll put up as I remember them.
Song For Lovers
Corvette Cassette
Also recently been listening to the Human After All album by Daft Punk.
Here's my weird music playlist thing on youtube. All the recently added stuff is at the bottom. So I'd start there if you want to look around. 
Also my soundcloud likes.
angsty early 2000's and 90's pop songs are my thing right now
damn spidey u old
Haha I'm about to turn 21. So I'll be 22 when I get married hopefully (beginning of 2015). Thanks by the way.
So, I just launched my new personal website. It's main use is for blogging and portfolio work. It's so I can direct potential clients to my site for them to learn more. I mainly decided to get a nice website put together cause I'm going to a big conference in February and hope to do a lot of networking.
If ya'll see any errors or mistakes on the site, please let me know! I'm sure some slip ups will have made it through even after numerous checks.
I guess I'm kinda old, too. 
you should invite us all to the wedding.
Yes please.
also it may shock some of you to know that 45% of video game consumers are female. The industry just loooves to discount that demographic though.
On the subject of demographics, why is there such a gigantic unbalance in the ratio of male and female brickfilmers?
There are only a few that I can think of, MM, LM, Emma Execute, and possibly a few others. I suppose Brick7 might be counted as well, but even so, most of them aren't particularly active in filmmaking while there are dozens and dozens of guys making brickfilms all the time.
Brickfilming doesn't even seem remotely like a particularly manly hobby, which is the weird thing.
Just on a side note, what music is everybody listening to right now?
My friend came to my house and showed me this song: http://youtu.be/K4m5mr41g4c
I've been listening to it a lot since then.
I guess I'm kinda old, too.
There are some brickfilmers on here in their 40s, so I think they have you both beat!
also it may shock some of you to know that 45% of video game consumers are female. The industry just loooves to discount that demographic though.
I don't believe it. It's so easy to mess with statistics to say what you want them to say. I know LOTS of females of all ages, and very few of them play video games often, if at all. If they do play, they didn't purchase the game themselves either, unless you are counting Facebook games like FarmVille in that statistic. That would certainly make the numbers higher.
On the subject of demographics, why is there such a gigantic unbalance in the ratio of male and female brickfilmers?
That is an interesting question. Could it be that females, especially teenage ones, tend to be more social, and animating is a rather solitary hobby? It is also very time consuming, and most adult women have families and a job to balance. Mama Monkey doesn't actually do the animating, Big Monkey does. And I would guess that Dewfilms is busy being a mom and doesn't have time to animate for that reason as well. Even a lot of male brickfilmers don't stick to the hobby that long because life and jobs take over.
Could it also be that Lego and other building bricks are considered by many to be a "boy's toy"? My youngest son just completed a stop frame animation class for 7 - 12 year olds, and there were some girls in it, although there were significantly more boys. The boys chose to use Lego bricks to animate, but the girls chose to animate with clay.
The statistic about women playing video games is roughly correct, because it does include "casual gaming," stuff you can play on a phone like Farmville or Angry Birds. One of the biggest demographics for casual gaming is middle-aged women who stay at home.
As far as brickfilming, I think the "boy's toy" factor is relevant, but filmmaking's very skewed toward men in general. My university is 60% women and yet the film department is mostly guys. Of the girls in the department, very few are interested in actual directing of narrative films; they tend to go for other aspects like videography, producing, and the like.
So the question is: should we get more females into brickfilming, or not mess around with the statistics? I would love to see more female brickfilmers, and there is potential, especially as the Friends series has brought Lego sales to girls up from 9% to 25%. Then again, if in general, females just aren't as interested, in Lego animation as they are in other interests, why try and do something about it? What do you think?
So the question is: should we get more females into brickfilming, or not mess around with the statistics? I would love to see more female brickfilmers, and there is potential, especially as the Friends series has brought Lego sales to girls up from 9% to 25%. Then again, if in general, females just aren't as interested, in Lego animation as they are in other interests, why try and do something about it? What do you think?
If people want to come to brickfilming, then they'll come. If they don't show any interest, then what's the point? Would you rather have people who were here because they loved the hobby, or were here for the sake of improving demographic statistics?
Also, HOO, I personally don't think that the Friends line is going to increase the amount of girls that get into brickfilming/ the serious side of the LEGO hobby. Most of the girls that I know who are into LEGO were into the hobby before Friends, and go for the same sort of sets the everyone else does, and may get Friends on the side just for the pieces.
But that's just what I see from my neck of the woods.
Just on a side note, what music is everybody listening to right now?
I am listening to Owl City at the moment. I recently started listening to his music (like last week) and it is really adorbale. Some of it is stupid but most of it is really good.
OK about the girl brickfilmers issue:
I think about that a lot, as well as in regard to quiz bowl (in middle school the gender ratio was pretty much even but now in high school there are absolutely no females. and quiz bowl is a very gender neutral activity, just as legos ought to be. But it is clear that today, the lego company is aiming at boys with its main products, whilst grabbing an audience of girls just as an afterthought.
Here look at these advertisements. This one is from 1981. The product is portrayed as a toy for children, not for boys and girls. 
Nowadays, Lego's mainstream advertising consists of boys.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwQqkX3qZak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIZ2lua9aQA
hopy crèpe I found a whole damn playlist of "Lego Advertisements Targeting Boys"
Ok and basically because lego's mainstream marketing efforts pander to males the girls are shoved to the side to play with their "princesses" or "dolls" or whatever stereotypical stuff.
Representation is important, believe it or not. And I believe that this is why there aren't many girls in brickfilming, because when they were growing up they were taught that legos are "boy toys". The point is, TLG is pointlessly gendering a genderless product. look at this brick: 
Is this a man brick? Or is it a lady brick? Neither!! This brick displays no signs of gender expression. So why market it to one gender or the other? (the metaphor works better in reference to the very gender-neutral minifigures, but I just wanted to say "man brick")
And don't even get me started about how early we apply gender roles to children. Girls are immediately taught to be passive and coquettish, while boys are given the role of being alpha-males, hypermasculine and aggressive. They don't have any time to just be children.
tldr gender roles are stupid
EDIT: I also really like this discussion and it would be fun to start a new topic on this, if people have anything else to say. it's not often that we talk about really big issues on this site
Last edited by topit (January 16, 2014 (04:54pm))
There was a large debate across the internets, coinciding with the launch of the Friends line back in 2012, on the apparent transition of Lego from being a largely unisex or gender-neutral toy to that of actively supporting a gender-devide in its products.
Today, Lego has its regular or 'boys' product and its highly successful girly orientated line, clearly in two very different camps. I dislike the prescriptive and stereotypical nature of such (this is a boys toy, this is a girls toy etc), yet it was admittedly a extremely successful business move on Lego's part; likely influenced by todays society.
Ultimately, I think the problem lies in the attitudes of our society, although Lego is not doing anything to improve them. And furthermore, if a girl wants a boyish lego set, or vice-versa, there's nothing really stopping them from getting it. Nevertheless, I don't like the idea of this segregation/clear definition of girls areas and boys areas in what was once a perfectly unisex product.
Also, we should have more meaningful debates on stuff here.
I think about that a lot, as well as in regard to quiz bowl (in middle school the gender ratio was pretty much even but now in high school there are absolutely no females. and quiz bowl is a very gender neutral activity, just as legos ought to be.
That's interesting; my high-school team was usually about half female (of the four years I think there were one or two where the male presence was slightly more dominant). Seems like the teams we competed against were generally closer to one third female, but they were still fairly well represented. I'd imagine it has a lot to do with who is doing the recruiting/coaching for the team.
It would be kinda nice in some ways if it were more balanced.
Almost all brickfilms have a male lead and are about mostly male characters, but it really would be nice to have some more variety in that. Of course, this is through no fault of the filmmakers, as brickfilmers usually like to voice their main characters or have there close brickfilming friends voice them, as it is convenient to do so, as almost every brickfilmer is a guy, thus deviating from that usually creates a bit of a challenge.
So far I've made only two films with a female lead. For Bank, I got friends to record lines and for Odoriferous I just tried it myself, which was weird, although funny.
Of course, there's not much one can do about this except try to encourage all people to brickfilm.
Though, I do have this long term dream of having a daughter one day and passing down my knowledge of brickfilming to her so she can run ANP.
Squid has a good point... if an animator's voicing a lead in a brickfilm, it's likely going to be a guy. TopitMonkeydog, thanks for the picture. I remember seeing that ad. I love looking at retro ads from my childhood and beyond. As for the "gender roles", part of that is inate and children generally have tendencies to graviatate to the gender adittudes themselves without parents. Now, if a boy wants a doll or a girl a toy gun, fine with me. A boy's experience with a doll can turn him into a great father in adulthood. And, as you probably know from my love of the Lego Freinds series (I own 40 Friends sets), I don't believe in gender stereotyping what toys a person all should love. That said, it is absurd that there were complaints from a women's group that Friends was gearing pink and lavender Lego to girls. While just making something pastel doesn't automatically make it something girls in general will like (a Lionel train in "girl" colors in the 1950s was a huge flop), girls in general want these Lego color schemes, or the series wouldn't have been such a phenenominal success! And those that don't like it have all the traditionally "boys'" Lego sets to enjoy.
Last edited by HoldingOurOwn (January 17, 2014 (08:02am))
I think one of the largest problems with the Friends line, and probably my personal one, is the 'Minidoll' supplement for the normal minifigure. The Minidoll presents bodily features that are not particularly relevant or positive; they are extremely anorexic, are well endowed (I don't think is really necessary), and furthermore sport comparatively limited points of movement. I think if Lego kept the normal, albeit girlified minifigure in Friends, they may have avoided a larger part of the !@#$ and outcry against their new product.
As for the "gender roles", part of that is inate and children generally have tendencies to graviatate to the gender adittudes themselves without parents.
YES BUT how much of this is caused by the deeply engrained gender roles in our very culture? I don't think it's possible to prove that gender roles are innate and if so I'm interested in whatever sources you got because I don't believe that.
The Minidoll presents bodily features that are not particularly relevant or positive; they are extremely anorexic, are well endowed (I don't think is really necessary)
I agree with your attitude towards those whatever you call them things but I don't think it is really fair to throw around mental illness terms like "anorexic." The point I'd like to push for is diversity of body types- I don't believe that any body is worth shaming. And that is definitely a external cost for toy companies, because they have to make so many different moulds for all the characters. So in that case I support the generality of the minifigures, how they really don't give any hints as to body type because they are pretty much generic. (Although I don't support the unnescesary sexualisation of the traditional minifigure when they draw like hips or whatever onto the female torsos... just keep that part standardized please)
You probably have noticed but I am not really brickfilming at all anymore, mostly because of time restrictions of school and whatever, but also because I'm interested in other mediums. But I am really trying to be conscientious of putting equal gender representation in the screenplays I write and I definitely recommend doing that to everyone. If you are in need of advice on how to do this there's this blog on that very subject that I find really interesting and I recommend it. Also if you haven't heard of it there is this thing called the Bechdel Test which stipulates that a film has at least two named female characters that have at least one conversation about something other than a man. Basically this is the bare minimum for female representation in cinema and you'd be surprised at all the films that do not pass (the original star wars films, all the LoTR films, most of the Harry Potter films, etc.) and if nothing else I really recommend that y'all try and make your films pass this test. It's not applicable or even feasible in some cases but in those that it is I definitely suggest trying to accomplish that to make your film reach that much more of an audience!
Also, that's cool that you were in Quiz Bowl, I didn't know that Squash!! I'm going to guess that you were in quiz bowl a few years ago and my guess is that because it was a smaller organisation back then the female demographic was larger. There are a lot of discusions on this subject on the hs quiz bowl forums but I don't go there because people there are annoying so I'm not really sure why.
Also, that's cool that you were in Quiz Bowl, I didn't know that Squash!! I'm going to guess that you were in quiz bowl a few years ago and my guess is that because it was a smaller organisation back then the female demographic was larger. There are a lot of discusions on this subject on the hs quiz bowl forums but I don't go there because people there are annoying so I'm not really sure why.
Correct that it was a few years ago; to be honest I'm from a small rural town so my experiences certainly aren't guaranteed to be typical. That said, over the eight years I watched it, our team actually got more female participation- so it's an interesting anecdote if nothing else. As an aside, I didn't realize there were high-school quiz bowl forums. We were a decent team, but never took it too seriously.
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