This is a short paper/essay I wrote on five brickfilms that have inspired me the most over the past 10 years or so. I hope you enjoy, and leave your thoughts or opinions in the thread. Bricks In Motion doesn't allow more than two links per post, so for any of the films that are on youtube, I have not included a link. Some are featured on other websites, so feel free to follow those links.

The Five Most Influential Brickfilms Of The Past Decade(Give Or Take A Few Years)
   
        Having been raised on a steady diet of Gerry Anderson’s classic children’s shows such as Thunderbirds, Stingray, and Fireball XL-5, along with the timeless productions of Aardman studios, stop-motion and puppetry instantly captured my imagination. It was the idea of manipulating a physical object, rather than a digital one, that I was fascinated with. Not only producing a film, but having the physical props to show for it. Creating these worlds and stories was something I wanted to do, and I was obsessed accomplishing this goal. There was never a shortage of Lego in my house growing up, and playing with the toy is one of my earliest memories. For the first six years of my life I lived in Holland, and my older sister by five years had a collection of sorts of Duplo and Lego kicking around that I too enjoyed. When we moved to The US, all that came with us, and has since remained a constant throughout my life.

    In 2003, internet video sharing was in its infancy. Sites like ‘eBaums World’ and ‘Google Video’ were probably your best bets to find something good. As a six year old I began using computers and the internet on an old Vaio lap-top which was as thick as a dictionary. As a Lego enthusiast I surfed the web for anything Lego related. By the time 2004 rolled around I had started to discover brickfilms, a medium which melded two things I had a passion for: Lego and films. This was in the days before Youtube, mind you, and all the brickfilms I found were either on Google’s video service or a downloadable file that would open in Windows Media Player. It was the accessibility of brickfilms that I loved. Unlike producing a show like Thunderbirds, which required large scale sets and mechanics, brickfilms could be made with things I already had. The versatility of Lego made it seem so easy, and it ultimately is. The seven year old me quickly got to work on trying my hand at the craft, and I haven’t stopped since. This year marks the ten year anniversary for me creating brickfilms, and in honor of such a landmark event, I thought I’d list the top five most influential brickfilms that have inspired me since I was a child and continue to do so now. Let the list begin!

5. ‘Black Knight’ by Richard A. Creel.
Viewing link: https://archive.org/details/BlackKnight

    The film is essentially a re-do of the classic ‘Black Knight’ bit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, with a Star Wars twist. There’s nothing really special about this brickfilm from a technical standpoint, other than perhaps its heavy reliance on greenscreen(in true George Lucas fashion, because every frame of this film is so dense, there’s so much going on). You might watch this and see nothing that stands out, and neither do I upon re-watching the film in recent years. Perhaps it was just the shortage of decent brickfilms at the time that resulted in me liking it. It’s worth a watch if you like Star Wars and Monty Python. It was a fun watch when I was kid, and its significance completely relies on nostalgia.

4. ‘Indiana Who?’ by topsvideo.
Youtube link: Search for it on Youtube

    You probably have never seen this one, and it’s no surprise. It seems like it was shot on VHS and I originally saw it was a downloadable quicktime video. This video, while rough around the edges, is very much the epitome of classic brickfilms. The sets use basic and brightly-colored Lego bricks, and the frame rate is average, but what makes this so great is it tells a story. Brickfilms can often fall into the trap of being sterile and aimless, but this brickfilm has a three-act narrative and concludes on a great joke. The premise is a simple Indiana Jones set-up, but has a unique twist that makes it an instant classic. The video also feels like it has scale. While obviously just a home-made movie, it was made with ambition and focus, and it shows in the final product. When I first saw it I was greatly inspired by its non-dialogue approach(my preferable method of telling a story, as can be seen in many of my brickfilms and live action films alike) and it’s competence at story-telling. I’d definitely give it a watch if you haven’t already!

3. ‘Lego - Star Wars vs Star Trek’ by Dan Miga of Half-Star Films.
Youtube link: Search for it on Youtube

    I think most have seen this one, it has two-million views. I was never a big Star Trek fan outside of ‘TOS’. ‘Next Gen’, the movies, ‘DS9’, all of those just aren’t really my cup of tea. I’m for sure more of a Star Wars guy, so to see The Enterprise get their ass handed to them by a fleet of rebel fighters was exhilarating. Following in the vein of the dog fights from Star Wars(A New Hope) and Return of The Jedi, the film is a very good execution of a space battle, which is pretty difficult to pull off in animation. The comedic approach combined with the nerd satisfaction of seeing Starfleet duke it out with the Rebel Alliance is the appeal of the video for most of the audience, but the animation is also a draw for those who are interested. The animation its self is, how do I say, amateur? But it doesn’t really matter. Much like the previous entry to the list, it’s the fast-paced story that keeps you engaged, and the crude animation doesn’t matter. The video inspired seven year old me to make a space battle video, which was, as you can imagine, an atrocity. Its a fun video to watch, and was definitely one of the better brickfilms back in the day.

2. ‘The Magic Portal’ by Lindsay Flea.
Youtube link: Search for it on Youtube

    This entry might seem like a stock answer, but there’s a reason for that. The Magic Portal is a brickfilm that shall forever be regarded as one of the best. An endearing, timeless sci-fi comedy, The Magic Portal was for a long time known as the first brickfilm ever. We now know this isn’t correct, but this film is still far more popular and acclaimed than what we currently know to be the first ever brickfilm. This one I saw in 2008, when it was uploaded to Youtube. I guess I was about eleven at the time, so I was a bit more experienced with brickfilming at this point. This film inspired me to pay more attention to crafting an interesting story, not just a compilation of scenes of mini-figs holding lightsabers. Everyone loves The Magic Portal, and rightly so. The film effortlessly creates an original story and populates it with developed characters. It’s another brickfilm that influenced my preference for no dialogue in my own films, and to create such an engaging story that lasts for sixteen minutes with no dialogue is an admirable feat. The characters are actually relatable as we see them go on their journey to discover the origin of a mysterious portal found on their spaceship They seem to grow as characters, all while their emotions are communicated by physical movement and the unique use of multiple faces for the mini-figs. I’d recommend you to watch it, but I’m sure you have already seen it.

1. ‘The Rescue’ by Timesage and True Dimensions.
Viewing link: http://www.truedimensions.com/timesage/rescue.mov

    Another staple of brickfilm history, The Rescue is another comedic approach to an already established franchise. Similar to the Indiana Who? video, this one twists the iconic opening scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark into an amusing Star Wars crossover. The film also exists in Youtube format, however the sound has been removed due to a copyright claim. The Youtube clip, uploaded in 2006 has over ten-million views. So what makes this video so damn good? Well, for starters, it’s the familiarity of Indiana Jones. Everyone loves both Indiana Jones and Lego, so a video combining the two being uploaded in 2006, a time when brickfilms were scarce, was sure to get views. But it’s not just the subject matter, nor parody it eventually evolves into that is the only appeal, it’s the animation quality. This was the kind of video I wanted to make when I was little. The animation was top-notch, with the detail in the character movements only emphasising the care and precision with which the film was made. The definition of the actual camera is pretty poor and pixelated, but it doesn’t really matter. It’s a film we all saw at some point and were inspired. I myself made many Indiana Jones themed brickfilms when I was young, and this video was the pinnacle of that subject matter. The sheer detail in the animation and camera movements is awe-inspiring, and short but sweet nature of the film makes it one you can watch over and over again. It’s a truly endearing film, and the mystery of it’s production(its creator has a website, but it contains no reference to this film, nor any other brickfilms produced by him) only makes it more fun to watch. You absolutely need to watch this if you haven’t, because it really encapsulates the era of brickfilms before their abundance.

    And there we have it, the five brickfilms that have inspired me, and hopefully you, over the past decade. I hope you enjoyed my list, even if you don’t completely agree with it. If you’re interested in seeing some of my brickfilms, check out my Bricks In Motion profile and I hope you find something to your liking.