I basically "fell into" using LEGO. It was just on hand when I began stop-motion. I guess i could have used clay, but it's messy. When I began, I actually started in the living room floor (yes, it was a while ago) and clay just wasn't a logical choice because it would get in the carpet. LEGO is a great medium. Just connect heads and torsos and legs, just build your sets, and animate!

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"Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." - 1 Corinthians 10:31b

Not sure, really. I think I fell into it, after doing a short animation at my grandparents house with my dads' old LEGO, back in 2007. It was about the time I'd started secondary school, so I must have been about 11, and my first animation was Spaceman: the movie, where a classic red spaceman runs into a shelter. That was literally the whole animation, I think it was only twenty or so frames and done entirely in Windows Movie Maker. The music was one of the space themes from classic-era Doctor Who. I think I still have it somewhere.

It's actually really odd that I still brickfilm. I got bullied not only liking LEGO but for brickfilming most of the way through secondary school, to the point that I didn't tell my own cousins about it for years (though I think they knew anyway) and I didn't tell anyone at college about it until a year, or in some cases a year and a half, after I started there. My parents decided I had enough LEGO back in 2005 and said I wasn't allowed to buy any more, and tried to find other interests for me. Even though I still managed to get the odd set here and there, they were pretty strict about what came in and what didn't. As far as editing goes, I only had terrible second-hand computers that failed after a couple of months right up until January of last year, had a myriad of hard drive failures in which over the years I've probably lost at least half an hour of footage, and kept getting bought editing software too advanced for the computers I had. Now, finally, when I have an amazing computer and proper animation equipment, and a relatively good place to animate in, and I'm almost comfortable with it as a hobby, I'm in my exam period at the end of college (so can't spend much time on it) and am about to go to university at the other end of the country, where there's no guarantee I'll be able to continue brickfilming, even though it's the only thing I truly enjoy in my life now.

All in all, it hasn't been a rewarding hobby at all. Quite the reverse, and I don't know why I've stuck with it. I should have given up years ago, but I'm glad I didn't.

"Nothing goes down 'less I'm involved. No nuggets. No onion rings. No nothin'. A cheeseburger gets sold in the park, I want in! You got fat while we starved on the streets...now it's my turn!" -Harley Morenstein

Great idea Nathan, I'm looking forward to seeing the results of these discussions.

Why Lego?
Well, I began animating thanks to a stop-motion kit I received one Christmas. The kit used Lego, encouraged its use, and having plenty on hand, I began animating with that medium. Why have I kept with it? Couple of reasons.
First, it's what I've done before. Being a creature of habit, I don't normally change what I do unless there's a good reason.
Second, I have, and even at that time, had a large Lego collection, allowing me to build just about anything I needed from stuff around the house.
Third, it's simple to animate, as opposed to action figures/clay that have many more elements and points of motion that must be considered and perfectly animated/modeled or it looks poorly done.
Fourth, I was a Lego fan in my early childhood, and strangely kept returning to it time and time again, thus, I apparently have a subconscious attraction to it.
And lastly, it's more clean, reusable and sustainable than many other mediums. Clay you have to specially mold each time, action figures and the like are limited in customization and wear out over time, and you can't easily build unique environments with other mediums with the same materials. Plus, clay is sticky, nasty, and gets all over everything.

To me, other modes of animation have to be professional and nigh-perfect for them to have much appeal. If something is just a little off in animation or design, then when that is combined with the more human-like models, it tends to fling things off into the uncanny valley. But with Lego, the cartoon-y looks, and less realistic design, allow more freedom with animation, tone, and style that enable the blocky figures to seem more human, or even less so, as the movie requieres. But still without feeling all weird and off-putting. That also helps to cushion against flaws and imperfections.

As for live-action, it involved getting friends to help. And I didn't have any that were interested in that kind of thing. Also, costs shoot up a lot with the transition to live-action, and I couldn't be as much of a control-freak in terms of adjusting everything little detail until it's perfect like I can in stop-motion.

It took me a while to really develop any skill with animating, and I did take a few months break away from the hobby. Thankfully, that phase didn't last long, and thanks to (somehow) placing high in several contests, and the encouragement of the BiM community, I remain a committed brickfilmer to this day.

I just seemed like an obvious and fun choice to me!

When I first discovered Brickfilms on Brickfilms.com and YouTube (I want to say around late 2006-early 2007), I felt like it was a good choice due to the relative inexpensiveness of LEGO and its familiarity and fun. After all, it was and still remains my favorite toy!

I've dreamed of being a filmmaker for a huge portion of my life. In fact, when I was in 2nd Grade, I inadvertently made my first Brickfilm based on Knights Kingdom. (I use "Brickfilm" loosely, since it mostly consisted of my brother and I walking around our house dressed as Knights). So when I discovered this new way of using my toys and making films, I really wanted to jump onto it.

Brickfilming has several advantages over traditional animation/ stop-motion or live action films. For the latter, there is less headache over worrying if your actors and crew can all work it out in their schedules to be on set to film. With Brickfilms, for the most part, the only schedule you need worry about is your own.

As for traditional animation and stop-motion, Brickfilming doesn't require the expensive tools that those need, such as materials to make armatures and figures.

But most of all, LEGO just has this irresistible charm and familiarity about it that other forms of animation can lack. Literally EVERYONE I've ever met has played with LEGO. This cannot be said about Transformers, or MLP, or GI Joe, or anything else. And we all remember making up outlandish stories with them, which we acted out with complete seriousness. This is something that I've found really connects with most people who I have shown my Brickfilms.

And that, to me, is what makes Brickfilms special.

Youtube @TheRealSonjira I consider it a personal defeat if my pee is not perfectly clear every time.]

Hmmm.

I'd always been a LEGO fan, and I guess that just blossomed into brickfilming overtime. I think I originally stuck with LEGO just because it was the majority of my film-able belongings, and then came to love it - and the community that came along with it.

Memoir alert

It was June 15th, 2001 when I first discovered what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. At only five and a half, I was pretty much in childhood heaven. – I had a PlayStation 2, VHS tapes of the classic Disney Afternoon of the early 90’s, and was just phasing out of DUPLO, and converting over to the regular, tiny LEGO bricks that I’ve grown to love since. Sure, I had “One Saturday Morning,” “Back to the Future,” and the original Star Wars saga on tape, but, I’d never seen a movie in theaters. – This evening was to be my first experience at the cinema!

Atlantis: The Lost Empire was the film – One of the Disney Company’s last attempts at traditional animation before purchasing Pixar and devoting most of their time to CGI films, and Marvel series. Though I regard the film highly, I’ll admit that it’s plot is a pretty generic action/adventure spectacle! With a crew of explorers and a mystical lost city to pursue, it sure made for a great ride – especially for a first-timer.

From that day on, I knew I was gonna be a film-maker, no matter the hardships.

In 2004, I wrote my first story – another pretty generic adventure. But, at this time, I didn’t have the recourses to put something like that to film, so, I had to settle for a short-story. – A story that has garnered me much praise from both friends and teachers alike. It’s one heck of a conversation starter!

In 2007, great change came over me in two ways. The first: I discovered Youtube for the first time. The second: I heard that the great Steven Spielberg was filming another Indiana Jones blockbuster, set for release the next year. I was so excited! It actually inspired me to, for the first time, put down the pen and paper, and start to put my ideas to film…

For me, LEGO  has always been a conscious choice for film medium. I quickly learned this after some testing with filming toys. The Star Wars action figures had to be held by hand, and claymation was WAY to hard for someone like me to concentrate on… I had to find a better way to film, and what to film with.

The answer, oddly enough, came from the old Rankin & Bass holiday specials – all animated with stop-motion and little figures. Thomas Edison must have been proud, as the “light-bulb of idea” switched on above my head. I could stop-motion animate my LEGO minifigures.

The reason I chose stop-motion was clear, and so was my choice of LEGO. Aside from being my favorite toy in the world, I had been lucky enough to stumble upon some brickfilms on youtube. The rest is history, I guess.

I’m SO excited that Nathan Wells created this thread, because, he’s another chapter in my autobiography to be released in about 60 years Beast was one of the first brickfilms I ever saw, and definitely the first one I ever loved. It was the final push in the right direction that I needed to pick up Brickfilming as a beloved hobby. Even if I’m one day directing blockbusters in Hollywood, I’ll always Brickfilm. I just love it, and, I’d like to think the community likes me too. I’ll always contribute my films to the craft – as long as there is a community there waiting to be entertained. (:

I don't.

I went into live-action a while back, but I still love brickfilming. I started brickfilming with my dad's old tape camera when I first saw the winner of the 2007 star wars contest. Because of that, I never outgrew LEGO. Every LEGO set I bought from that point on was "for a movie". I just kind of got comfortable with the community and now I just can't leave it. I love watching brickfilms, and every time I see one I get an idea for a new video of my own. With my "brickfilm addiction", I spend a lot less time working on my live-action films.

So for me, brickfilming is actually a curse, if anything.

I've always loved art in general and animation specifically, especially golden age cartoons which were my steady diet.  A few years back, I created two hand-drawn cartoons that were about 5 to 6 minutes in length each.  One of these were shown at a film festival.  I returned to my love of Lego around the same time.  A few years later, I read issue of BrickJournal magazine on brickfilming.  I've seen Lego animations prior and was thinking about trying it myself, but the magazine really was my inspiration.

I decided to go all out and focus on a sitcom series, and pattern it after a live action series.  I knew this was a huge undertaking because the films would be 20+ minutes in length.  For a while, I sought out and watched Lego comedy series.  The one that most inspired me, however, was Joe Brickmond.  They were hilarious, well-written, pleasantly animated, and well-acted.

So, in conclusion, the answer to why Lego is threefold: 1) Love of animation, 2) BrickJournal issue on animation, and 3) Joe Brickmond.

This is a great topic idea, Nathan.  Though funnily enough the discussion topic reminds me of an exam question.

I guess I might as well tell my own story as to how I got here.  LEGO has always been my favourite thing ever.  I've loved it for literally as long as I can remember.  It's always had a special place in my heart; you can pretty much build anything you want, and it's a great creative outlet for me.  So brickfilming is in a way an extension of my love for LEGO.  (It probably also helps that my current social life is about as lively as a morgue at midnight.)  I saw some brickfilms a long time ago (2008-2009ish) on YouTube (such as eanimation) and while a friend of mine and I briefly considered making our own brickfilms, it never really went anywhere (they probably would have been horrible anyway); either way I've been out of contact with him for quite some time now.

Then, about two years ago, I discovered Squid's brickfilms and I finally decided to start making them myself--although it took me around a year just to get started.  I guess it doesn't say much for my sense of time-judgement that I finally decided to start brickfilming during what would become by far the busiest (and definitely worst) two years of my life thus far thanks to a ton of schoolwork and a bunch of personal crud I won't elaborate upon for obvious reasons.  I barely managed to release two films, both of which were for contests (ironically I haven't made any of the films I'd originally intended to), and have had literally zero time to do anything since the summer besides a few tests and half a script.  Thankfully this particular phase of my life will be over in a few weeks when I finish my exams, and I'll have loads of time to finally brickfilm.  Unfortunately I fear there will be many films that I've wanted to make that will never see the light of day, as I have no idea how my brickfilming future will run beyond this summer.  I'm more or less in the same boat as Jampot, as I'll be off to University in September/October and I don't know if I'll be able to continue.  I'll be studying a subject completely unrelated to film so I won't even have some sort of excuse to continue.

Though Brickfilming has given me an interest in film and cinema I'm not sure I'd be good at live action, since I'd have a lot less control and be a lot more limited in terms of professional equipment, and I'm not sure how well I'd interact with other human beings.  (I suppose I could become an actor, but I'd probably only ever enjoy roles that I'd be interested in playing and I'd be really paranoid that I'd end up playing in a critical bomb that would ruin my career and I'd be remembered as "that guy who played in that awful movie".  Or I'd have to play in a Shakespeare play, of whom I have a deep-seated loathing.)  I really want to continue brickfilming, but I don't know what the future holds for me.

Sorry if that wall of text is too much.