Nathan Wells, Zach Macias (MindGame), Doug Vandegrift (Vandy), and Philip Heinrich (myself) are working on a feature length documentary which will explore the world of brickfilmers.

If you plan to contribute in the first 48 hours, please send me a private message with your approximate minimum intended pledge as soon as possible. It'd be helpful is all. Thank you!

As we finalize details for the Kickstarter, getting a rough idea of how many pledges we'll be getting in the first 48 hours will help us make some decisions about the campaign. Of course, this is just to help us get an idea of what people plan to give, and you're welcome to change your pledge plans after you message me.

The documentary will feature many longtime BricksInMotion members, including NXTManiac, Jay Silver, KG, Dewfilms, Slothpaladin, Filmyguy, Revmen, and Errol, as well as YouTube animators like Brotherhood Workshop and Forrestfire101. We'll explore what inspires people to get into the hobby through a series of interviews and looks at the daily life of various brickfilmers. The film will also feature a new stop motion film animated collaboratively by MindGame, Nathan Wells, and Sméagol, with additional animation from Vandy, creator of America: Outlawed.

Joseph Frank (known on this site as The Duke) will be collaborating with Sméagol to compose the original score for the documentary. Joseph was a prolific brickfilm composer in years past, lending his work to films including Mirrored Perspective, Edison, Beast, and Picturesque.

We will be launching a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the film on September 6, and we'd love to have as much support as possible from this community since this community is what the film is about. In particular, we need a strong push in the first 48 hours.

Bricks in Motion members who contribute $25 or more to the Kickstarter in the first 48 hours will receive a bonus: a free engraved Bricks in Motion keychain.

The keychain is only available as part of this 48-hour promotional. If you would like to be notified as soon as the Kickstarter is launched, please send an email to [email protected] and we will add you to the mailing list for just this announcement.

We'll be offering a variety of exclusive rewards to our Kickstarter backers, including a Bricks in Motion Collection DVD which will contain all entries to the BiM Celebration contest as well as classic films from the BiM community with new, exclusive director commentaries by the filmmakers themselves. The DVD will include a new, higher quality scan of the 16mm original for Lindsay Fleay's The Magic Portal as well.

The DVD is still a work in progress, but it will include films by Nathan Wells, MindGame, Vandy, Sméagol, Fallentomato, NXTManiac, Slothpaladin, KG, Brendan Krick (Krickfilms), and more. All of these films will have new director commentaries. NXTManiac and Sméagol will also produce new, exclusive short films for the DVD that cannot be seen elsewhere. Doug Vandegrift (Vandy) will oversee the process of producing the DVD.

In addition to the DVD, we have other rewards, including this custom film camera set designed by Nathan Wells. A Blu-ray / DVD combo version of the collection will be available instead of the DVD for an additional $10 per tier.

All images are mockups and may vary from the final versions, though they should be improved, if anything.

Here's a taste of the tiers and rewards we will have available as part of the Kickstarter campaign. There will be more tiers and reward options at launch on September 6.

$10 - The Viewer
Just want to watch the documentary? This pledge is for you. You get a SD digital copy of the final documentary, plus your name in the documentary’s credits, and custom LEGO® model building instructions for a series of original movie set designs by Nathan Wells.

$20 - The Animator (Up to 100)
Are you an animator who uses LEGO® and wants to get noticed? We will highlight you and your work in a featured blog post on the front page of BricksInMotion.com, as part of a new and regularly updated blog highlighting filmmakers, films, contests, and other goings-on in the community. You also get your name in the final documentary’s credits, the custom LEGO® model building instructions, and a SD digital copy of the final documentary. The website promotion award is exclusive to this tier, and will be given on a first-come, first-serve basis.

$25 - The Moviegoer
Time to pop the popcorn and watch some films! This pledge gets you a HD digital copy of the final documentary, and the Bricks in Motion Collection DVD, which features 2 hours of LEGO® animation films from the cast and crew of the documentary, including Jay Silver, Chris Boyer, Philip Heinrich, Nathan Wells, Zach Macias, Doug Vandegrift and James Morr. The DVD will ship in December 2014. You also get your name in the final documentary’s credits and the custom LEGO® model building instructions.

$50 - The Builder
Let’s build! This pledge gets you a digital copy of the documentary's soundtrack and pieces and instructions for a custom miniature LEGO® model designed by producer and animator Nathan Wells, plus your name in the final documentary’s credits, the custom LEGO® model building instructions, a HD digital copy of the final documentary, and the Bricks in Motion Collection DVD. This LEGO® model is exclusive to this tier and will be shipped December 2014.

$100 - The Cameo (Up to 50)
This is your chance to appear in the documentary, in the plastic! We'll make a minifig of you, put your figure in the movie and then send the figure to you afterward. Some restrictions apply, please check out the FAQ for more info! You also get your name in the final documentary’s credits, the custom LEGO® model building instructions, a HD digital copy of the final documentary, the digital soundtrack, and the Bricks in Motion Collection DVD.

There will be some additional shipping charges for contributors outside the US. We'll try to keep it reasonable.

I hope that through this film we can bring the community together and widen exposure for the community once the film is finished. The $20 "animator" tier may be of particular interest to BiM members who make films; we have wanted to have a system like this to highlight members in a manner similar to the old BF.com "patron" system and this is our first way of doing that. And don't worry, the front page won't become an endless string of plugs for only brickfilmers who contributed; we intend to also expand the front page content in other ways to keep it interesting.

Our crowdfunding campaign will launch on September 6 through Kickstarter. Kickstarter is owned by Amazon.com and accepts payment primarily via debit or credit cards in a manner similar to Amazon.com. They also accept prepaid debit cards. The money will only be collected if we reach our goal and have enough money to make the film.

The full Kickstarter pitch page will have some of the information above, as well as more reward options and a pitch video that includes a new short film collaboration by MindGame, Nathan Wells, and Sméagol.

Again, if you would like to be notified as soon as the Kickstarter is launched, please send an email to [email protected] and we will add you to the mailing list. It will be a one-time list for the sole purpose of informing people when we launch the Kickstarter, we won't spam your email address. In order to receive the free keychain, you will need to pledge within 48 hours of the Kickstarter campaign's launch.

The campaign will run from September 6 to October 6.

Thank you for reading, and for your support for this community over the years. It is a community, and every member in it is a part of creating that. We look forward to the adventure of making this documentary with you all!

Philip
(aka Sméagol)