Topic: IDEA: Joint filming on the same movie, using the same mini-figs
I'd like to explore the idea of a BiM collaboration flick where we can all contribute - and I mean we can all animate together. Ambitious - but here is how it might work.
Jointly we can come up with a story and script. It could be anything but I think something "generic" will suit this project best. By generic, I mean nothing that is franchised or owned by Lucas films or Marvel. A genuinely original work from the start.
Once we have a story and characters we ask for volunteer animators. There can be lots or a few. Lots would be more fun. We then chop the story up into parts and we each volunteer to animiate one bit of the story. The thing is, we all need to agree on the characters/mini-figs we use for continuity.
This means we must all make/buy the same mini-fig(s) and use that mini-fig in our animation, in whatever way the agreed story says. If the story is about Bob and Bill on a road trip then all the animators must agree to make - or buy - a Bob, Bill and car that looks exactly the same. If the figs are generic (non IP) then buying the fig or parts could be as little as $10 -> $20 bucks, and you get to keep those parts forever of course.
We each animate as per our part of the story and send them to the volunteer editor who puts all the bits into a timeline. The sound engineer then adds audio. The SFX guy then adds after effects or whatever. At the end of that process we have a flick that we can honestly say was built by multiple animators.
Of course, people will animate with different levels of quality and that will show up tremendously, but who cares. It's a collaboration and its fun! There are variations like each of us might do our own audio and after effects. Perhaps even more fun we wriite our own silly story based on the animation before us:
1st writer: Bob walks over to his car and starts the engine ...
2nd writer: When the engine doesn't start, Bill opens the bonnet to check ...
3rd writer: But Bill finds out there is no engine as it has been stolen!!!
and so on. Lets be clear, something like this will not win any awards or film festivals. It's for fun. It's for collaboration. It's to get people working with people. This can be tweaked in a dozen different ways but it is based on one non-negotiable:
- we agree to build/make the same mini-fig(s) for continuity/storytelling purposes and then have fun with that character(s).