Bricks in Motion
We are a friendly filmmaking community devoted to the art of stop-motion animation using LEGO® and similar construction toys. Here, you can share your work, join our community of other brickfilmers, and participate in periodic animation contests!
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Henri & Edmond - Plastic Love
Bored of being single, Henri registers on a minifigure dating website...
Plastic Love has been such an adventure for me. It took almost a year to complete.
English subtitles have been added ! (thank you so much Sean Warton for the help 
)
MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!! 
Last edited by iguana (December 24, 2014 (08:30am))
Best Christmas present ever. 
Yes! The best brickfilm series is back!
I was laughing so much throughout this. It felt shorter than it actually was (which is a good thing) and the writing and editing gave it a fantastic flow. There were so many small details and impressive little bits of animation that really made it come alive. The visuals and cinematography were beautiful with some of my favourite shots being the ones among the flowers and the night-time outside shots with the inside-lit buildings in the background. The voice acting was excellent as well.
Congratulations on one of the very best films of the year!
Story
The story isn't as great as Copyright, but it still is very well done.
The twist caught me off guard.
and I the comedy was quite good, but what else should I expect from a Henri & Edmond film. Also like before, the characters are likeable and well developed.
Animation
The animation is quite smooth. The dialogue has a nice style of quick movements.
Set Design
The sets were very nice and detailed. I especially liked the park, but what is it with Brigitte's house? I've seen it in so many brickfilms.
Lighting
Most brickfilms very simple lighting. Then are brickfilms like this that show how lighting in brickfilms should be done. Every scene is lit perfectly.
Continuity
Mentioning Clara helped with the continuity of the films. I also like how you
Brought back the running gag with the guy with the green vest almost getting killed.
Someday I need to see if that big tree is in the other films. If not, I hope you keep it in future Henri & Edmond films.
Overall
Overall Plastic Love is a great brickfilm. Even though the story didn't grab me as much as Copyright it still had a very good story, hilarious comedy, great animation, and beautiful lighting.
Story 8/10
Animation 9/10
Set Design 9/10
Lighting 10/10
Continuity 10/10?
Overall 9/10
As you already know what we think of your brickfilm, Maxime, just one word here:
MAGNIFICENT!!!
Absolutely astounding film, possibly the best brickfilm of the year. The animation was professional level and your sets have such a wonderful and unique quality that I just love. It was funny throughout, with good writing and an engaging story. The voice acting was very good; I don't know more than two words in French, but the delivery from all the actors still added to the humor. I really don't have anything critical to say; you make top notch films and watching them always makes me want to work harder to improve my own work.
If I take this brickfilm and compare it to any other brickfilm, this would probably stand out. But next to the other two you made, it's kind of a let down.
One could argue that I should take the video for what it is instead of comparing it with other products, but in this case I think that "what it is" comprehends the other films of the series. Yes, the animation is fantastic and the cinematography is quite beautiful, in your films there's always something unique. Technically, it is impeccable.
It couldn't engage me, though. What I mostly had problems with is the way situations are handled here: too much headed towards silliness, while having a love story in it should involve some tenderness too,
at least enough of it so that the twist at the end comes with some emotion, not only for Henry, but for the viewer too.
It's not that it's wrong not to have it, but here, it looked like you were afraid to go in that area: the gags had too much screen time (which didn't make them look like gags anymore), slowing down the pace, while if they'd been shorter it would've been funnier, and would've left more space to the actual movie.
Again, if I take each single aspect of the movie, there's nothing that wouldn't work, even the story and the direction: it is a funny story to tell, after all, and the direction exploits these things. But put together it is less than the sum of its parts.
So, this time I couldn't care enough. I'm probably the only one, everyone will love it, and they'll be right, it will be me who's missing the point. But Droit d'Auteurs was a masterpiece, something that was from another world, that felt every emotion the characters experienced, made me laugh and worry about, that showed me what great things could be achieved with this medium.
I just expected the same level of intensity in this one.
I admire you for the time and effort you put into these films; it definitely shows in the final product. I'm particularly curious about how much time you spend on the writing. The story here is a very simple one, but you've managed to add in enough humor and character to keep my attention the whole 20 minutes. Care to give us any insight to what goes on in writing one of these films?
Another amazing entry in the trilogy, Plastic Love is a wonderful brickfilm with colorful visuals, great comedic timing, and a brilliant cinematic feel. The narrative might feel a little funny, but the story is a lot of fun, and the incredible cinematography compliments it perfectly. I can't wait for Christmas 2017, when Henri and Edmond shall return (considering there seems to be something of a three-year time span between these films). I applaud you, and the crew, for doing such an awesome job with this film.
Henri & Edmond have done it again. Everything about these films - the writing, the animation, the set design, lighting etc. - is flawless. The characters and their world feel so real and believable, and it only comes as a result of all those things being such high quality. While this wasn't quite as riotously funny as the previous two, it remains a truly outstanding work of LEGO animation, and is certainly a work to be proud of. I love Henri & Edmond. 5/5
Fantastic film. The animation is absolutely on point and as always the cinematography is brilliant with the lighting in particular looking amazing. Writing is solid however as others have expressed I feel the core plot wasn't as strong as Copyright, but still among other brickfilms today this is clearly one of the best.
This is magnificent, Maxime, great work! I love your storytelling and writing style, you definitely know these characters very well and their chemistry together always feels easy and realistic.
As usual, your technical prowess continues to shine through - I loved the animation, lighting, editing, and set design. In particular, the timing of your edits is spot on.
I lost it when Edmond burst through Henri's door shouting "Noooo!"
Well done, another thoroughly charming and entertaining Henri & Edmond film. They may be my favorite brickfilming "odd couple" ever.
Thank you so much for your comments & feedbacks !
Ok, time for me to explain a bit of the story behind this project.
Back in 2008 when The New Neighbour was over; I started writing different screenplays (with collaborator Lilian Ginet). Plastic Love was one of them, but it was only half-completed, and I only had a rough idea of how it should end. 3 years later, once Copyright was completed, I started another "big" screenplay (I'm pretty sure I'll come back to it in the future, because it's the craziest stuff I've ever written haha), but I ended up going back to Plastic Love.
Why ? I honestly didn't want to make 2 long, pretty ambitious films in a row. I simply wanted to go back to Bricksheim and enjoy a nice but simple ride, just for what it is.
From the beginning I knew Plastic Love would evolve in the darkness of Copyright, and that it would be hard to make it people's favorite. But anyway, I just really wanted to do it !
Plastic Love was first named "the e-girlfriend". There was already the same structure : friends meet in a restaurant and talk about their dates & romantic stories using flashbacks. I really loved the idea of the flashback montage of Henri being sad and slowly falling in love through computer messages.
I re-worked it, added all the centennial oak tree & shadow stuff, and started thinking how to bring this unexpected twist. I also spent some time thinking and adjusting details so that to have some kind of a subtext about people who can't find true love because of their fear of loneliness.
I thought the film would be 12 or 13 minutes long... But the fact is it is 19 minutes long and took almost as much time to shoot as Copyright ! haha
Absolutely wonderful, it was a joy to watch.
the centennial oak tree & shadow stuff
Yeah, see, that there's something I didn't get. I didn't understand the significance of that climax. I was waiting for her "dark side" to be revealed, and then--
"Oh...oh, so yeah. Cutting down an oak tree, a 100-year-old oak tree. Oh...um, yikes...?"
I don't know...maybe if you had established the centennial oak tree as a little more of a significant landmark then just a--I don't know...just a centennial oak tree--perhaps, a tree that the entire town had loved. I mean, I just really didn't feel like there was enough suspense there and I really wasn't sold on the concept.
Still though, I laughed out loud at the gags that were relevant to the tree. For example, when Edmond asks how old the centennial oak tree is, and when he tells Henri that he's going to take a look at their older videos to see whether or not the tree existed then.
For those who are curious, here's a small behind-the-scene featurette !
English subtitles are available (of course).
Wow. I just watched this for the first time, though I knew when it came out, and I have to say again, wow.
I see that you mentioned yourself that you knew this would fall short of Copyright for most people, and I have to agree. Copyright is (easily) one of my favorite brickfilms, and this one doesn't touch it in terms of story in my opinion.
However, with that said, you should be proud of this! The technical quality of everything is staggering. Sets are detailed, animation is expressive, lighting is beautiful and subtle, etc. Overall, this is one of the most (maybe the most) beautiful brickfilms I've ever seen. And on top of that, even though it isn't Copyright, the story is quite good. I had several good laughs.
Overall, absolutely amazing film. Excellent job, and easily one of the best brickfilms of 2014. This deserves millions of views, not thousands...
Amazing as usual!
Spoiler (click to read)
But are they dead?
Yes. 
And just reiterating what everyone else has already said,.... this was utterly fantastic! You never fail with your Henri and Edmond films, can't wait to see whats next.
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