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Bricks in Motion
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!
A place to discuss, share, and create stop motion films.
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It was Schulz
I could swear it was spelt with a "t"
Screw it! I'll just say it's the football player if anyone asks. 
Sonjira wrote:By the way, where you referring to Charles Schulz in the credits, or someone you know named Charles Shultz? I was a bit confused, so I wasn't sure if it was a typo or not.
It was the comic strip artist Charles Schultz. This film was very much inspired by him, so I wanted to thank him in the credits.
According to all these results, his name is Schulz. I'm going to assume you're talking about the creator of Peanut. I don't know, I don't work here.
Walter Benson wrote:Sonjira wrote:By the way, where you referring to Charles Schulz in the credits, or someone you know named Charles Shultz? I was a bit confused, so I wasn't sure if it was a typo or not.
It was the comic strip artist Charles Schultz. This film was very much inspired by him, so I wanted to thank him in the credits.
According to all these results, his name is Schulz. I'm going to assume you're talking about the creator of Peanut. I don't know, I don't work here.
It was Schulz
I could swear it was spelt with a "t"
This is great. I applaud you for making such a long brickfilm.
My main gripes have already been addressed but overall this is wonderful. I commend you for all the effort you put into this. Keep doing your thing, Walter.
edit: the Harrison gag was hilarious, got a big laugh out of me. In fact I enjoyed a lot of the brickfilm jokes, they work well in the context of a much larger film so as not to dominate it. Good stuff.
I couldn't quite pin down why I liked this so much, so I let it sit for a few days, and I think I've got it. I love the normalcy of the plot; I found it very funny, and the touch of dryness that the normalcy of the characters brought to even the goofy jokes was wonderful; the influence of Charles Shulz is very apparent. The film has a very unique style in the world of almost exclusively goofy comedy brickfilms, and I found it very refreshing. 
The Harrison gag was hilarious, got a big laugh out of me. In fact I enjoyed a lot of the brickfilm jokes, they work well in the context of a much larger film so as not to dominate it. Good stuff.
Yes, I thought the brickfilmer jokes were a highlight of the humor.
Great job. Your distinct style shines through and goes extremely well with the theme & content of the story.
I recall a while back you made a comment somewhere (perhaps on Twitter) that you were working on a long project and were thinking of breaking up and releasing it as several separate films. If this is the project you were referring to I'm glad you decided to keep it intact. It works so much better as once complete presentation rather than cut into several. The music worked perfectly as well.
Well done!
The writing and flow of the story was superb. Everything could be viewed as an independent skit, or part of the larger adventure. Loved it! Animation was fun and smooth. One thing I liked was how the scenes kept on coming back to already established locations, that really helped tie everything together. Well done!
Mr. Darcy. Was that a Jane Austen reference?
I finally got around to watching this, and I'm so glad I did. It really did have that "Peanuts" feel to it with the witty "wall" conversations, the wonderful jazzy music, and the short skits. It was very funny and creative from beginning to end. I can't wait to watch it again and show it to my family!
That was a really fun little film. I really enjoyed the cartoonish, Peanuts-like atmosphere that you've given it. The animation was a joy to watch, most of it ran pretty smooth, but sometimes the awkward pauses got old after awhile. Another thing was the voice acting; some of it felt really unenthusiastic at times. But, other than that, most of the jokes worked very well,
including the brickfilm-related ones, I just loved those.
The colorful set design, the comic story, and the overall fun feel make this my new favorite film from you, Walter. Awesome job!
I watched this 2 days ago. Hey! There's a lot here that I wanted to comment on about this one and so I wrote a (barely) short review!
Visually, this is astounding. The sets are well-designed. The colors are vibrant. The picture clarity is excellent. Once again, I ask, what model camera are you using? My camera lacks manual focus and I can't do the close-ups I want. The sky posterboard is the perfect color to accomodate Lego. Overall, this is pleasant to look at.
Story-wise, the humor is very dry. And I laughed very hard! I love dry humor. (Dry doesn't mean not clever.) Much of the gag lines (except a few groaners early on) were very clever, even if predictible.
For instance, I knew the outcome of the scene that began with Jessica slicing a carrot as soon as I saw her slicing it.
This was entertaining (almost) from beginning to end. It did start off slowly, and I wondered if, as a montage of shorts, the entire film would drag. Fortunately, after a few minutes, everything was engaging. Even though most members of the cast were stock personalities, you still wanted to know more about them.
Question:
Is the Bob/Larry duality a VeggieTales reference to the main characters? Or is that just a coincidence? My own series has two buddies named Bob & Larry and it's not a coincidence.
Tom's voice was weird. It reminds me of Chris Allbee's voice for Bruce the Mailman in the Joe Brickmond series. The voice work was well done and I'm jealous that I didn't take time to take part in this. I'll have to audition for your next project, if allowed. The musical cue after the first scene was very reminiscient of "Peanuts", which is an obvious influence, and one you've stated afterward. The entire film harkens back to that immortal legend, Charles M. Schulz, who blessed the world with the greatest comic strip that was ever created, or ever will be created. The entire montage reminds me of a collected series of his strips, very short funnies with a loosely-connected storyline creating an arching theme. It was great how each scene could be a self-contained short short on its own but together they told a larger story. It's also like some of the later "Peanuts" montage-based specials or an episode of the 80's series, "The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show". That show, I believe, was the only time the Little Red-Haired Girl was actually seen.
By the way, there's a trailer for a Peanuts animated movie for next Christmas. It looks awesome, and faithful to the Schulz vision!
One gag I would like to have seen, was, to end off the Speed-dating scene with Samantha, a really, REALLY weird looking/acting guy says that he thought Samantha seemed strange! The only part I didn't like in the whole thing was when the random guy pops up after Jeff & Samantha get together (Was it puppet Paul?) and says something quassi-profound. It just seemed out of place.
After the first few minutes, everything about this is enjoyable. As a creator of, and fan of, longer brickfilms, this is a one of tomorrow's classics in the genre, and hopefully, an inspiration for us to make more films of this length. Recommended viewing. In this age of Youtube and Vine, shorter is in, but everyone, take the time to watch this! And, as the best brickfilms are, it's suitable for all ages!
"Tiki Tennis Player! OOGA BOOGA!"
One more thing... I LOVE DR. STRANGELOVE!
Last edited by HoldingOurOwn (December 7, 2014 (10:41am))
That part with Harrison was great. This is one of my favorite brickfilms! Awesome!
This was marvelous. I love how you've managed to create such a long film and pack it with so many nice details. Most of the sets are really detailed. I particularly like the teapot, the glass door frame, and the coffee shop.
The gear gag was one of the best parts. I also really liked the joke about them hanging out with Walter.
I'm also glad people seemed to like cameo. Great idea on your part.
I also liked that teapot. Innovative use of parts. I just watched this again yesterday.
This is incredible in the quality you maintained throughout the film. I kept looking to the duration bar hoping the film would squeeze just one more situation in. This sits in the pool of brickfilms I consider the best. Phenomenal work.
I just saw this. I would like to write about it, but words just won't come to my mind. I still wanted to say something, I'll start by quoting this prase that perfectly sums up my thoughts, and see what happens next.
I think, without hyperbole, that this is one of the best brickfilms of this year.
Probably what makes this special is that usually people use long brickfilms to tell big stories, with action, adventure, and lots of things that in the end only bore you to death out of repetition, and because they run out of ideas pretty quickly. This film is much more ambitious than those projetcs, in a smaller-scale, something that actually helps you a great deal in finding ideas, something that this brickfilm is full of, and leaves you wanting for more. It's 20 minutes, but it feels like 5.
Few of the jokes made me smile, and, as I distanced myself from the community in the last year, I think I may have missed some inside jokes, but the greatest strength of this film is not to be found on the gags: it's the whole feeling the film leaves you with, which is satisfaction. I left satisfied, because it did it's job well: it entertained me, made me forget about real world problems, and made me feel good in that period of time, which is what every movie should aspire to.
I also want to mention the voice actors. I agree with everyone here praising especially Jessica, the most engaging character.
I run out of words.
Congratulations.
MPfist0 brings up something that I really never considered... are there any inside jokes in the film that we may not know? Hidden items of significance? Inquiring minds want to know. Also, I'm interested: how long did you work on the film, and how long just on animation?
Thanks again to those who shared their thoughts on this brickfilm. I'll try to answer most of the questions asked.
Question:
Spoiler (click to read)
Is the Bob/Larry duality a VeggieTales reference to the main characters? Or is that just a coincidence? My own series has two buddies named Bob & Larry and it's not a coincidence.
No, I wouldn't say that was intentional on my part. The joke was based around the fact that both their torsos would physically have to use the same nametag, so I figured I'd point it out in the script.
Spoiler (click to read)
The only part I didn't like in the whole thing was when the random guy pops up after Jeff & Samantha get together (Was it puppet Paul?) and says something quassi-profound. It just seemed out of place.
It was puppet Paul. I would've left that in no matter what people thought. It's more of a reference than an inside joke. But I wouldn't change anything about it.
Few of the jokes made me smile, and, as I distanced myself from the community in the last year, I think I may have missed some inside jokes...
MPfist0 brings up something that I really never considered... are there any inside jokes in the film that we may not know?
I think the only real community joke relating to Bricks In Motion would be the joke with Harrison Allen. Outside of that I don't think a lot of the jokes would be considered inside jokes from these forums. Are there inside jokes for outside of this community? I suppose one or two, but I don't think I based the entirety of the humor off that.
Also I didn't really write the humor with the intention of making everyone laugh. I went for a very specific style and I'm really pleased with how it came out. Still the fact that people are able to enjoy it without finding it very funny makes me very happy.
Hidden items of significance?
There are certain choices made that are intended to reference other things. Kind of like how you thought the Bob/Larry duality meant something, HOO. Some of these are really subtle and likely overlooked. I don't really want to reveal what they are, though. I like to keep that a mystery.
However there are some more visible easter eggs and references scattered throughout the film. Some can be fairly random while others are more appropriate in context. This would include cameos also.
Few of the jokes made me smile, and, as I distanced myself from the community in the last year, I think I may have missed some inside jokes, but the greatest strength of this film is not to be found on the gags: it's the whole feeling the film leaves you with, which is satisfaction. I left satisfied, because it did it's job well: it entertained me, made me forget about real world problems, and made me feel good in that period of time, which is what every movie should aspire to.
Not to downplay all the other kind words I've read, but this is probably the nicest compliment I've ever received. Thank you.
And thank you to everyone else. I really appreciate your comments!
I don't know how I missed this. It is great. I won't add to much on top of everyone else, other than to say that I really liked it. One of the best brickfilms of 2014. An entertaining movie that made me feel good for 20 minutes with a couple of laughs on top of that. Great brickfilm.
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