I believe that Licensed IP Brickfilms have just as much potential as any other form of brickfilm to be good. The trouble is that they usually aren't.
I don't think there is any one single factor since Licensed Brickfilms themselves vary widely. Indiana and the Quest for the Platinum Waffle is as distinct from LEGO: The Force Unleashed as Paint. is from Pirates Rule!, to cite some random examples. Sometimes, watching a LEGO recreation of a movie trailer barring a certain Star Wars teaser can be just as much fun as an original brickfilm set in a pre-existing universe. All of the choices you've listed in the poll could greatly improve a Licensed Brickfilm in some capacity or another.
I think the main problem is that most Brickfilmers don't think about the possibilities enough and take an idea to its fullest potential. A lot of young Brickfilmers seem to be aping ForrestFire and his ilk. I suppose it's inevitable to some degree, but it's kind of sad since a ForrestFire video is just a tiny bit of what is possible with a Licensed Brickfilm (and, let's face it, not exactly something to be proud of). I'm not here to debate whether or not his videos are good--my point is that just because some random person found fame this way doesn't mean it's the right path for someone else to take.
Basically it depends on what you want to achieve. If it's a straight-up recreation of a scene or trailer, technical quality is paramount, as the creative storytelling aspect of film-making has no room to shine. If it's badly made and rushed it'll just look amateurish and lolzy in the worst possible way (see: 90% of all the recreations of the aforementioned SW teaser). Same with fight scenes. I myself have one or two "recreations" in mind, though I don't feel brave enough to even contemplate tackling them until I drastically improve my animation and VFX skills. I'd also like to see Brickfilms based off more diverse IPs. It would be nice to have Licensed Brickfilms that aren't based off of something LEGO has made a theme out of, instead seeing yet another Star Wars or Batman flick. All of my current "Licensed ideas" involve IPs that aren't affiliated with LEGO in any way.
If making an character-driven Licensed story, all of the considerations regarding "normal" brickfilms apply here (since it essentially is the same as an original Brickfilm, with the exception that you're using characters, locations, and concepts that some other person created). Indiana Scones works, despite bad picture quality and audio, because of the excellent writing, voice-acting, and animation (Can-Can skeletons], anyone?). While it does send up the old Indiana Jones tropes in a hilarious manner, it doesn't rely on them alone for humour, and there are plenty of original jokes that nevertheless fit well within the universe that eanimation has created for us. Clubbins feels just as developed as, say, Jack Darter or BIRDFaCE. He has a life of his own, instead of being a boring plastic puppet spouting parodies of famous lines in an attempt at being "funny". As a result we get a Brickfilm that manages to pay homage to the source material and still give us something completely new and fresh.
Bottom line, I believe that Brickfilmers need to think outside the box a lot more and break the mould when it comes to Licensed Brickfilms, and think about all of the possibilities available. Making short BrotherHood Workshop-style animations is all well and good (and great fun to watch), but it'd be nice to see something more developed than a quick one-joke film quickly digested and forgotten about. Whilst I personally don't entirely understand the appeal of making character-driven Licensed brickfilms (if you're going to put that much effort into something, why not just go all the way and create your own world and story and free yourself up creatively), I love seeing what people come up with, and I can't wait to see what other Brickfilmers will do!
EDIT: Yeesh, that ended up being a lot longer than I thought.
Last edited by Mr Vertigo (February 7, 2015 (06:20am))
Retribution (3rd place in BRAWL 2015)&Smeagol make the most of being surrounded by single, educated women your own age on a regular basis in college
AquaMorph I dunno women are expensive