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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Hi guys! Was looking at some of my old notes, and it got me thinking about pre-production. Do you folks do much pre-production, or do you just jump in and start shooting? Is there such a thing as too much or too little post-production?
I think it all depends on the film. For example, if you are making a Star Wars film featuring a battle, there will be a lot of post-production. You would also spend a decent time on the animation to nice action footage. On the flip side, The Tree was largely spend in pre-production, due to the need to map out how long each bit of the film would take, how the needed effects would work, and just to get everything setup and tested before I filmed the final product. On other films I've done editing or animation tests for pre-production, or mapped out some of the shots so that I can simply focus on filming once I begin, while on yet others I've spent nearly no time on pre-production, in order to focus entirely on the animation process.
tl;dr The time you spend on pre-, post-, and production depends on the nature of the film. Hope this helps. 
I write an outline, then a screenplay, and begin production with a completed screenplay. I never storyboard, as I tend to visualize my own screenplay as I write it, and know exactly how my shots will look, mostly.
The screenwriting stage is my favorite part of the brickfilming process.
Basically, do what suits you.
For a long film, do lots of planning to make sure you have all the stuff you need for production. At the very least, make a set list so you know how many sets you have to film on and can film on them all at once while they are built.
For a short film, a script usually will do, but I like to recommend storyboards because they help with screen direction and continuity (and help you not forget stuff).
But just do what works for you, because sometimes I make films with simply a storyboard or script, and sometimes I do tons of planning. There are no rules about per-production (or production or post, for that matter) that you have to follow!
As an alternative to storyboarding, you could try blocking your animation in a 3D program like Blender. If you're familiar with the layout stage of CG animated films, it's the same thing. Just create rough shapes for your characters and your set, place your camera (or cameras) and move stuff around.
As an alternative to storyboarding, you could try blocking your animation in a 3D program like Blender. If you're familiar with the layout stage of CG animated films, it's the same thing. Just create rough shapes for your characters and your set, place your camera (or cameras) and move stuff around.
I haven't used Blender, but I Recommend using LDD, because it has ready-to-use bricks and you can simply build your set.
The only problem is camera which is annoying 
but with some tricks you can get the expected scene you want.
In Pre-production, we have things to do:
Screenwriting: Is required & should be done. Also, you can read the whole story many times and delete/add needed parts.
Story Boarding: Not required, but recommended. It helps you watch your masterpiece before it's done! Try alternatives mentioned above if you want to do it digitaly.
Listing Sets and Effects Needed: Just like Story Boarding -> Not required.
Mod edit: Please avoid double posting. If you need to add something, there's a handy edit button for that 
Last edited by rioforce (August 26, 2016 (09:15am))
When I first started out brickfilming, I often had the "jump in and start shooting" mentality. I did fairly little planning, not even writing out any scripts in some cases if I didn't have any dialogue. I had a pretty good idea of what to do in my mind, and for the most part I managed to make it work out pretty decently.
However, with experience, I've found that doing more intensive pre-production pays off a lot more in the end. Not only do you save a lot of time and effort, the finished film is often of a lot higher quality. By planning ahead, you can calculate the shots and sequences you'll need to animate much more effectively. This also has the advantage of giving you an idea of how long it will take to animate, and saves you time by not having to re-shoot as many shots or scenes. Nowadays, I intensively plan out and storyboard every single shot I plan to make, so I have a list of shots which correspond to sound effects and dialogue, and a rough "comic book" of how they all fit together.
I highly recommend that you try storyboard if you don't already, even if you think you can do everything in your head. Especially if you think you can do it in your head. I used to think this way myself, so I understand the reasons of why one might not want to bother, but believe me when I say that you'll save yourself a lot of effort in the end. The thing is, even if you think you remember everything, you will always forget something and not do it in the right order. Simply drawing and planning out your shots gives you a much greater degree of control over your camera angles, blocking etc., since you're not struggling to remember something or other or not remembering that thing in the right order or having to think about something else or whatever. You can think carefully about each shot and movement, and then position the camera exactly as you please, freeing time to do lighting/animation/tea-drinking instead. It also helps a lot in editing since you already know in advance how the shots fit together, rather than having to depend on your memory and waste time faffing about by shuffling around shots this way and that. This isn't to say that I always rigorously adhere to my storyboards--I often find that that a different angle might look better on-camera and add/remove shots on the fly--but having a basic framework and clear idea of what to do is invaluable when animating.
You don't have to be good at drawing or anything--my own storyboards often look horrendously crude since I'm not great at drawing fast and typically nobody but me needs to see them. Often I just use literal boxes and stick figures to give an idea of how to position my set and camera. As a film-maker, even more so as a stop-motion animator, you're in the unique position to control exactly what your audience sees and hears, and oftentimes you can convey a pivotal moment by a single shot or cut. So it's really important to plan and think about how exactly you want those shots and cuts to fit together. So please, please, storyboard and plan ahead, and your films will definitely benefit from it.
Last edited by Mr Vertigo (August 26, 2016 (10:01am))
I never had a problem not storyboarding. Everyone has their own way of doing things, and that's fine. There was one person who couldn't add the voice work until after completing the animation. It's not conventional or the way studios do it, but if that's how that guy's mind works, let him do it his way.
The idea of LDD for storyboarding is a great one, because you don't have to actually build sets for casual shots, and when you do, only the parts of the sets for what's needed for the scene. You can grab screens for your storyboards by pressing CTRL-K in Lego Digital Designer, and naming your files sequentially.
LDD is also great for making your set ideas. You can do a lot of experimenting without getting out all your pieces, which, if you have a lot, can be daunting. Then you build the set when you have the layout you want.
My pre-production technique usually consists of "mentally storyboarding" my films before writing down the script. In other words, I already have a really good idea of how I want a scene to look, so I don't find it necessary to make storyboards for it.
Be careful that you don't overthink the dialogue your scripts, though, because you can end up becoming OCD about it, resulting in a "flat" script (without much emotion or humor). I had a bad habit of doing this between 2010 and 2013 (resulting in most of my dialogue either being extremely cliché or lacking personality), but lately I've found it a lot easier to just write down whatever pops in my head and be satisfied with it the first time around.
Since the thread is already bumped:
I:
a) find a script
b) adapt it for brick filming
c) storyboard it
d) cast voice actors
e) create a shot list
f) create the sets
g) Do a practice shoot
h) start the real production
Hard work? Not really. I consider fixing a bad scene hard work so I avoid shooting bad scenes.
I consider fixing a bad scene hard work so I avoid shooting bad scenes.
Personally, I like shooting scenes multiple times (so long as it's not THAC). I feel that filming something twice, especially after editing bits of the film together, can really help you see if there are any better ways to place the glass through which viewers see the world you've created.
However, just look at how many brickfilms I've made... and at what rate they're made... and judge my method for yourself. 
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