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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H.M.B. - 2018 BRAWL Entry
2018 BRAWL entry.
A lot of Fun on the Surface, but there's a deeper meaning. Can you put the puzzle pieces together?
I love this entry! Really great analogy. I think this might have some of the best writing of the contest, alongside Sillypenta. That shot at 3:28 is so great, when the guy moves forward, and the camera moves with him.
Also, I love the animation and design of the car, and I was really impressed by how you pulled off the cloud effects. Fantastic job, nswihart. This is easily one of the best films you've ever made!
So...a few days back, I popped into the chat and offered my opinion on this film.
But, since it's getting a criminally low amount of attention here on the forums, it's time to re-capture those thoughts into a post.
WHOA! 
Watching the film the first time through yielded a general bemusement. Several dialog jokes land well, it contains the single best use of a "fork in the road" joke in a brickfilm, and features a gloriously over-the-top car design. Sure, the animation is a bit limited, and yeah, it isn't that silky smooth, and the face replacement sometimes works and sometimes doesn't, but honestly, I didn't notice that until the fourth (Yes, you read that correctly) viewing.
Why?
Why would I spend the time to watch this film four times? (and counting)
Because, this film is one that demands a second watch.
After the first time through, the credits began to roll, and about a minute later, it hit me.
And that changed everything!
The voice acting is incredible, instantly giving character and pairing with the script to clearly show the temperaments and personalities of the characters; depth that takes on a whole new meaning once you understand the meaning. Now, maybe you picked up on it sooner than I did, but watching the film, after seeing the ending, yielded a far deeper, far more interesting story that honestly tackles a huge real-life choice in a respectful, intellectual, and entertaining way. It helps break down that inner debate that rages when we find ourselves at our own fork in the road, and comes away with a great answer.
Now, as much as the story drives the plot and demands the attention, the visuals are also great fun. The car, both in the opening, and then later when it unexpectedly rises back into prominence, has a great design and role. It's also by far the most hilarious character in the film. The clouds are a beautiful background detail, and the fork strikes that perfect balance of obviously being out of place, yet also, perfectly integrated in the scene.
While the animation is a bit rough, and the set obviously ends in a blue background only a single base plate away, these flaws hardly affect the film.
This is a masterpiece, and so far, my favorite BRAWL entry.
Such kind words! I don't know how deserving I am of them, but I strive to be worthy.
First off, thank you William and Shelby. I'm drinking it in. My emotional state is a perpetual rollercoaster and I constantly struggle to mask the valleys and harness the peaks to make it through each day. Your words fuel me to achieve new peaks in joy.
I don't get a lot of attention on the forums or in general on my YouTube channel, but I try not to ask for subscribers because I want my work to earn them. I think after HMB that will change. The car (your favorite character Pritchard) is going to become the star of a series as my new spokescar for FAAF. I'll be waiting until the results are announced for this BRAWL before releasing my first episode.
There are a lot of really good entries this year. The directors each in their own way, approach the goal of creating the best film they can, based on their own values, resources, and skill set.
I learned some things.
Having a single clear image in my head in the brainstorming process was a powerful jumping off point for creating a story with mystery to it. Sometimes the best stories are thousand-word pictures.
This was the first time I animated a character that wasn't anthropomorphic. It was fun.
This was the first time I didn't shoot my shots chronologically. It made it difficult to see how well the back-and-forth conversation was flowing in the video timeline. It forced me to trust myself from several days earlier when I only had the audio to go off of and was super excited about it.
I'm from Kansas and I see sky and flat plains every day. Making the clouds look right was something I've been wanting to do for awhile. It's about depth. Clouds cast a shadow underneath themselves, and it tells you how big the cloud is by the cloud's depth. If you have just a flat cloud shape for a background, that depth is lost. Someday I'll figure out how to do an overcast sky with light beaming through holes in the cloud layer.
The fork was a serving fork. So it really was large, even for human hands. I don't know if it mattered, but it worked well as a prop because it was exaggeratedly forky.
I'll get around to posting some more about my process and experience through the week, but right now it's a stream-of-consciousness word document and it's a bit much even for me to read.
Thank you again for sharing your enjoyment of my work.
-Nate
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