I think that if it's a struggle just force yourself to animate, you may want to take a couple of months off, and get a strong desire and commitment for making a film. Then, just take it a step at a time, and don't rush (unless it's a contest with a deadline). I know that I had this problem and ended up not animating for 1&1/2 years. However, now I got back into it, and just plow through things. If you don't want to stop for a while, then I would recommend you figure out an idea that you love, write down/figure out what steps you'll need to go through to get to the final product, and then do each thing on the list, one at a time. I find it relieves some of the stress for me at least. It also gives me a plan, with some general deadlines. Another thing, is don't look at the projects as a whole, but as parts (like each shot as a part to animate, then FX, then audio-ize, but not altogether.
So, not sure if this will help, or if I made any sense, but I hope I did.

-LG501

2nd place Darkness and Light entry: The Tree
Behind the Scenes

Once you have to start forcing yourself to animate, and you don't enjoy/want to make the film, thats when you need to take a break and do something else.

Tell 'em the truth:
That you've taken a temporary break from animating and that you will let them know when you return.

Whether you know it or not, pretty much every director has projects that they started and failed to finish. Generally the longer you've been making films, the more you realize that telling people about your projects before they've entered production is a bad idea (unless you're casting or something, of course). Honestly, I've worked on films that I gradually realized I didn't want to finish. Man of Our Clock is probably a decent example of this. When I started work on it, I told everyone and basically did my best to hype it up. After a year and a half of on-again-off-again filming, I realized that it just wasn't going to be a good film. The script was boring, I couldn't have pulled off the large shots I had planned, etc... The only thing keeping me from abandoning it was the knowledge that my actors and a few other people on the site were anticipating it. In cases like that, it's better to just own up and tell everyone that you aren't going to finish the film. Otherwise you'll waste time working on something that isn't interesting to you. As a voice actor, I think the completion rate on films I act in is generally around 10-20%. That includes work done for new and experienced directors, mind you. You aren't alone in not always finishing films.

That said, in your case it sounds like you still have interest in the story and want to complete the film, so that's good. It might be a decent idea to make a frank evaluation of your ability to complete the film though, if you're seriously stressed over the idea of making it. Sometimes ideas can overreach our abilities. What were the projected run-times on your past films? Did they require a lot of special effects? It might be a smart idea to limit yourself to making a great film on a scale you know you can achieve, and then work your way up to making any bigger ideas you had brewing. Lots of people start out with big ideas and then peter out after realizing that they aren't ready to actually execute them. They get down on themselves and quit brickfilming over it, and that's silly. You have to walk before you can run. I'd advise focusing on keeping things simple. Try coming up with small projects that you know are achievable for you at present. Big films can always come later.

I guess the last thing that needs to be said is... don't stress out about making a LEGO movie. I know it seems important now, but in five years you'll barely remember the projects you didn't finish. Brickfilming is a hobby for almost all of us; there's no reason to feel anxiety over it. No one is going to pick on you for not delivering a film... if they do, they must live a terribly boring life. I've given a lot of advice here as to how I think you might best advance as a brickfilmer, but ultimately I think you should do whatever makes it fun for you.

Never give a release date unless you're almost done your project.  Unforseen situations may arise at any time!  If, like me, you're doing EVERYTHING: writing, animating, a character's voice, you can always mix things up.  Work on some animation when you're in the mood; then do some post-production, or outline one of your new ideas when you're not.  But having a set date to finish can only put pressures on yourself and we're supposed to be doing this because we love it!

But here is my SECRET to timely, enjoyable filmmaking: it is amazing how smoothly things go when you take a large project, and set a few short-term goals: for example, "This week I'm going to process my voice work and photograph and animate 2 scenes or 3 minutes," and have a few goals beyond that, with no set schedule.  But if soemthing keeps you from achieving the goal, you can make minor adjustments.   I had the fortune to return to work, plus had other distractions in the past 2 weeks.  It changed my animation schedule.  Still, I readjusted my short-term goal and just about reached the halfway mark in animating episode 2 of my series.  Each goal is a small victory, and it brings you closer to completing what would otherwise seem like a daunting task.

This is something I have to do, because I've chosen to make an episodic series that has long episodes, an extra audio track for laughter, musical numbers, many that I write myself, and a lot of research into each story.  It keeps me sane.  By the way, we'll wait and watch other people's brickfilms in the meantime, and know that when yours IS done, we'll enjoy it as we did your other work.

What Squash said is definitely some very good advice, as always. It also seems like you're focusing to much on the end project. While it is important to keep the whole film in mind while working on it, it's important to enjoy the process of creating the film. This is a hobby, so if you don't enjoy the process of creating the film, there's really no point. It doesn't matter how long it takes to make, the point is that you are enjoying yourself making it. I've spent the last year and half making unambitious films that never run longer than three minutes, really enjoying myself the whole time. I'm only just know starting to actually work on a long film, and as I'm in college and really busy with that, I'm not worrying about how long it will take, I've accepted the fact that it probably won't be done for three years and am not worried about it. Life brings enough stress on it's own, that last thing you need to stress out about is making a brickfilm.

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