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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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I didn't like how it started with "Luke 2 verse 8" It felt a bit odd and should have been cut out.
My only other dislike is that the narration felt a bit flat, as though it had been some one who wasn't quite prepared reading it and with a little bit of a lack of enthusiasm as though they didn't want to read it but were then eventually convinced to do it but still didn't want to.
But the lighting was really, really nice. Night can be a hard thing to do. And I enjoyed the film. 
The loads of angels singing was pretty impressive, and I liked the sheep and the camera and stuff.
AND WOW THE FIRE WAS NICE!
Wow, really like the lighting and cinematography. It does well to help give the film a very calm, peaceful atmosphere, as does the music. Very nice job.
I love brickfilms that tell Bible stories! 
The technical aspect were all your usual quality, so I'll skip reviewing those this time in favor of commenting on the aspect ratio. Going wider that 16X9 can result in a more cinematic feel...Up to a point. But then, it just becomes too wide, and gets a "panoramic" feel. (And not in a good way.) With Youtube, the viewer is 16:9, so anything wider than that ratio simply appears to cut off the top and bottom.
That's fine (again) up to a point, but eventually, the loss of the top and bottom pixels overwhelms the "Cinematic" feel and....and... And I'm desperately trying to come up with something scientific and intelligent sounding but in reality,
I just don't like it. 
Everything else was great though!
Thank you all for your honest voices and letting me know what you really thought. Glad that overall you guys liked it so far. The 3:1 aspect ratio was just a stylistic thing I chose to do, so I can understand if you dislike it. I thought it looked splendid and a lot better than 2.35:1 so I went for it.
I really enjoyed it's serenity and excellent cinematography - everything was so smooth! I found the aspect ratio a little annoying, but really, 3:1 didn't really impact on the experience much. The music was very well coordinated, and really reflected the whole atmosphere. I'm also a sucker for a good animated logo at the end 
I'm not at all religious, but I appreciated message all the same. One nitpick; Jesus Christ was never even born on the 25th of December, let alone in the entire month. He was actually born at the time of the lamb, which is actually Spring. The whole 'Christmas' thing was just a ploy by the early Christians to convert Pagans to their cause. Pagan people, particularly the Romans, would celebrate festivals, such as Sol Invictus, around the 25, celebrating the half-way mark through the winter solstice. When Christianity trundled along, the Pagans were unwilling to give up their festivals, so the shady messengers of 'god' referred back into the holy scriptures, and discovered that, miraculously, Jesus was born on the exact same day as Sol Invictus. The Pagans were able to keep their festival if they switched to Christianity, so they were happy (for the time being). That's how it came about.
Overall, a well made film that's message will appeal to a significant portion of the audience, but not all.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it so much! Not really sure how that paragraph about the origins of Christmas really applied to the film itself though, so it being a nitpick about the film is rather confusing. Christmas is still a holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus regardless. This video was a visual telling of Luke 2:8-19. Thanks for your comments! I'm surprised with the feedback about the 3:1 ratio, but it's obviously not enjoyed by all. Glad that it didn't really detract from the film though. I would have never known though unless I tried it, so it's a good learning experience. Thanks for your honesty.
Actually, if I'm not mistaken, Christmas was moved to that time of year so that Christians celebrating Christmas would look like anyone else celebrating the other holiday. No one would suspect. For a while, Christianity was illegal.
The animation and editing are nice. I like the somewhat chiaroscuro approach to the nighttime lighting and that you didn't just tint the whole thing really blue like some folks would do for night-time lighting.
There are two main reasons the reasons 3:1 aspect ratio doesn't work, IMO. The first is that to pull off an extremely wide ratio like that you kind of need a presentation medium that is wider, for instance the multi-projector setups or anamorphic projection lenses used in the 1950s when extremely wide aspect ratios were a fad. On a normal screen the movie here ends up being a thin strip of video across the middle of the screen, on most modern, 16:10 monitors your video would only take up about 53% of the screen at full screen, with the video only using up to 44% of the viewing area on an older 4:3 monitor or projector. This means that on most web presentations, or even a conventional projector, you're going to end up with a strikingly small image compared to what people are used to, which works against the traditional intention of wider ratios to make something feel more expansive.
The other issue is that it appears you've filmed on relatively long lenses (or a zoomed in zoom lens, a camera with a small sensor, or something like that), so to further crop this image makes it look increasingly flat and claustrophobic instead of creating the spacious, panoramic look I imagine you're going for. The use of a fairly long lens perspective highlights the fact that you've cut a rather large 40% off the top and bottom compared to a normal 16:9 picture. You could compensate for that issue somewhat by zooming out or using a wider lens.
@Repelling Spider, I'll rephrase, I feel Christ being supposedly born on Christmas is a misconception, not a nitpick. Just though I'd put it out there the factual series of events to better everyone's knowledge of the festival we'll soon be celebrating. I still really enjoyed your film though!
@AnnoyingNoisesProductions, I think the illegality of Christianity was in the times of the Romans, when their culture was still intact. But good point anyway.
Wasn't a fan of the widescreen, but I thought it was splendid overall. You got a subscription from me and I'll definitely be checking out your other work. Good job, man.
Nicely done. I appreciated focusing on the true meaning of christmas (says the man that just did a Star Wars/Christmas mash up 
I agree that the lighting was very nice. Looking forward to more.
I have to agree with everyone here (can't add more without repeating, so sorry for the shorter than average post). One thing that did pop up in my mind was that this would be great if it were to be narrated by Morgan Freeman or someone with a similar voice. Anyway, excellent film, and I see you're utilizing AE already .
this would be great if it were to be narrated by Morgan Freeman
Oh yes.
Keesret wrote:this would be great if it were to be narrated by Morgan Freeman
Oh yes.
Double yes. Thanks for more feedback all, looks like most people didn't like the 3:1 ratio... except me! 
Haha. Anyways, only way to learn certain stuff is to try it and learn from the reactions so thank you all! And especially thank you to Smeagol for taking the time and explaining all of that. I may have to try to do a wider length next time.
The aspect ratio works better when you see it on a flat screen TV (which I did).
Yeah. I go back and watch some brickfilms on my TV. I don't do it often because it takes a really long time to search YouTube with arrows. 
I was on there originally watching Crazy Ed's new Christmas film, and luckily, your film was related to it so I didn't have to search again.
Though, while on the subject of that film, I'd say I liked his aspect ratio a lot more. It has some bars on the top and bottom, giving it that somewhat cinematic feel, but they're not so big that it covers a very large portion of the screen.
Contrary to popular opinion, I very much preferred the widescreen. It gave it a very cinematic feel and look. Very nice animation and the lighting was astounding. What kind of setup for lighting/lamps did you use?
Once again, very nice.
In hindsight, I do think I should've gone with my regular 2.35:1 instead. It does crop a large amount of the frame. Glad someone liked it, Caveman Inc! Thanks for telling me, I appreciate it Overall I'm pleased with how this video came out. A lot was learned VFX wise from the color grading, fire effect, and the heavenly host shot. Anytime that I learn so much, I think I'll call it a success.
@Caveman Inc - As far as my lighting set up goes for this film, I used only 1 lamp for the entire shoot. It was point up into the air in the opposite direction of the set sort of so that not a lot of light was cast, but just enough. It took some experimenting, but once it was coupled with the slightly blue tint added in post, it gave it a great night feel. I may do a BTS post on my blog concerning some of the techniques I used as well as before and after shots of color grading and effects.
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