I really like the theme, Squash! I'll be busy with another brickfilm for a portion of July, but after that I'll see if I can throw something cool together.

Youtube @TheRealSonjira I consider it a personal defeat if my pee is not perfectly clear every time.]

I understand that you want entrants to be creative with their films and so you aren't allowing copyrighted music in entrants films but would you allow them in the credits. I would really like to use this song just for the credits because it fits nicely with my story and I think people would still be very creative with their actual projects if you allowed professionally recorded music to be featured in just the credits. The credits are what makes a project complete, allowing the viewer a period to reflect on it when it's still fresh in the mind. Plus silence and/or music that doesn't fit detracts from the project's overall quality and doesn't allow viewers to reflect on the story if the credits don't reflect the mood themselves.

I wasn't planning on using the whole song. I would trim it to fit in the relatively small amount of time and only use a small portion. So my film would be about 5 or 6 minutes of footage and about a minute of credits. I just like the mood it sets at the end and the few select lines of the song that fits perfectly with the story and mood of my project.

okay, thanks

i will enter, but the script I was going to use is becoming way too big.

LEGO themes would fall under trademarked series, yes. That doesn't mean you can't make a film about a group of adventurers, but a film specifically about a man named Johnny Thunder would not be permitted.

Ok, so, is this enough of a stretch, or are any of these too close to the original names:

John Grant                    - Johnny Thunder replacement
Penelope Quill               - Pippn Reed replacement
Nicolas Flynn                 - Harry Cane replacement
Dr. Archibald Thatch      - Dr. Charles Kilroy replacement

Baron Edward Vile         - Baron Von Barron replacement
Katrina Dutch                - Alexia Sinister replacement

John Grant, however, may be called "Johnny" by friends, and, most characters look the same, though (some more than others) have changed significantly aside from the minifig's face...

I could add pictures if needed, however, I just want to know if this would be acceptable, or if I should edit a little further in looks and names. Response much appreciated.

I'm assuming that as long as I don't use other trademarks (Like the blimp or specific artifacts) this should be acceptable, right?

That's acceptable, TrollBridge. Do remember that the judges are going to be looking for originality and creativity in storytelling. Relying on tropes to establish the plot isn't necessarily a bad thing, but you'll need to execute your story extremely well to impress the judges if it doesn't deviate much from standard adventure-serial fare.

@Lavamation: Nerf has become a common descriptor for foam dart guns so I don't have a problem with its use. The intention of the rule against trademarked brands is mainly to keep entrants from building their films around those items; I'm not going to disqualify someone for referencing them in passing (example: normal people don't say "I'm off to play with my plastic building blocks"- in that instance, I wouldn't punish anyone for using the word "LEGO").

I feel like people are worrying a lot about whether I'm going to disqualify them- to be frank I don't enjoy enforcing rules (despite that being part of my job as a moderator). I'll do my best to enforce the rules as I've laid them out here, fairly and comprehensively, but ultimately what I care about is encouraging originality and creativity. I won't go full-lawyer on anyone because they used the word Kleenex in place of tissues. Just do your best to follow the rules and make something fresh and imaginative.

By all means, feel free to keep asking questions if you aren't clear on the rules- I just don't want anyone to feel like I"m sitting here waiting to kick them out of the contest. I care about getting quality entries- the rules are primarily there to promote that.

I feel that I should be entering but I have a bad schedule And knowing myself, I usually make long stuff, its a big problem for me (ESPECIALLY IN EXAMS!) that I write a lot. And with a theme like contrast, I'd go deep. If I get a sudden script that's short enough for me to do but good enough to enter... I go to school tomorrow from holidays (In Australia its a two week break at July), now I've got something to day dream about when I have a bad teacher in class