It only took me three days to read through this thread [/only]

Now, I want to make a point.  Stick around awhile, I will make a quick summary before I go in detail.
I may not post often, but I'm about to post big!

Quick Summary of My Thoughts

Essentially, brickfilming takes two paths, or a mixture of both, quality of story, and quality of visuals.  I love a great story, but I also love eye candy, and both are great ways to make brickfilms.  The difference between the best films and just good ones is having a perfect mix of both story and visuals.  Leaning one way or another doesn't mean it will be a bad film, it just probably won't be amazing.  Story can be simple, as long as it is entertaining, and a film doesn't need superb VFX, as long as it has half decent animation and doesn't look like it was edited on a toaster.

The rest of this post is just a much more detailed version of what I just said, don't reply to this post unless you have read all of it, because you won't know the entire picture I'm trying to paint.

^ At least read that part ^
Long posts make me groan too.  But you've got time... I hope...

VFX and Visual Quality

Essentially, there is no real problem, but there have been changes.  Because of new technology and such, technical aspects of films have become a much more common thing then they used to be.  This doesn't mean there hasn't been people going for the eye candy say five years ago, it just means it is easier now than it used to be, so people are trying it.  The same thing is happening in theatres.  I just got back from Thor, the story wasn't exceptional, and was adapted from comics, but it had great VFX.  Also, how many movies are in 3D these days, a lot. 

Aspects of Films

There are two genres of films, not genres like comedy and action, but different genres.  These genres are story and the atmosphere.  Atmosphere referring to what we see and hear, for example, is it in dolby 7.0 surround sound, does it have amazing CGI landscapes, is it 3D, etc.  Brickfilms are the same way, some films have great story, like Doug Vandegrift's 'American Outlawed.'  Others are amazing eye candy, like FP's 'force unleashed.  American Outlawed had a good story, but wasn't technically amazing, the animation was dodgy, the video quality poor.  Force unleashed was the oppostite, the story was a guy slicing up stormtroopers in a box and fighting a jedi, but the Animation was superb, the VFX outstanding, and the camera movement, lovely.  I really enjoyed both these films, but they are different genres of film. 

Execution

It all comes down to execution.  Every film is a mix of story:atmosphere and depends on execution.  The best are films that have a great story, but are great in the technical sense as well.  The trick is finding the balance, the outcome is how well that balance is executed.

Story

I will agree, that lately it seems most films are based around eye candy and quick laughs, and deeper story-lines are lacking, but be aware of the medium.  We are using Lego, so don't try to make a dead serious film, make the story work for the medium you are using.  Storylines don't have to be super deep, they can be as simple as two people having a funny conversation, or a series of random events that the minifigs try to take seriously, in other words, dramatic irony.  If you can make the audience think something ridiculous is happening, but the 'actors' don't think its ridiculous, its usually worth a laugh.  Blunty's earlier work is a perfect example of that, the storylines weren't all crazy, but they felt ridiculous to the audience even though the minifigs were totally serious. 

It's just a Hobby!

Also, seeing as a vast majority of us are brickfilming as a hobby, don't worry your butt about execution, try to have decent execution, but don't nitpick, have fun.  Few brickfilms have outstanding stories, even fewer outstanding stories and great visuals, just make something you are happy with that has a good mix of story and atmosphere, and it will probably be enjoyed by lots of people!  If not, maybe you need to work on execution a bit, but it doesn't need to be perfect.

*The use of 'atmosphere' in relation to brickfilming during the course of this post is mostly referring to animation, cinemetography, editing, and VFX.

My Plans

I am planning a fun film that I want to make this summer, I am going to try and have a fun story, while keeping the visuals interesting as well.  I decided I am only going to reshoot if something really turned out bad, and won't spend ages working on VFX.  I suggest some of you use this time during the summer to do the same, have fun making a brickfilm, FUN!!  Really, that is what hobbies are all about, right?

you may have heard of the Batman Spoof i'm making, thats what it has come out like(the scrpit that is) and its AWESOME. I would tell other people to try that, especially if people know how serious the Character is. Think about these Idea's, Batman but hes young and REALLY serious but, as we all know hes just a freak in a Suit, a insurance agent that does everything that he can to make sure that the people we works for don't have to pay out, he takes it seriously, everyone else thinks that he is just mad... the list is endless...

Last edited by Cooked Cat (June 25, 2011 (12:14am))

Now this is a good idea. We should stop just make some movies as cool as they come.
And that's what I think I'll do.

The title of this thread is 'What are we missing?' and I gave my opinion on what people have been talking about in this thread as well as what i think we are "missing" so to speak.  Am I trying to fix the community?  Well maybe, but I'm starting with myself.  All I did was post my opinion and hope that it would help some people who are trying to make brickfilms.  Does it mean I'm right?  No.  Does it mean I think everyone should do exactly what I said?  Goodness no, that would get boring fast, and personally I think brickfilming at large would suffer a bit, but brickilms of my previous description are lacking, and I tried to point out exactly what that was, and why. 

Also, Onion, you speak the truth. lol