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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AniMax wrote:Just Kidden wrote:Homeschoolers can't have social lives? D:
I guess I've been doing it all wrong then.-JK
Wait, your homeschooled?
Does it make a difference?...
I just wanted to know cause I'm homeschooled too.
I'll try to make this quick...
2006 - Discovered brickfilming, I sucked.
2007 - Joined youtube, made lots of crap brickfilms, still sucked
2008 - Started to improve but still sucked.
2009 - Became youtube partner, released some good films, not too bad.
2010 - Released hardly anything, I now suck again.
2011 - Hopefully I'll become a full time brickfilmer again 
VIMStudios wrote:AniMax wrote:Wait, your homeschooled?
Does it make a difference?...
I just wanted to know cause I'm homeschooled too.
I am too actually.
This thread needs a 
My Story:
5 Months Ago
I got into brickfilming in a weird way, I was looking at Lego video games (how sad) and so I came across "Lego The Force Unleashed". I then looked in the comments section and some of them said perfect animation. I then said to myself "How is that animaton?" And so I did a bunch stuff and eventually found this place, I then joined on October 31st. 
THATS MY STORY!
2007: Made some crappy Brickfilms. I want to erase them from history, but they earn too many views and the greedy git within me says to leave it in hope of increased publicity for later films.
2008: Still sucked. Had loads of ideas that never got released.
2009: Still sucked until Mr Socially Impaired 2, where I created Brickfilms afterwards that I was not quite as ashamed of. Turned out to be my favourite year.
2010: Made a Brickfilm for THAC 7 that I'm not embarrassed of, then vanished for several months as I got my 2 A*s, 5 A's (if you count the triple distinction in ICT) 6 Bs and one C GCSE. Returned in the Summer to a mediocre Doctor Who (I'm talking about my short Brickfilm. The Series was FAR worse.....), a mediocre first attempt at a Horror movie, and a movie for Septemberfest 10' which I am really proud of, but has mostly been ignored - may re-make or re-release with minor improvements to get the attention I arrogantly feel it deserves. Also got fed up of Brickfilming by lack of viewer-ship/feedback, wondering what is the point when having no job (thus no university education) and putting all effort into what I felt was zero pay-off. Reluctantly returned to THAC 8, but soon got back into swing for next 24 Hours. Made a movie I was fairly pleased with but will probably not make the Top 20 which disappoints me. But realised, after the small yet extremely positive response I received, why I Brickfilm (but still annoyed about the screeching halt in its viewer-ship)
2011: Nothing so far, and not for a while. May enter TOY, but have no good ideas at the moment. Have exams next week and in April/May/June. Will hopefully release 'Pirate Pirate 2' by 11/11/11 (why not?), then will begin work on 'Pirate Pirate 3' straight after until 12/12/12 (again, why not?). Plus will gradually work on my pet-project
Last edited by Max Butcher (January 4, 2011 (01:38pm))
You should work on Pirate Pirate 4 until 13/13/13. Oh wait...
Even if that was possible, I have no good ideas for Pirate Pirate 4. Pirate Pirate 2 is pretty much Pirate Pirate 1, only much more EPIC. Pirate Pirate 3 then takes place just afterwards, and is essentially a parody of 'The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly'...but with Pirates.....and more EPIC. Really, there is no-where else to go after that - although I'm considering a crossover with Mr Socially Impaired and the Pirates....
October 2009 ~ First discovered Brickfilming
November 2009 ~Started but was as terrible as terrible could go (Had very little Lego,Mum's Digital Camera on Dining table) 
Scary Huh?
Early 2010 ~ Got better , Discovered Windows Movie Maker , more Lego
June 2010 ~First Official 'Brickfilm' Lego City Fire ( still to bad to release on Youtube)
July 2010 ~Made Youtube (roblego2) And got Much Better
August 2010 ~Discovered BiM ! -THAT'S my Story!
A long long long time ago in around 2005 maybe, I got interested if knox's claymation videos, and wanted to do it myself. One thing led to another, and after searching around for stopmotion videos, I found Blunty's channel, and got extremely interested in animation with LEGO's. In one of his videos he linked to brickfilms.com, and I signed up there in some where in 2006 after lurking for a long time.
I got my dad's old webcam, bought SMP5, and went at it. Every day I would come home and animate restlessly, having a blast the whole time.
This went on up until around everyone went over to bricksinmotion, and I started to hate it more and more.
Then I left this place. Animating became more of a chore than a hobby. I wanted to create these epic films based upon long storyboards I had spent time writing out in class. I would come home each day, exited to animate, and i'd sit down, build my set, and the anger would just take over. I still produced shorts, but they were all horrible extremely short little flicks I animated on the spot and added voices in afterwards. For months I constantly went back to it, not wanting to give up on these massive projects I wanted to make, Then I decided that this hobby was bringing me more anger and pain than what it was supposed to give me: entertainment.
So I sold all of my LEGO's, and never animated again.
I think back about it every now and then and imagine how great I could be at brickfilming if I were to just make that transition from paper to video much easier. I love making films, but i'm done with stopmotion. The whole thing just enrages me and I can't stand it anymore.
As of now, I've been trying to put together a group of guys to make some live action films, but I can't really find anyone who can act at all.
So Ive been trying to come up with ideas for some sort of solo project.
So why did I come back? I missed it. I missed this great old community of people I'd grown up with. It really shaped me into the person who I am today, and gave me advice that helped me avoid who I don't want to become. Life in the suburbs is also kind of depressing. Especially in my situation. I don't have many friends( or at least not that many I feel I can connect with), and spending my day at some facility surrounded by people that seem to be having fun with their lives further saddens the whole place. So I came back here. It allows me to avoid getting sucked in to the life of school-home-video games- repeat.
I didn't want to loose touch with reality and forget that there are so many people out there I can connect with. I can't wait for College, life around here is too artificial, and I'm not having fun with it at all.
Wow, I can connect pretty well with Skull Brick, however, my story is a bit different.
So, we start with me finding out about brickfilming about two and a half years ago. I bought a cheap webcam that my brother and I shared, and started animating. I didn't really release anything huge at all, mainly just a bunch of tests and shorts that never really amounted to anything. I was having a blast. Then, about a year and a half ago, I started getting more and more into CGI, downloaded Blender and some other free programs, and went to work. For the past year since then I haven't done as much brickfilming, and have gotten more into CG and digital stuff. The main reason for the drop in brickfilming is that I made ideas that were a bit too big for my boots, and never really got past the storyboarding phase.
Then, a few months ago (September or so) I heard about Septemberfest, and tried but failed to make an entry to it. However, it sort of kindled my brickfilming spirit, so I am now back into the swing of animation, and am making a long BiM 2011 film at the moment.
However, there's something else that saddens and gladdens me at the same time. I'm steadily and slowly moving away from brickfilming, and the community in general. This year, I've been doing a lot more with my friends. Mainly it's me and my girl-friend (I'm a bit hesitant to use that word) doing a whole bunch more stuff out of school this year. However much it saddens me to think of this, I I'm starting to think that BiM is becoming less and less fun to me, and my real life is becoming more and more important to me. I post on the forums way less, and I do stuff with my friends way more. I don't have time to brickfilm, but at the same time I don't really miss it too much when I'm out having fun with my friends. I'm quite connected with the whole community in general now, but I'm starting to get more detached from the community and more attached to my outside life.
Also, though I live in a suburb, I think it's really fun. I know it front to back, and there's a lot of really interesting stuff here, but most importantly, a lot of fun people to do it with. Opposite to Skull Brick, I am all too painfully aware of how fast time passes by, and I dread the thought of going to college more with each passing moment, and also dread the day when I'll have to say goodbye to every single one of my friends and meet entirely new people in college, with not a single familiar face. My only consolation is that one day after college I might reconnect with a few of my really good old friends and have fun with them a few more times. I don't like, but must sometime accept, that every beginning has and end, and the endings are often much more painful than the beginnings were happy.
All in all though, I think the reason I'm really still hanging around here is because I want to at least finish my one (possible last) huge film for BiM 2011, and because I'm extremely nostalgic. I hate goodbyes, and I don't like change at all. I guess you could say that I want change and know it's inevitable, but even if it's for the better I hate it with a passion. I'm thinking that once I finish my 2011 film though, depending on how good it is and what place I rank in the contest, I'll either stay and make a few more brickfilms or fade away from brickfilming and this awesome community. I'm not saying that if I get a bad score I'll quit, I'm saying that it would be a shame (and leave me even more depressed) if I got first, second, or third and got an awesome brickfilm related prize, only to never use it and pretend I never even got it.
The members of the community are another thing though. If some or most of the veteran members retired from the site and disappeared, I would most likely follow them because the very soul would seem to have been sucked out of the community.
Wow man. That was really touching to read BG. I hope to see you stay with the community, but if you leave, best of luck with your life ambitions. I hope you are able to complete your Bim 2011 entry. Your one of those great members, mature, wise. It would be sad to see you go.
I saw Doug Vandegrift Jr.'s "America Outlawed" was amazed by the animation, voice acting, script and cinematography and I've decided to make something similar, tell stories. At first I was really crappy at animations just like most of us are but by the time I improved and I keep improving.
I felt myself tearing up there, BG. I hate loosing members of the community, and ultimately hate change, such as yourself. I remember going on the official LEGO Forum on Lego.com, it was flamin' awesome, until a load of veterans retired (I'd known them my whole time there) and then suddenly it became an un-fun spam zone.
Hence the reason I've taken residence here.
2008: Got hold of my dad's old cassette camcorder and made stupid live action LEGO and stop motion movies that were crap such as: The Insane George Bush Part I and II, The Trojan War Part I, II, and III, Get Smart 2, and The Russians which are not online for a good reason.
Problems: Cassette Camcorder, video stop motion instead of picture stop motion, and overall bad film status.
Early 2009: Got hold of my mom's camera and started filming my own better but still crappy stop-motion LEGO films such as: Moses: The Guy with the Beard, HALO Unchained, The Mysterious Red Dot, and Mr. Snipes Makes a Friend.
Problems: Shaky cam, video stop motion, not very good moviewise, and no effects.
Late 2009: Began researching brickfilming and how to make my films better. Came out with slightly better films such as: The Quest for the Golden Banana, Snow War Part I, II, and III, and How I Got My Digital Camera.
Problems: Light flicker, shaky cam, and bad software.
Early 2010: Researched more and more to find the best software, techniques, and hardware in order to film. Got my own digital camera and made films like: Zombie Apocalypse, Tom and the Bike Ride, A Few Good Bricks, The Red Bull, and The Battle for LEGO City.
Problems: Light filcker, shaky cam, and bad software.
Late 2010: Made very good movies such as: The Recycle Machine, The Epic Game of Tag, The Adventures of Brickman, 1984 Spoof, Around the House in 2080 Frames, and Pushing Buttons. I tried and failed to make a lengthy detective movie but that failed and now that leads us up to date.
Problems: Light flicker, shaky cam, and bad software
2011: I plan to make better films than last year which involves me steering away from my stereotypical shoot-em-up films. I am still going to make some action films such as Ticket to Ride for TOY and The Assassin's Bible: Ehud also for TOY. Currnetly I am working on a lazy personal project about a taco truck. I have a QC9P and Pinnacle 14 and I'm ready to take over the brickfilming world!
Problems: Light flicker
Look out BiM here I come!
3 weeks ago: Borrowed DSLR from my dad who said I might as well have it cause he doesn't use it.
2 weeks ago: Was packing away Christmas decorations when I happened upon the LEGO tub that I haven't touched in ~8 years.
1.5 weeks ago: Made a mental connection and then realized there was a huge online community that I never knew about.
Now: I've ALMOST got a basic walking animation down sans any sort of post processing.
Well, you know I haven't been here long, but I have been in brickfilming more than you think.
2007- LEGO announced the LEGO Star Wars Movie Making Contest. I saw some of the entries, and I was amazed. I asked my dad if he could help me make one, and so soon, I was ready to film. Then i asked him, "How the heck do you do this?" Then he explained it to me. And in one night, I created Lego Star Wars 7, the movie with the most cliche title. I was eight then, and it actually turned out okay for my first try. I will release it, just not right now. The day I was going to enter it, it was too late. I was MAD.
2007-2008- I made pretty bad films with an old video camera, I usually never finished a video. I occasionally did, though.
Most of 2009-I wasn't that in to brickfiming, to be honest. Then in around November, I found Brickfilms.com. Of course everyone had made the switch to here, but I didn't know that. About a month later, I finally made it here, at BiM. I didn't go into the forums or anything, I just watched the films. About a month later, I thought of a series, called The Adventures Of Chris and Jimmy. It would star me, and my friend Jimmy. I had planned about four episodes. He helped me think of ideas a little though.
2010- In February, I bought a webcam from Scholatic for $15. I made a couple animation tests with WMM, and I thought they were the next best thing. Then I saw Nathan Wells's tutorial series, and he mentioned MonkeyJam, and that it was free. I went and downloaded it, and it was pure gold. I started filming The Adventures Of Chris And Jimmy: Episode 1 around April. It was really bad, but of course I thought it was good. I stopped on it for a while, because the computer I was filming on was my family computer, and I was always being interrupted. So, I postponed any more filming until I got my own computer.
August 2010- I got a computer that worked, and I had a Ubuntu computer. I thought it would be so easy to make films now. I was right, but only 12.5 fps films, because you can only download softwares that work with Ubuntu, which Monkeyjam didn't.
September 2010- I finally joined BiM. I was really happy. Later, I got the HP 2100 Webcam, and the quality was okay, but it only had autofocus, and the focus was terrible. Soon, I was making many animation tests, and I started working on "The Problem With Voodoo Dolls", a film which I started, but lost interest. Then, I realized I need a new computer. I then bought the Logitech Webcam Pro 9000, though the software would not work with Ubuntu, so the focus was bad, and it was practically useless.
Mid-November 2010-I started filming "Do You Like Waffles in LEGO." It was a very tedious process though. I had to take all the pictures on my Ubuntu computer, put them on a flash drive, take them to my family computer, which had MonkeyJam, and edited the video together. I needed a Windows computer more than ever. On November 30th, I got a YouTube account, and the next day, I uploaded the film. It got very good responses, and I was thrilled. About then, I decided that The Adventures of Chris and Jimmy wouldn't happen, because Jimmy didn't really care about it. Then, on Christmas 2010, I got a Windows 7 computer. My problems were pretty much solved. It had MonkeyJam, could use the LWCP9000 software, and more.
2011- I'm currently making more films. So, yeah, that's how I got into brickfilming. If you made it here and read it all, good for you.
Last edited by Chris W. (March 15, 2011 (01:44pm))
EDIT: BLAH I LIED!!! DELETE POST!!!!
Last edited by Binding Brick (March 14, 2011 (06:25am))
My story started out something like this:
My story started out something like this:
And it will end something like this:
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