Comments on: No, “The LEGO Movie” isn’t stop-motion

By: David Pagano

David Pagano — Tue, 11 Feb 2014 16:31:07 +0000

Well, ignoring the fact that:

We've been doing almost constant research on this film
I've studied animation, LEGO, and stop-motion for 20+ years, and therefore know what stop-motion looks like when I see it
CG is not yet photoreal enough to pass as stop-motion
Anecdotes from the filmmakers are not evidence
All of the behind-the-scenes of The LEGO Movie released thus far feature exclusively CG animation craft and techniques
The folks who wrote the aforementioned articles about The LEGO Movie trailer did, in fact, jump the gun by calling the film stop-motion

I will concede that the snarky tone of this blog post is, in itself, not terribly productive. Now that a bunch of new behind-the-scenes videos have come out, I'll write a more constructive follow-up. If you've got other sources or things to contribute to the discussion (beyond just casting aspersions), we'd love to check them out.

By: somom elsey

somom elsey — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 22:41:36 +0000

So you’re asking people to do research, but you’re disregarded comments from the people who made the film, because it doesn’t “look” like stop motion?

I hope you realize how hypocritical this article is.

By: David Pagano

David Pagano — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 03:26:15 +0000

I’ve heard that assertion from the filmmakers before; however, none of the footage we’ve seen so far looks like stop-motion. I’m curious to see how that notion plays out.

By: David Pickett

David Pickett — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 03:24:34 +0000

Yup, we covered that panel here: http://brickanimation.com/2013/07/more-details-about-the-lego-movie-from-comic-con/

By: JoeA

JoeA — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 00:44:49 +0000

Actually, at Comic Con they confirmed that it is partially real stopmotion and partially CG. However they don’t want anyone to know which parts are real.

Reference: http://collider.com/comic-con-the-lego-movie-panel-recap/

By: FlyingMinifig

FlyingMinifig — Mon, 24 Jun 2013 08:56:46 +0000

This reminds me of the time everyone started reporting that LEGO was going to withdraw its Jabba’s Palace set because of complaints it was supposedly racist, when in fact they hadn’t done anything unusual and were just planning to retire it as usual…

By: bodville

bodville — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 02:05:02 +0000

It’s not a question of making it stop motion looking. But keeping it true to real world minifigs. I’m glad this CG version has gone for this approach. Minifigs don’t have elbows and knees and I’ve always hated that look in CG renders.
Some big business involved in this production can’t wait to see the end result.

By: sirglub

sirglub — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:00:47 +0000

I think stop motion would have upped the production time by a few years, but I’m glad they made it look like stop-motiony! Can’t wait to see it!