Philip Heinrich directed, edited, and produced the feature length documentary that “explores the lives of individuals involved in the hobby of creating stop-motion animated films with LEGO bricks and other building toys.” Fellow producers include Zach Macias, Doug Vandegrift Jr., and Nathan Wells. (Editor’s note: and our very own David Pagano!)

The documentary film was a crowd funded Kickstarter project backed by 270 funders. They raised $12,800 to help send the producers of the documentary around the world to interview brickfilmers. Most of those Kickstarter funders have had the opportunity to see the documentary, but the general public has not… until now. Pre-order is available for $8.99!

The interviews were filmed in 17 cities on both sides of the Atlantic.  Interview filming consisted of 18 days in North America and 18 days in Europe. The film also has original animated segments along with dozens of pre-existing brickfilms. Producers Philip, Zach, and Nathan animated for three weeks “tirelessly together on a tight schedule to complete.”

Seán Willis is credited as assistant editor. His task was cataloging and organizing the interview content for Philip to edit. The editing process was extensive and many revisions were made. Different cuts were “shown to various producers and audiences in order to gauge pacing and clarity.” After about 4 months of editing, the film was completed.

“Bricks In Motion” runs 1 hour 27 minutes and has both English and French subtitles available. The filmmakers have also set up a Thunderclap campaign to promote the film’s online release.

Go to the “Animators’ Collective” for more information about the dream brickfilming team…..then watch the VFX Breakdown:

And don’t forget to watch the side by side comparison:

The trailer recreation was so awesome that even Popular Mechanics wrote a blog post about the video. Gareth Edwards (the actual director of Rogue One) also wrote to the animators, commending them on their LEGO Rogue One trailer.

I researched a bit today on the ole’ internet for some examples of sporting brickfilms and I found ten videos plus two of our own creations that we made recently.  So……I present “A Dozen Sports Brickfilms” in order based of the current number views.

Seattle Seahawks Win OYO Super Bowl XLVIII! by thefourmonkeys was released on the Sports Illustrated Kids YouTube channel and website.  It recreates the most recent Super Bowl with OYO Sportstoys minifigures.  It’s the newest of the dozen brickfilms.

LEGO Snowboarding Tricks – Brickfilm (HD) by Plastic Planet Productions is a beautiful take on snowboarding done brick style.  It has very smooth animations and is quite a fun watch.

The Red Sox World Series Victory, in OYOs! by thefourmonkeys was also released on the Sports Illustrated Kids YouTube channel and website.  It was released just shortly after the completion of the 2013 World Series and enjoyed a small viral affect due to the blogging and tweeting about it. Of the 1/2 dozen sports brickfilms that thefourmonkeys made for SIKids, this one is the most popular. The sporting fans loved the beard tug and helmet adjustment.

Lego Freeskiing: Deep Pow by Oxburger Studios.  I found this film for the first time today. Wow!! The cinematography, lighting, and scenic elements draw you into this awesome snow skiing adventure.

Lego Sport Champions: Hockey by LEGOsports The LEGOsports channel looks pretty dormant these days, but they left us with some great sports brickfilms. Although the equipment they used to make their films is fairly antiquated, their brickfilms stand the test of time and are well worth the watch.  They also used no minifigures which makes them special just for that fact.

Lego Sport Champions: F1 Racing by LEGOsports This F1 car race is a super exciting thrill ride at high speeds.

Champions League Final 2013 in LEGO (Borussia Dortmund v Bayern München) by Weevil888.  Pure football (soccer) excitement.  The stop motion is not incredibly smooth, but the use of the original announcer audio pulls you into an exciting brickfilm.

5 Greatest NBA Finals Moments Legoized by tauntrtv recreates plays from basketball championship games.  It’s a well produced video with decent stopmotion that has me remembering the old NBA days. I’m not a big fan of basketball, but you don’t have to be in order to enjoy this. Ahhhh, the days of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.

Lego Skater by Keshen8 brings brickfilming and skateboard half-pipes to amazing reality, with a little exception to the overly gory spill the hapless skateboard takes.  OUCH!

Bricksports.de: NFL Super Bowl XLV by Bricksports.de.  Bricksports.de recreates Super Bowl XLV in LEGO.

Brick by Brick: Running: Usain Bolt wins gold in 100m final by the Guardian.  The video was produced by the Guardian (an online news group) and they have also released a dozen or so brickfilm sports recreations. The animation is a little choppy, but the sets are really good and you get a great feel for the energy of the events recreated.  I really liked the water in the Michael Phelps video.

Lego Mini Golf by MlCHAEL HlCKOX Films is the king of sporting brickfims according to views.  It currently has over 12 million views and is one of the most popular brickfilms on YouTube.

If you know some more great sporting brickfilms, leave a comment with a link.  We would love to watch them.

Can a live action short film be a “brickfilm” too?  AndrewMFilms must think so. His new film called LEGO Invasion! mixes live action and CGI brickfiming together for a wild ride that is a mix between the LEGO Movie, Aliens, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Pulp Fiction.  Okay, maybe the last one is a stretch. The short film does showcase real plastic LEGO bricks which are used as the protagonist’s weapons.  All of the brick animating is CGI which is layered over the live action sequences quite seamlessly.  It is a really fun watch, unless you don’t seeing like your favorite super heroes getting blasted to bits by the protagonist.

One can choose between five notable brickfilming contests with deadlines between Christmas morning and the end of year.  Two of the competitions do not even require that the brickfilm be made special for that particular contest, just as long as it was made in 2013.  All of the contests have prizes.

BricksInMotion.com will be holding their annual Twenty-four Hour Animation Contest just a few days before the end of the year.  THAC11 will start at 12pm GMT on Saturday December 28th, 2013. Brickfilmers that enter a THAC do all the idea-making, writing, recording, animating, editing and submitting in just one twenty-four hour period.  It can be quite a grueling process.  At the start time of the contest, details about THAC will be announced on BIM that will include the theme and mod elements.  Although BIM has a few other official contests, I tend to view THAC as their most prestigious contest.  Some notable past winners are Sméagol, Legoander, ForlornCreature, and SpastikChuwawa. The contest does have prizes from its sponsor Brickworld.  Hazzat (Zoot Productions) is administering the contest announcement thread on BIM.  Let’s hope for an on time start this year as there has been issues with that in the past.

A Repelling Spider is hosting another installment of Christmas in a Minute.  The goal of the contest is to make a 20-60 second Christmas themed brickfilm that “can stand out and claim a victory”.  There are prizes for the winners which were provided by contest sponsors Firestar Toys and Mighty Wanderer. The deadline is Christmas Eve, Tuesday December 24, 2013 at 11:59pm EST.  For more information about this great contest, watch the announcement video here.

Members of the French brickfiming website Brick-à-Brack can enter Brickstars.  Brick-à-Brack hosts their big annual brickfilm contest at the end of the year.  Any film released in the year 2013 is eligible for this contest.  Entries will be judged in several different categories such as Best Soundtrack, Best Production Design, Best Special Effects, Best Screenplay, Best Animation, and Best Brickfilmer. Other awards will also be given out for “Most Promising Video” and “Audience Award” that is voted on by Brick-à-Brack members.  Past winners have included great brickfilmers such as France & Alex, Legoander, Aiwha, and Loïc F-B.

 A sports themed brickfilming contest called OYO Video Challege II is being hosted and judged by thefourmonkeys.  OYO Sportstoys is sponsoring the contest and providing prizes. OYO Sportstoys make LEGO compatible minfigures for NFL and Major League Baseball teams. The deadline is  December 31st at 9pm EST.  The rules are posted on a blog by thefourmonkeys on the Brickfilmer’s Guild. You can also checkout the announcement video here. The main directive for the contest is to show an OYO Sportstoys minifigure(s) in action.  The deadline has passed for the free OYO minifigure, but prizes will be awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners.  BigBudLego and PritchardStudios placed 1st and 2nd last year.

The Brickfilmer’s Guild is also back with the 2013 Brickfilmer’s Guild Animation Festival.  The Brickfilmer’s Guild Animation Festival is the annual animation festival hosted on the Brickfilmer’s Guild and judged by thefourmonkeys and members of the Brickfilmer’s Guild (Member’s Choice). The festival is in its sophomore year and has slightly tweaked rules from last year. Only one brickfilm per person is allowed and there is a 10 minute time limit for the brickfilms. The festival is open to any brickfilmer including non-Brickfilmer’s Guild members. Honors will be mentioned for many categories and there will be a prize for Best Brickfilm.  Last year, the Best Brickfilm went to the amazing brickfilmer namchild for his outstanding brickfilm entitled The Duel (LEGO).

I was hoping to report about a sixth brickfilming contest, but it appears that Megabloks Toymation will not have a 2013 edition.  That’s too bad as the past winners have had some really great entries.

Happy competing!

Tyler’s Tips:

Tyler’s Tips #1 Introduction

Tyler’s Tips #2 Planning

Tyler’s Tips #3 Lighting

Tyler’s Tips #4 Movement

Tyler’s Tips #5 Final Techniques

Tyler Gregory produced the winning entry of the Halo Toymation 2011 contest with his action-thriller The Rookie.

He was also a judge for the Halo Toymation Fest 2012. Most of Tyler’s  video productions on his YouTube Channel are machinima videos.

Another animation tips videos series can be found on Halo Toymation website produced by stop-motion expert Erik Goulet. Erik  teaches stop-motion animation at Concordia University and also founded the Montreal Stop-Motion Film Festival. His series is educational as well.

Even if you brickfilm only with LEGO products, you can still get something out of this series. Check it out. 

Late night talk show host Conan O’Brien got the LEGO treatment by the folks over at LucasArts as part of a promotion for LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues.

Recently on his show, the actor Simon Pegg showed off his Shaun Of The Dead Action Figures.  On another occasion, the actor Paul Rudd presented Conan with a picture of a custom mini-figure made by is his son during his interview with Conan.  Brick artist Nathan Sawaya has built a couple of life-size sculptures of Conan. (The time lapse video of Nathan working on one of the statues is amazing!)

But…what we are most excited about is the connection Conan has with brickfilmers.

Last year, Conan had a brush with brickfilming fame in a Halloween store in Los Angeles.  Sean Willets, aka filmyguy1, appears with Conan in the sexy outfit section of the costume shop.  (It’s near the 2 minute mark).  Sean’s mom also makes an appearance.

Unfortunately no brickfilming was discussed.

Atticus Shaffer, star of TV show The Middle, discussed his love for making LEGO stop motion films during his interview with Conan.

Donald Faison, star of The Exes and Scrubs, discussed his passion for making LEGO stop motion with Conan.  Donald Faison is the man behind Black Storm Trooper.

The mouth movements are done with stop motion.  Respect, man! Check out his interview on the Team Coco site (part 1, part 2).

Conan played a few brickfilms on his television show.  One brickfilm that aired on Conan was by Grayson MacLean, the childhood inventor.  Grayson MacLean invented BrickStix and was interviewed by Conan a few years ago.

Here’s the extended version of Grayson’s brickfilm:

Conan played yet another brickfilm on his television show called Cheer Up, Legos!  It was apparently produced by Conan’s team in response to news stories about LEGO not having as many smiles as they once did.  It’s quite funny.  Warning: it has some mature content, so view at your own discretion.

So Conan, when are you going to interview another brickfilmer or play another brickfilm on your show? We love it!

To narrow things down, let’s just look at the genre of brickfilm movie trailers. Movie trailers done as brickfilms are typically animated frame for frame to the existing original trailer’s soundtrack. I found nine movie trailers recreated in LEGO to examine and showcase.

1) “The Heat” by Garrett Barati

I am a huge fan of Garrett Barati and I love this brickfilm movie trailer. The animation is very realistic and true to the original trailer. All of the props and scenery in the backgrounds give such depth to each scene. I especially like the floor patten in the police jail scene, simple with a nice addition. The real movie Heat had decent success at the box office, but the recreated version doesn’t have many views. It surely deserves more than it has right now. Perhaps the R rating hurts the potential audience that appreciates brickfilms.

2) “Wolverine” by Antonio Toscano

Antonio Toscano has his niche in brickfilming. It’s making brickfilm movie trailers. He has found success in his brickfilm movie trailers as he has over a million views between his four trailers. “Wolverine” is Toscano’s most recent brickfilm movie trailer and is the first of four on this list of nine brickfilm trailers.  It currently has just over 10,000 views on YouTube. The sets and the lighting are all good and the energy of the animation totally works for the brickfilm trailer. The animation is a bit little choppy at times, but doesn’t distract or take away from this great brickfilm.

3) “Star Trek Into Darkness” by Antonio Toscano

This one is my favorite of Antonio Toscano’s brickfilm movie trailers. Maybe I just have a fondness for Star Trek. The micro-scale that was used in some of the scenes worked well. The trailer had a great selection of the minifigures. An article about Toscano’s trailer was written by ITWORLD.

4) “Lego Man of Steel Trailer #2” by Antonio Toscano

This video has over a quarter million plus views on YouTube. It stays very true to the original trailer. There are a few issues with the animation here and there, but like some of the other Toscano’s brickfilms, it doesn’t hurt the energy of the recreation. EntertainmentFIX and Unleash the Fan Boy wrote blogs about this video.

5) “Iron Man 3 Trailer #2” by Antonio Toscano

This brickfilm recreation is closing in on one million views. It’s loaded with extensive chroma keying that’s well achieved. The scene with the helicopters attacking Tony Stark’s home was the scene that worked best for me. Toscano had fun with this one. There are a few easter eggs that are hidden in the film. I also like Toscano’s style of making explosions with special effects. The explosions have a realness to them as they are not just keyed in explosions from Detonation Films, the explosions use real bricks in the effects.

6) “The Dark Knight Rises TRAILER#1 in LEGO!“by forrestfire101

This is the first of the movie trailer recreations that have earned over one million views. It’s brilliantly done with great animation, lighting, special effects, and incredible CGI scenes. My complaint with this trailer has everything to with the original trailer, not Forrest Whaley’s recreation. There’s not enough Batman, I think he’s in only one scene. I want to see BATMAN! You can always count on Forrest for top notch brickfilms.

7) “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 TRAILER” in LEGO by forrestfire101

This is a first class professional grade recreation and my favorite of the two Forrestfire101 trailers on this list. It has great special effects, great lighting effects, and is also incredibly well animated. Forrest did not rely on CGI like his Dark Knight Rises Trailer. Forrest might be the king of college age humor using LEGO animation, but he can also make top notch movie trailers in LEGO. Kudos Forrest! It’s also great to be able to share a few of his brickfilms with our young daughter.

8) “Dark Knight Rises Trailer 3: IN LEGO” by ParanickFilmz

This is a very well done recreation, and must have taken ages to make. Some of the scenes rely on CGI and have a less of an authentic feel compared to the stop motion scenes. The mouth movements and facial animation are also well done. The lighting and special effects were superb. Comic Book Creation posted an article about this trailer.

9) “Cars 2” by Patrick Boivin

Patrick Boivin is a professional stop motion artist and it shows. Although he doesn’t work with LEGO for most of his animations, the Cars 2 Trailer that he created is one of the most impressive brickfilms that I have ever seen. This jaw dropping trailer was released back in 2011 and now has over ten million views. It was a paid commission work from LEGO, Disney, and Pixar. Mr. Boivin was not completely alone on this project. He had the benefit of getting help from a “builders team at LEGO” on the scenic elements. I wish I had a team like that for my brickfilms. The “facial” animations are top notch and don’t seem like some painted on effect done in post production. Folks, it doesn’t get any better than this.