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.

1) “Mein Herz [My Heart]” by Pawnshop Orchestra (2006)

This music video is probably the most straightforward Fabuland animation out there. A cat and a goat are in love, but far apart. The goat overcomes distance and an octopus to be reunited with his true love. Short, sweet, and barely weird.

2) “Edward and Friends” by FilmFair (1987)

“Edward and Friends” was an officially licensed series to promote the Fabuland sets. However, rather than using actual Fabuland products, the characters are made of clay, allowing for a much greater range of expression. This series is standard kid show fare; each episode presents a small challenge that is overcome in a friendly manner. The only weirdness here is intrinsic to the Fabuland product line: it takes place in a Scarreyesque village of anthropomorphic animals. But as we all know, overly-cheerful facades often harbor horrible secrets. (There are plenty more episodes for those who want more.)

3) Nestlé Orzoro Commercial (1985)

In this frenetic 15-second commercial, a pig and a panda pull back a curtain to reveal a forest. In the forest, six Fabulanders pop out of a tree and wave before disappearing again. But the forest was just another curtain! Some characters fly through the air to place logos! Another curtain! Oh look, it’s the product! How did the pig get trapped inside? No time to worry about that, he’s saved by a parrot on a trapeze! Another curtain, everybody bows! What was that commercial about?

4) “Barney’s Cherry” by Thauka Kuki Team Entertainment (2012)

Even after watching this film half a dozen times, I’m not sure I’ve quite “solved” it. This animation is very clearly a riddle on multiple levels. Firstly, there is the riddle presented via intertitles, which the viewer is given time to ponder before being presented with an answer. However, that answer doesn’t really satisfy, and it’s clear that there are visual clues throughout that point to the real solution (the very first titlescreen makes sure we know this).

But even after I figured out that (highlight to reveal spoilers) Bonnie is cheating on Ed with Barney and actually wanted to free Barney, but was tricked by the statues watering the flowers, I still don’t understand why the horses on the side of the screen turn into different animals at 0:47, why the characters spend so much time looking at the sword and cherry, or what random flashes of light are all about. But because the film is well animated and has a good score, I don’t mind revisiting it again and again.

Warning: the following films contain objectionable content

5) “A day in the life of…” by Complesso Gasparo (2007)

Following the advice of a real-life chihuahua, a Fabuland monkey breaks the shackles of his buttoned-down life. He then proceeds to break-dance everywhere, deface a wall with obscene graffiti, take off his head, and attack a pig on a motorcycle.

6) “The Franky Job” by David M Pickett (2007)

Rather than review my own film, I’m going to quote Zach Macias‘ Bricks in Motion review:

It’s essentially a noir private-eye film, but at its core is laced with hidden subtexts of racism and bigotry. The film is at times humorous, thought-provoking, and disturbing, mixed together in a blend that would seem abstract (and is for the most part), but seems to come together somehow at the end.

7) “Fabuland” by Grégory Métay et Olivier Couëllant (2000)

This is the quintessential Fabuland animation and deserves 10 times as many views as it has. It features the most fully realized busy Fabuland town, and music and voice acting that perfectly fit the style of the characters. There’s a lot to admire here from  an animation perspective; the swaying palm trees are my personal favorite. Despite not knowing French, I felt like I understood the story perfectly thanks to the great visual storytelling. But why did I put this as the weirdest animation? Let’s just say it takes some very surprising turns.

Honorable Mention: “The Fabuland Housewives” by Mark Larson

Though not animated, this hilarious webcomic by Mark Larson is an impressive feat that must have taken countless hours to script, design, photograph, and code. Like the ABC show that inspired it, it is chock full of scandal, gruesome murders, and shocking twists. However, it’s also uproariously funny and well worth a read if you’ve got a few hours to kill.

So what do you think? Why are Fabuland animations so weird (or did I exaggerate how weird they are)? Are there any major works I missed?

The 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London may have ended last weekend, but you can relive the highlights in LEGO form, thanks to the Guardian’s “Brick by Brick” series of animations. While I am not a sports buff myself, even I can appreciate the amount of work that went into creating these videos.

What’s really interesting to me about “Brick by Brick” are the constraints under which it was produced. As outlined in the above behind-the-scenes video, nine animations were created by a small team in the span of two weeks. Because of broadcasting restrictions, news organizations can’t in many cases show video footage of Olympics events, so these brick animations stand in for the video. Considered as a form of sports journalism, “Brick by Brick” is a delightful, creative solution to a frustrating problem. It’s also cool that brick animation has become so widely embraced that it gets casually integrated into the operations of a major news outlet.

However, when judged as examples of the brick animation form, these videos are less remarkable. The low frame rate (about 5 FPS by my eye) makes the animation look choppy, and a lot of time is killed showing still images. Again, this is understandable given the constraints, but still leaves little to recommend. Those interested in these animations only for the animation should stick to the highlights video or the gymnastics video.

In stark contrast to “Brick by Brick” is “LEGO Sport Champions,” one of the earliest examples of brick animation.

Whereas “Brick by Brick” is a series of play-by-play recreations of real-life sports events, “Sport Champions” presents whimsical takes on traditional sports that frequently break the laws of physics. For example, in the hockey short, one of the players briefly turns into a snake, and the “winner” of the match is a dog from the audience. Rather than using minifigures, “Sport Champions” favors expressive, brick-built characters. While “Brick by Brick” features English narration to explain the action, “Sport Champions” is voiceless, and features a strong score that responds to the action.

As an official series of animations commissioned by the LEGO group, “Sport Champions” is one of the few brick animations that can safely be said to take place in LEGOLAND*. It’s a place where animals and inanimate objects have as much agency as people do (the scoreboard wins the gymnastics competition), and where everything can be easily taken apart and recombined (when two F1 racers collide, their cars combine into a giant striped race car which they decide to co-pilot). I want to live there.

The “Sports Champions” weightlifting video above is probably the one that comes closest to having a story. It follows a gorilla as it escapes from the circus and heads across town to investigate (and then compete in) a weight-lifting competition. In addition to giving a brief glimpse of some wonderful large scale town buildings, this video is chock-full of creative moments. For instance, when the two circus workers realize the gorilla has escaped, one of them turns into a dog to track its scent. The scenes in the massage room where the gorilla and masseur take turns molding each other into strange shapes are prime examples of “exaggeration“.

All seven of the “Sport Champion” videos are must-sees (and it will only take about half an hour to watch them all). Like the best brick animations, there is so much going on that you will want to watch them multiple times. Enjoy!

*I’m using LEGOLAND here in an anachronistic sense to refer to the fictional universe that LEGO characters exist in, as opposed to the real-life theme parks with the same name.

Brick by Brick – The Guardian [YouTube]

LEGO Sport Champions [YouTube]