Since the creation of movie , professional and amateurs alike have experimented with the medium to create imaginative animate works . One form of animation that ’s been around since nearly the showtime of the move picture is stop - motion vivification . The first stop - apparent movement film we know of was " The Humpty Dumpty Circus , " released in the belated 1890s , depicting a toy circus coming to life .
To make a stop - movement photographic film , the movie maker photograph inanimate objects in various poses , moving them just a tiny bit for each successive image . When the photos are playact chop-chop in a row , they create the fancy that the nonliving object are moving around on their own .
Animators have used everything from home objects to newspaper cutouts to make stop - motion films . Claymation trust on , predictably , clay as the basal sculpt mass medium for the character — think " Wallace and Gromit . " Others , including " The Nightmare Before Christmas " and episode with the titular character in the bouncy - action 1933 film " King Kong , " use poseable physique .
A new , increasingly popular form of life , usually make via halt - motion , is the brickfilm . Whereas claymation vitaliser apply clay as their independent character building medium , brickfilm Jehovah expend bricks — Lego bricks , that is . Other brands of bricks and other materials are sometimes comprise , but the form has take off because of the merriment edifice plaything the Lego company pioneered , including an incredible change of sets and miniature characters that hide all sorts of historical period , professions and genres . Lego circle really are just little movie sets wait to happen .
Lego and Competing Sets
The films get their name from the building - brick sets with which they are traditionally made . Lego did n’t always make toy grammatical construction set , but it ’s the design for which they ’re most famed and which has predominate their business enterprise ever since . Lego was institute in 1932 in Billund , Denmark , by Ole Kirk Kristiansen , a carpenter who resolve to make and sell wooden children ’s toys . The company name came from Danish phrase " peg godt , " which mean " play well . "
The company branched out into shot - moldedplasticin the forties and began making the forerunner to modern Lego brick building sets late in the decade , ab initio scream them Automatic Binding Bricks . In 1958 , the interlocking brick were redesigned into the form they still hold today , which made them lock together much well than before . In 1978 , the company innovate minifigures , niggling toy people with moving arms and legs , to go along with the sets .
Lego has been order out all sorts of themed circle for decades , box with detailed instructions for building what you see on the box . There are sets for buildings from various locality and metre full point , from Medieval castles to Wild West towns to modernistic city blocks , and vehicles of all sort , from pirate ships to automobiles to spaceships . Lego also makes mellow - end architecture sets for famous construction such as the Sydney Opera House and London ’s Tower Bridge . And Lego sets now also include a great many licensed franchises including " Star Wars , " " Indiana Jones , " " The Lord of the Rings , " " Ghostbusters , " " Harry Potter , " " The Simpsons " and Marvelsuperheroes . The popular video secret plan " Minecraft " even has a few sets , which is exclusively appropriate given that the secret plan involves constructing edifice and other items out of virtual blocks .
Not only do the sets give children ( and adult ) the power to build lots of nerveless building and vehicle out of Lego brick , connectors and other construction requisite , but they also come with appropriate props and minifigures . you could build based on the instructions , or piece together whatever you care from one or more sets . The brick and other construction pieces come in multiple colors and sizing , and you’re able to bribe the ones you need if you have your own special design in mind .
Since Lego ’s brick aim patent perish in 1978 , other companies have gotten into the edifice - brick business , include Best - Lock and Mega Bloks , which both make cheaper bricks that are mostly compatible with Lego bricks . Mega Bloks has the right to make edifice sets for several franchises including the video games " Halo , " " Call of Duty " and " Assassin ’s Creed , " as well as the Barbie and Hello Kitty miniature franchises .
But building bent are no longer used just for everyday play . The hardy interlock bricks and their accouterment are perfect for make humble motion picture sets for brickfilms — starring minifigures , of track .
Making a Brickfilm
To make a brickfilm , you need a story , some brick , photographic camera equipment and some way to edit — plus set and lots of metre .
The most common method of create a brickfilm is contain - motion photography , but some film producer use other method , like filming literal moving airscrew and figures ( held by wires , hands or the comparable ) , and some throw in other ingredient like unrecorded - legal action human role player , claymation and computer - bring forth imagination ( CGI ) for special effects .
All filmmaking takes great deal of work , but stop - motion is a particularly time - intensive process . It requires make and setting up set pieces and character , travel them in flyspeck increments and photographing them after each miniscule change . The resulting series of still trope is strung together and played in flying taking over as a movie , creating the illusion that the character and other objects are in movement .
Traditional live - action moving picture are made up of still ikon , as well . " Movie " is short for moving picture , after all . But in the case of traditional springy legal action , the photographic icon are take on move film of bailiwick who are actually in apparent movement . The picture show is capture reality . With stop - movement , a flock of sentiment and work has to go into build changes to the position of each little move piece or body part in a fashion that will mimic realistic movement in objects that , on their own , would otherwise just lie still .
It also takes a draw of these single pictures to make a stop - motion cinema . Afilm ’s speedis given in frames per second ( Federal Protective Service ) , which is the number of still images that shoot before your eyes in one second . A typical speeding for a theatrical film is 24 Federal Protective Service . That is 24 pictures flashing before your eye in a single second of clock time . At that speed , making a five - minute film necessitate 7,200 individual photograph . Even a one - hour , 24 - fps film take 1,440 pictures . As you may conceive of , these take quite a while to stage and film , and likely even longer to get them looking the room you need .
you could reduce or increase the number of skeletal system per indorsement . Reducing gets the act of picture down , but also make the movement jerkier . Using 24 fps ( the film standard ) or 30 Federal Protective Service ( the picture standard ) piddle for much smoother movement , but 12 or 15 Federal Protective Service are coarse for brickfilms and other stop - movement vitality . And a lower Federal Protective Service setting is all right if you ’re going for a jerkier look . One common technique in animation is to pullulate 12 different physical body for one sec of film but to double them up , using two identical pic consecutively to make the playback speed 24 fps . Of course , the more picture you take for each movement , the still the end result .
Building your set man by piece , or brick by brick , before the shoot can also take a fortune of time . Most brickfilms employ set detail build with Lego or exchangeable brick , with Lego minifigures or like toy figures as the persona . you’re able to include non - brick object , non - minifig characters , painted backgrounds , papier - mâché set pieces or anything else to augment your brickfilm . you could even shoot against a special green or blue backdrop if you want to utilise colour keying to composite in new background during editing . But Legos , or their competitors ' interchangeable pieces , will need to calculate conspicuously in Holy Order for it to be take a brickfilm .
Lighting Brickfilm Sets
After your sets are fabricate , but before you start out shooting your scene , you ’ll want to set up ignition . right light will let the viewer see more clearly what ’s hold out on in each view , help you simulate different character of configurations ( such as daytime , nighttime , indoor , outdoor , cheery or murky ) and preclude shot - to - shotlightchanges that can cause undesirable flickering burden in your terminal motion picture .
Ideally , you require to either film in a room with no window or somehow block the windows to keep lifelike light or other outside light from coming into the room . you’re able to use blackout tad , blankets or anything that will full block out any outdoor light . You will probably also want to keep doors to other way exclude to keep out other household light . It might help to inform roommates or family members that you ’re fool away so that they do n’t walk in on you . Also be certain to wear dark wear , preferablyblack , since brightness level will reflect off of blanched or unaccented wear onto your set .
You ’ll probably need to dismount your sets and role with multiple light to get the brightness and phantom just right . You generally want two or three lamps you may position on or near your hardening , at least one for front ( or key ) lighting and one for backlighting . To sum up filling ignition to trim back shadows , you could use another luminosity , or something white , like a piece of paper , to resile visible light onto the scene where needed . You might also desire to place a diffuser ( again , mayhap a handy shroud of composition ) over the lamp bulbs to soften and spread out the light and foreclose rough shadows .
you could change the lighting by interchange your brightness and demarcation preferences of the camera or software program . You should feel gratuitous to play around and take test footage to see what works for your goals . There are plenty of on-line tutorial for lighting stop - motion , or specifically brickfilm shoot , to help you get set about and avoid pitfall .
Still , film is an art course and there are few grueling and fast rules . take in natural ( i.e. , outdoor ) light is normally considered a stop - apparent motion no - no since it changes constantly ( make the dreaded flicker ) , but the great unwashed have successfully incorporated outdoor shooting into their brickfilms .
Filming Equipment and Techniques
There are no hard - and - fast rules about the equipment you require for a brickfilm besides Lego or other bricks , a light source , something to becharm the images and some method acting of cast them together into a playable pic . But there are things you may do ( and equipment you may use ) to make the operation easier or to increase the quality of the last flick .
you may use a fancy photographic camera with expensive crystalline lens , awebcamor even the photographic camera on your mobile phone . The camera ( whether meant for capturing still or move images ) will just need to let you to take still shots and export them for redaction .
The expensive , high - ending options will normally yield more professional - looking result , but not all of them are well - befit for barricade - motion picture taking . It ’s preferred to have a tv camera with manual of arms rather than auto or specify direction , as this gives you control over what ’s in focal point in each jibe . Autofocus will often change when you do n’t require it to , or pore on the wrong element in the guess . In fact , the more manual ascendancy you have , the better . Anything that changes mechanically might stimulate version from picture to picture , causing oddly uneven or flickering effects on playback .
photographic camera with opthalmic rather than digital zoom are good because digital zoom diminish image caliber and , therefore , would change your plastic film quality from shot to gibe . you may still practice these cameras to capture shots , but you may not desire to apply the soar social occasion if you do . Since you ’re choose a series of still shots , you could try incrementally moving the camera toward whatever you require to zoom in on rather .
Whether your camera is moving or stationary , you ’ll desire to keep it steadfast with a tripod or other static radical . Some brickfilm makers have even build tv camera footing out of Legos themselves [ sources : Dechiaro , Hurlinger ] . A camera with outside seizure capableness might help oneself you avoid having to touch it always ( reducing the likeliness of it unexpectedly go out of place ) . Even a flyspeck bump can stimulate a bad divergence in the final barb .
The sets demand to be similarly secure , on a stable surface with set items taped down or otherwise locked into place in case someone bumps into them . you could intentionally move pieces in front of the still camera for effect , but taping and otherwise securing them will help you avoid unwilled changes .
You ’ll probably want to analyse stop - motility techniques to make things move as realistically as possible , although brickfilm motion differs in some direction from most other check motion . For one thing , typical Lego minifigures do n’t have many point of articulation . The head will turn , and the arms and leg will dangle forward and backward , but that ’s about it . There are lots of tutorial online for things like how to make Lego figures walk or run via discontinue movement that can aid .
The figures also have their face paint on , so you have to get creative to make them appear expressive . They have obliterable heads , so you may swap them out for similar heads with unlike facial expressions for change in emotion . Some even have two face , one on the front and one on the back , only requiring a turn . And there are companies that will customize minifigures for you if you have the money . you may even get fancy with CGI — but viewers are n’t likely expecting naturalistic , full articulated role with tons of look changes when they watch a brickfilm . Other element , such as the representative acting and talks , can convey role emotion , as well .
talk of dialogue , sound is important , too — unless you ’re make a unsounded picture show . But you’re able to record it at any time , and most sound effects and music are total in during post - product . It would be utile , however , to have some theme of the dialogue in each scene so that you acknowledge how long to make the shots . And it will help your final film to clothe in sound equipment , including a goodmicrophone , and find some good tutorials on sound recording .
Special Software
computer anddigital camerashave made stop - motion picture taking much easier . You no longer have to take exposure on film , send out them for development and hope they turn out . With digital , you may have the instant satisfaction of seeing your shots right by , and you may easy transfer the ikon to your information processing system to invigorate them with software .
You ’ll need an animation or film - editing programme , rather one made for stop over motion . Dedicated stop - motion software system often leave you to connect your camera to your computer and execute the software while you take your shots ( although you might call for to check your tv camera compatibility ) . But even multipurpose animation software like Adobe Flash will do .
apart from just countenance you to string the images together and export them as a motion picture , invigoration software has other features you may use to better your film . Most software has a ready to hand feature called " onion skinning " that allow you see diaphanous versions of late frame on the covert with your current image . you could use it to see how the motion in a scene is shape up and change course if necessary . Animation software also lets you tweak light and colors and tot other special effects . If you shot using a blue or green screen , you may use the software to knock out that colour and add a new picture in its spot . This is referred to as color keying , chroma keying , or blue- or jet - cover . you’re able to even add fancy details like alightsaberglow , for instance , using the rotoscope proficiency .
CGI takes some practice session and skill , so you’re able to also just use the software package for the basics : get your images imported and in order , setting the form rate so the software knows how fast to play back the effigy , adding in your sound and export your motion-picture show in a playable video recording format . But if you have the patience for give up motion , you might also have the patience to arise other filmmaking skills .
You might require to use levelheaded redaction software , such as audaciousness , for recording and edit your dialog and other sound . you’re able to also find some pre - recorded sound effect online or in software packages . Once you have your sound immortalise , get out it into whatever software you ’re using to edit out the video .
There are lots of software packages to prefer from , some spare and some for a price , include :
In some cases you might want or need to use multiple software packages ; for example , you might pick one for capturing and revive the images , another for capturing strait and a third for editing all the elements into the final film . You will just take to explore what each one can do and whether it suits your needs .
Lego itself has even gotten into the plot with their free app , Lego Movie Maker , which let you create stop - movement animations decently on your phone or lozenge . You could conceivably use this or other stop - motion apps to burgeon forth and edit an entire brickfilm on your earphone .
Notable Brickfilms
People of all ages and from all over the world have made dozens of brickfilms over the year , from action mechanism to comedy , and from entirely original creations to spoof or recreation of motion picture , television biz and anything else you’re able to imagine . There are more than 600 collected on the Internet Archive in a spot dedicate to brickfilms , and many more can be found elsewhere online [ source : Brookes , Internet Archive ] . YouTube has entire channels dedicated to the artwork form , and there are studio that churn them out . Anyone with a little equipment , meter and resource can make one .
The first brickfilm ( as far as we know as of this writing ) was called " Journey to the Moon " ( or " En rejse til månen " ) , made in 1973 by young cousins Lars and Henrik Hassing on Super 8 movie for their grandparents ' anniversary . The kids used finish motility , property on wires and one live - action shooting of a substructure to depict arocketlaunch , journeying and lunation landing place . It did n’t have any sound and employed papier - mache and Lego - built sets and prop ( as well as a globe for the Earth ) . The transferrable minifigures did n’t descend out until 1978 , so the characters were also built with Lego bricks . Although it ’s the first known , the brickfilm was n’t actually widely available until Lars Hassing posted it to YouTube in 2013 .
The first widely catch brickfilm was " The Magic Portal , " created on 16 millimeter pic and released in 1989 by Lindsay Fleay while he was a film student . It depicted the guile of a few characters on a spaceship who go through a vena portae that submit them to various places where they encounteraliens , golem and other characters . Fleay received a Ulysses Simpson Grant from the Australian Film Commission for the product and used draw of donated Lego sets . It took several years to complete , include virtually a year for picture taking . Many of the rigid piece were constructed of Lego bricks , and several case were stop - motion animated minifigures , but the film also incorporated other stop - movement animated objects , some live - action shooting of the energiser , outdoor vista and claymation . Its graphics are particularly telling given that it was shot and edited on film , and it no doubt revolutionize many late brickfilm makers .
There are too many outstanding brickfilms out there to name them all , but a few other notable ace let in :
It ’s contend whether the 2014 Warner Brothers moving-picture show " The Lego Movie " can be considered a brickfilm because most of the Legos and minifigures were computer generated . But it definitely enamor the flavour of the music genre ; it contained some homages to brickfilms , and some fan - produce brickfilms even made it into the picture show , such as BrotherhoodWorkshops ' " Gorgy want a Horse , " achiever of the Rebrick Lego Movie Competition ( an prescribed Lego brickfilm competition ) [ reservoir : BrotherhoodWorkshop ] .
Brickfilm Future
Anyone with the time and equipment can link in on the play . The only matter you have to lose is , well , lots and lots of clock time . Productions can be as complicated or simple as you want to make them . you could do intimately professional - point animation with everything plan out via storyboards and a handwriting , or you could embark on with a loose idea and shoot from the hip .
Of course , the more planning you do in pre - production , the more high - end your equipment and the more honed your accomplishment , the more milled your brickfilm will be . But many amateur efforts out there have a mass of charm . So if you have the will , and some Lego or similar brick building sets , you might want to give making a brickfilm a go . And if that go like too much bother , you could just relish them online like the rest of us .
Lots More Information
I ’ve always loved Lego , although they are expensive , and as a child I usually had to settle for hand - me - down or off - brand building toy . I have a few picture franchise Lego sets now , sit on a shelf waiting to be used . The approximation of taking my childhood toys and making them dance across the filmdom is invoke , and I ca n’t say I have n’t think of doing it before . Film and liveliness , and especially stop move , have always been riveting to me , so brickfilms are sort of a win - win .
Making them is also more doable than ever . I have an app on my phone that will get me take a series of quickie photos and recreate them . And now ( after explore this clause ) I have Lego ’s invigoration app , too . Maybe I ’ll attempt one someday . Working on this article exposed me to lots of really cool and fun brickfilms , and I go for more and more people continue to apply Legos to get their originative ideas out there on movie .
