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!
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BRAWL 2015 - The Quiz
This is an entry to the BRAWL 2015 Contest.
It placed first out of thirty-six entries.
Last edited by twickabrick (August 10, 2015 (09:54am))
Oh man, that is the best. This is going in my top films list. Your work is always phenomenal. Your animation is so perfect. I love the subtle animation, like the pencil and the background animation, and you animal animation was perfect. Your masking was also flawless. This was fantastic, I loved every second of it. Keep up the great work. 
Great animation and a Funny story.
I thought this was a good way of using the theme and I liked the visual comedy and storytelling, especially with the cat robbing the dog. I think we don't see as much of that in brickfilming as we should: jokes that are conveyed visually rather than through dialog.
Your animation is ridiculously smooth. And, for the most part, has a good feel to it. Is it primarily 24 fps?
That was great! I really liked the part when the cat robs the people at the end so hilarious.
This was really good, the sound design, the animation, the idea, the sets... You have some amazing skills. Keep this up!
Really nice! The animation is wonderfully smooth and subtle, and the humour is great. I don't think I can add much else that's already been said, on the whole this is a great entry.
Thanks everybody!
Sméagol wrote:Is it primarily 24 fps?
No, it's all 15.
But how do you do it? Is there some special technique you use to make it especially smooth? Your animation really stands out and whatever you've been doing these past years is really good. It even looks nicer than some 24 FPS animations.
Do you use Motion Blur?
Once again, thanks to everyone who's commented!
But how do you do it? Is there some special technique you use to make it especially smooth?
Honestly, I don't really know. (That sounds really conceited, but it's true. 
) I don't use onion skinning; I just flip back and forth between the last few frames and the live feed from my webcam. It takes a while to position the minifigs between frames. Maybe I'm just really picky, because while I was animating this, I didn't really think I was doing that good of a job. I think this during most BRAWLs, and then once some time passes and I watch the video again, it seems like I just forget everything I didn't like about the animation, because it usually looks fine then.
EDIT: Also, I think the fact that I still use such a low quality camera might make it easier to create smooth animation because if something is slightly out of position, my camera has such low resolution that it won't pick it up. And I think the saying "you're your own worst critic" is probably somewhat true in this case, because I just watched Ella's Tale again, and the animation looks fantastic (and it's 1080p!).
It even looks nicer than some 24 FPS animations.
Thanks! I think that with 24 fps (straight 24 fps; nothing on twos), you have to make really tiny movements for everything because LEGO figures are already tiny, so if people want to make it not-bumpy, they have to be super specific about how they position the minifigs each frame.
Do you use Motion Blur?
No, but sometimes I wonder if the way I export my videos does something to them. When I exported the extra footage for The Front, I was confused because this part looked way smoother than 15 fps. I think maybe it's a compression thing.
Last edited by twickabrick (July 27, 2015 (03:11pm))
Since we're sort of on the topic: If I may ask, is there any particular reason you use such an old camera? These days, a new webcam capable of doing HD and good-quality pictures wouldn't be too expensive to get a hold of, so it seems a bit surprising that you haven't upgraded to something better by now. Whilst the picture quality at first glance is pretty rough and grainy, your films do have a "classic Brickfilm" vibe that is actually quite pleasant, and I was wondering whether this is a deliberate stylistic choice on your part.
It's not really a deliberate choice. (I'm glad people like seeing the Logitech QuickCam Pro 4000, though.) I've just been putting off upgrading all my gear for a while, and if I upgrade my camera, I'll need to upgrade my editing software and probably my capture software as well. I'd like to do this sometime in the near future, but the first thing I'll upgrade is definitely the editing software.
I like the way it looks
That was great! I love the creativity and humor you've put into this brickfilm. The lighting, the sets look really good and the animation looked smooth as butter. Also love how this has that "classic" brickfilm vibe going for it (as mentioned earlier), for some reason it just fits really well.
I really enjoyed this film. Great storytelling with minimal dependence on dialog. Some of the animation was so smooth it looked like the animals had come to life and you were just filming them do their own thing. The comedy was great, if it were a little shorter it really wouldn't be out of place in an early Simpsons episode. Keep up the good work.
It's not really a deliberate choice. (I'm glad people like seeing the Logitech QuickCam Pro 4000, though.) I've just been putting off upgrading all my gear for a while, and if I upgrade my camera, I'll need to upgrade my editing software and probably my capture software as well. I'd like to do this sometime in the near future, but the first thing I'll upgrade is definitely the editing software.
Hello: congratulations upon winning the BRAWL. I checked few more of your videos - it seems you have really found a way how to turn your assumed dis-advantage (not the latest camera model/software) into advantage/edge over competition. It is a good example/food for thought for others, too.
I am sorry - what is your current editing software (please provide me with the link if this had been already discussed somewhere else - I couldn't find it - so far I figured out your are using Logitech QuickCam Pro 4000 and MonkeyJam for capture) and what you do not like about it/how does it limit you?
Thanks
The editing software I use is called MAGIX Movie Edit Pro 12. It's really old, but it usually works fine for what I want to do. The problem is that it doesn't work on Windows 7, and the only Windows XP computer I own is a pretty slow-running laptop, so I have to edit on that. I really need to upgrade.
Thanks again for all the feedback, everybody!
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