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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A Brickfilm Christmas
The long awaited collaborative Christmas Holiday Special is here at last. Merry Christmas to all!
Last edited by thistof (February 1, 2021 (11:06pm))
(Edit: The link is working now!)
Great job! Awesome story and it was great to see everything come together through teamwork!
At one point I had intended to have clickable links in the video, but it turns out that it's very limited how those kinds of links actually work and how many few of them you can have, so I added the intro screen encouraging viewers to subscribe to the individual contributors, and listed everyone's links in the description.
Loved it!
The story, as I said before, is wonderfully entertaining, and just a tiny bit bonkers. I love the "antagonist" role that Shawarma played, as well as the unique animation/model design for each gift that was "opened" to trigger the next story. The last story in particular, and the ending song,* did an excellent job bringing a deeper meaning and significance to the film, much like the joy and presents of Christmas are under-girded by the deeper and richer story of Christ's birth.
Also, call me odd if you will, but I like that the ending showed justice given as it was. Wrong actions called for punishment, and got it, but there was still some mercy shown. It wasn't glazed over or justified, and then left unpunished. It's very rare to see that balanced, or even shown at all in media today. Thank you for that breath of fresh air, even in a side-issue like that.
The commercials were a great idea, not only for expanding the run time, but adding some extra hilarity and joy to the occasion. I also feel that, neither the commercials, not the stories, overwhelmed the other. There was a solid balance between the two. Fun touches like repeated Brick Drink commercials, various medicine/health commercials, and one obligatory car ad make me smile and laugh, not only for their absurdity, but also for echoing so closely many real commercial breaks.
My only major suggestion would be the addition of a quick cue card or audio cue that defines the boundaries between commercials and the 'program' itself. The cuts were abrupt at times, and even knowing the script, I was momentarily lost more than once. I dunno, maybe it's just me. But that's hardly an issue compared to all the effort that this project represents, and the entertainment that it most certainly provides.
Fantastic job guys for pulling this off. I'm honored to be a part of it, and proud of the final project.
This is yet another reason to love this community.
*Also, if the last community project didn't teach us already, we still haven't quite learned that brickfilmers CAN'T sing. 
And yet, somehow, the emotions of the story managed to still make it a touching moment, and it was the perfect ending to the special.
Edit: Also, it would be time-consuming, but are you considering filling out the directory credits to include all the contributors? You may not need all the voice actors and music credits, but director credits for all the contributors may be nice. Just a thought. 
Bravo. I think this is a milestone in brickfilming, considering the length of the finished film, 31 minutes has got to be the longest for brickfilm collaborations thus far.
Loved it!
Thanks Pritchard, much of the framing story emerged from the stories submitted by the group. I had no idea what people would come up with, but Chris's story where he brings it around to the first Christmas and shows himself overlooking the manger, well that could only be the finale that tied it all together. Then Undershadow's story started with all the disasters, so I figured putting that first would set up the show and make it feel more like there was a theme to the stories.
As for justice, opening the presents probably wouldn't have gotten them much more than a reprimand, but Shawarma mentioned a sword in his narration, so what could I do at that point but have him pull out an actual sword! You will not get the "boys will be boys" treatment pulling out a sword in an airport. I asked him about it, and apparently it was actually a nerf sword he received as a gift on a different Christmas, but it was too late. I already had him pegged as the trickster or "chaotic evil" type. Funny that a couple people have now mentioned that being appropriate for Shawarma....
Yes, I fully intend to add all the creators into the directory link page, maybe tomorrow
Wow! 
It's so refreshing to see such a long collaboration of brickfilmers from all around the world.
Congratulations to everyone! 
It turned out wonderful! Great job to everyone and especially, Thistof!
I was blown away by everybody's (but mine)! I'm so glad I could be apart of this, even though my film was a beginner, and not very good. This is going to go down through the generations of brickfilming.
I was actually pleasantly surprised by how well the story was put together. Trapped in an airport on Christmas Eve. It was quite well done. at Sharma's, I literally laughed out loud. Chris's was great, though it was a really creative way to end. Undershadow's was awesome. The Christmas present every year was hilarious as well. Everyone else's was great too. It has literally blown me away. Probably my favorite commercial was The Walk O Matic. It was smoothly animated, and funny. Everyone did a fantastic job, hope to see more sometime. 
Last edited by Spudson (December 19, 2017 (09:24am))
This is wonderful! The stories really worked well together and you managed to bridge each one very well. The commercials were very funny - there were times when I genuinely laughed out loud.
I do regret not creating one of the main stories, but I didn't really have the time to come of with a story that worked and I can't really recall any particularly hilarious situations from a previous Christmas that was particularly story worthy.
Regardless, even though my contribution was small, I'm so glad to be part of such a great project.
I think it's fair to say you've made brickfilm history here. I definitely will be re watching this during the Christmas season and will watch it every year.
Well done on creating such a wonderful film. This came out perfectly, and has been such a great thing for the brickfilming community!
Wow, where do I even begin on this one? There's so much that went down to make this a success, so it's best to first thank you, Thistof, for putting this all together!
I watched this last night and I loved every second of it. Then I showed my two younger brothers this morning and they enjoyed it as well! They loved Undershadow's story, especially the animations where the family members fell over sick. They loved the repeated Brick Drink commercials - the next two times they shouted "Brick Drink!" when the ads returned. They thought the repeated Hobbit gift in WinterSocks' production was hilarious - took them a second to get it, but when they did, they could not stop laughing. Pritchard's part, with Dixie stealing the carrot, probably made them laugh the hardest. That's just some of the highlights - I thought LOTW's piece was a great example of drawing emotion in a brickfilm, Rio's PSA was just hilarious, I should be driving a Portia, and ...
Shawarma.
You totally stole the show, Shawarma! Between your voice work and story, plus Thistof's animation for the main story, your character is so hilarious, dynamic, ridiculous, and memorable. In the eyes of my little brothers, you're the real hero of the story.
All in all, great work everyone. It's amazing how we were all able to come together and make this happen! Definitely makes a statement about the community, how much we love what we do and how well we all mesh together. I'll probably watch this about three or four or ten more times at least. Round of applause for everyone who helped make this an undeniable success! 
Without doubt, a special moment in brickfilming; I'm glad to have been a part of it. I think with the TV special style, you have found the perfect community project framing device. It is a genius way of fitting in more animators with the short commercials, and allows their clips to be self-contained while also making sense in the greater context. I really liked how you had the narrative of the brickfilmers stuck in the airport, as an overarching story went a long way to prevent the (to brickfilms, relatively) lengthy running time from being felt. I also think the idea of sharing Christmas memories worked very well, and was more interesting than having random Christmas films strung together.
My favourite moments has to be "NO! SANTA I ALREADY HAVE THIS!" in Arginnon's segment; the delivery had me laughing out loud. I loved Weasel's commercial because it reminded me of when I got that Ogel Command Center set for Christmas. I also thought it was a very clever idea to have multiple Brick Drink commercials across different breaks, just like real TV. It was charming to see Undershadow's early animations and hear thistof's home movie audio integrated into the stories. Everyone really did a great job on all the sequences, and it is truly amazing to see an original 30+ minute community project be made; especially one of this quality. Bravo to everyone, especially thistof!
Wow. This. Was. Fantastic. My brothers loved it, I loved it.
The You Should be Driving a Portia ad was a great start, it was very funny, and the rhythm took you into the film right away. Walkomatic is my personal favourite, I think it's mighty inventive. The Emotional Neutral No Specific Occasion Commercial captured so well that frustrated feeling we sometimes get nowadays trying so hard to be politically correct - and being just the opposite in the meantime. John Buttocks and the Comanche Ninjas looks just like a real trailer (I wanna watch the movie NOW!), the returning Brick Drink ads were not only funny, but they gave the whole show a nice rhythm. Noelica is a great modern twist on A Christmas Carol and says a lot about our drug-obsessed society, A Christmas Dog is heartwarming and Bricktoria's Secret is just pure gold! I really enjoyed Soggy Fruitcake, it captured the spirit of all those awesome B-movies, Bricks-A-Million made a nice comment on consumerism, as well as Winter Warmers, which also sported some cool VFX. Bricksiba Ready was another great drug commercial and Ogel Control Center Premium Vacation Resort was plenty of fun: brickfilms that draw from the LEGO canon is something I enjoy thoroughly. The Awesome Weight Loss Program was very funny as well and I think I'll be needing one of those after all the chocolate I'm eating this december...
These were some fantastic commercials. I'll be reviewing the stories as well, after watching this a second time!
Last edited by Arginnon (December 19, 2017 (07:12am))
Great job thistof at organising this and putting it together - brilliant collaboration, so well done to everyone involved.
I loved the Walkomatic advert - really cool and inventive - all in all, a very entertaining half hour film - I'm gutted I didn't make time to be part of it
This was epic! Thanks so much for letting me take a part in this project. I honestly think this brickfilm will become just as legendary as TheDayBrickfilms.com Crashed or something like that. I really loved it from start to finish. It takes me back to watching all those stop motion Christmas specials as a little kid. You really nailed the feeling of a TV special thistof. It was especially awesome to hear how some of you guys got your start brickfilming after Christmas. The stories were awesome, the commercials were well done (especially that Soggy Fruitcake one, who's the stud who came up with that? ), and it was very heartwarming at the end when Shwarma got arrested and everyone sang a Christmas song. Overall, I hope we see more brickfilm collaborations of this quality in the future. Merry Christ-Happy Holi-Happy Emotional Neutral No Specific Occasion everyone!
... and it was very heartwarming at the end when Shawarma got arrested and everyone sang a Christmas song.
Nothing says heartwarming like reading a crazed Knights Kingdom fan his rights
Really fun video! I loved the commercial breaks, especially the walkomatic. I'd like one of those for Christmas! does anyone have links to the other collaboration videos Bricks in Motion has done?
This turned out to be such a fantastic film!
I don't really know what I can say that hasn't already been said. Community projects are always a delight to see, and the way this one was organized is so incredibly brilliant and the way the story is told is immensely endearing. The narrated Christmas stories and the commercials are all very creative and well animated altogether. The transition between story and commercial was a little muddled at times, but in no way did that detract from my enjoyment of the film.
Bravo to everyone involved! And I hope you have an emotionally-neutral nonspecific occasion this calendar month.
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