Bricks in Motion
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De Mortem
My entry into THAC XIII! Even though I didn't state this in the credits, I did all the music within the 24 hours of THAC as well.
What does the suitcase mean?
I like the monochromatic color scheme, it instantly gives it a nice 'noir' feel that matches well with the mystery setting.
Your animation is rough, and there are a couple of set bumps, but the latter are sorta a staple of THAC, and overlooked easily enough. Making a four minute film is quite an accomplishment, and scoring it in that time is the cherry on top.
The set was nice, and the script built to an interesting climax, but the animation quality was something that was fairly difficult to get over. I'd recommend investing a bit more time into that next year, and prepare by scoring several pieces of music ahead of time.
Now, since it's going to bother me, what's the suitcase mean? I must know! 
I like the monochromatic color scheme, it instantly gives it a nice 'noir' feel that matches well with the mystery setting.
I also thought this would set my entry apart from most of the rest. If I'm not mistaken, it's very, very rare to find THAC entries filmed in Black & White.
Your animation is rough, and there are a couple of set bumps, but the latter are sorta a staple of THAC, and overlooked easily enough.
I used to always animate with a webcam (and sometimes, though, rarely, onion skin) however, after getting a 4k camera last year, I've been trying to make the slow transition into using it. However, it's software doesn't have remote capture, meaning that I have to press it every time to take a shot...
I'm certainly looking into a camera with remote capture that would hold the same image quality... Otherwise, "bumps" will certainly show up in future projects.
I'd recommend investing a bit more time into that next year, and prepare by scoring several pieces of music ahead of time.
Sound advice. I did actually compose a piece of music early, but went against using it because it so felt like cheating. (Even though doing so is perfectly within the contest rules) I'll certainly be looking into improving my animation in the meantime, though. I think I'm still a bit rusty...
Now, since it's going to bother me, what's the suitcase mean? I must know!
With an ending such as that, I think I'm gonna have to leave it up to the viewer's interpretations. However, I do actually have more than one idea for where I might take the story, if I ever plan on making a sequel... The suitcase would certainly play a role in that.
The set here was most definitely a highlight.
I was a bit confused through this, since it felt like I was supposed to notice and think of things that I wasn't really given a chance to notice or enough information to think of, but you did do a pretty good job of explaining things despite that.
I'm not sure if I missed something or not - who was the guy with the black hair and the echoing voice? (Also, why is his voice like that? ).
I was a bit confused through this, since it felt like I was supposed to notice and think of things that I wasn't really given a chance to notice or enough information to think of, but you did do a pretty good job of explaining things despite that.
Thanks. The ultimate would have been to make the brickfilm longer... perhaps show more of the room. But, this was THAC, after all. And, I actually took out about 2 scenes from the original script, just because I didn't like the pacing of the story. And, while rendering and uploading only took me about an hour overall, I was expecting this to take much longer.
Compared to other rendering tests I had done last week, this time was pretty quick. Knowing this earlier, this would have given me another 3 or 4 hours to animate some more. But, if I could go back and change things, there's very little I would... I'm pretty happy with how this turned out! 
I'm not sure if I missed something or not - who was the guy with the black hair and the echoing voice? (Also, why is his voice like that?
In latin, the language of the ancient Romans, de means of, from, or concerning, and mortem is death. De Mortem, therefore, must mean something equivalent to of death in English. De Mortem, the character, then, could be thought of as the bringer of death, or, death incarnate... the grim reaper.
The echo-y voice just sets him apart from the others.
Last edited by Dyland (January 3, 2016 (10:05pm))
I couldn't watch this without thinking about the 1985 movie adaptation of Clue. I was almost hoping it would turn into a whodunit. While it has some technical issues, I still enjoyed this. I would have liked the story to have been a bit more clear though, it felt cryptic or as if the story wasn't elaborated enough before the conclusion.
I couldn't watch this without thinking about the 1985 movie adaptation of Clue. I was almost hoping it would turn into a whodunit.
A whodunit was exactly the opposite direction I was going for. Don’t get me wrong, I love those types of stories, and, I’m pretty fond of the 1985 movie. However, as far as THAC Brickfilms go, a large majority of them are comedies… Again, nothing wrong with that, but, I really wanted to go more so in the direction of Nathan Wells’ Beast or even, his THAC 4 brickfilm Unsound, rather than to do a repeat of my THAC X attempt.
I would have liked the story to have been a bit more clear though, it felt cryptic...
Cryptic is the perfect word to describe the feel I was going for. Overall, I wanted a more serious tone. The music, especially, exemplifies this. The story starts in a familiar setting; a room. However, it soon dives into the relatively unfamiliar – amnesia. Almost like a dream, (or nightmare!) events aren’t exactly what they seem...
Perhaps De Mortem is just a figment of their imaginations… just as they are on the precipice of death… Or, is he real?
… and what of the suitcase and the knife?
That was really cool! I liked the sets and dialogue. I also liked how you didn't exactly know what was going on until the end. The voice actors were really good and I liked the unexpected ending. Keep up the good work Dyland!
Last edited by BlackSmithFilms (January 4, 2016 (08:01pm))
The voice actors were really good and I liked the unexpected ending.
Ironically, only two voices were my original choices. I guess the replacements really worked out well in the end, though!
I really enjoyed being a part of this. It was a smart move to make the film black and white; it truly has an "old mystery movie" feeling to it, and I think it's great that you wrote your own music for this. You did an impressive amount of work in 24 hours!
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