Bricks in Motion
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Secret Agent Jamison part 1 and 2
This is my longest project i've ever worked on so please tell me what you think.
Last edited by justforparody (April 4, 2010 (09:03pm))
OK, I'm sorry for being harsh, but I want to be honest here.
I'll start with the good. The story was good, a bit lengthy but good. It started off rather well but later after things just went down. The voice actor of Kent did a great job. I'll get back to voice acting later. You have good animation skill, but you might want to move the minifigure's arms when they walk. You may also want to invest in a camera. It tends to blur and sharpen and blur at parts making it look silly. On that note, I'd DEFINITELY get a new microphone. This may offend you or your cast, but I thought the voice acting of the whole thing was like an under 8 year old school play. Some of it annoyed me, and I really found it hard to listen to for the entire 13+ minutes. I didn't enjoy watching it, but I see how you can improve. Keep working on the technical qualities of your film and you'll be a legend 
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2/5 - Could be Improved
OK, I'm sorry for being harsh, but I want to be honest here.
I'll start with the good. The story was good, a bit lengthy but good. It started off rather well but later after things just went down. The voice actor of Kent did a great job. I'll get back to voice acting later. You have good animation skill, but you might want to move the minifigure's arms when they walk. You may also want to invest in a camera. It tends to blur and sharpen and blur at parts making it look silly. On that note, I'd DEFINITELY get a new microphone. This may offend you or your cast, but I thought the voice acting of the whole thing was like an under 8 year old school play. Some of it annoyed me, and I really found it hard to listen to for the entire 13+ minutes. I didn't enjoy watching it, but I see how you can improve. Keep working on the technical qualities of your film and you'll be a legend
2/5 - Could be Improved
Well I'm sorry that a cast of 13, 14 ,15 and an 18 year old sounded like a below 8 year old school play.
Apology accepted.
It was good, I can tell you worked much harder on this than your past videos. But there was still room for improvement. Like others have said the voice acting wasn't very great. The characters and microphone quality had a large span so it didn't quite sound realistic. The animation was a lot better, but you could tell when there was CGI or other forms of animation. Also the green screening at the end was pretty obvious and not very good (There were chunks out of the guy's head!), so if it wasn't going to be very good I would've just not done it and put a blue piece of paper behind the set.
Everything else was very good and had a large improvement, your camera quality was very good (exept there were some blurry parts), the animation was far better, and it was much more enjoyable.
Good job!
lol. So I was the youngest actor? damn. And I got the role of playing a black guy? lol.
No you weren't the youngest actor. Also I made you a black character because all the white characters were taken. Dont' feel bad though BrickUnit had to play a black guy too
First off, kudos to you for creating a film longer than most and writing a decently complex story. You went beyond most your age attempt. That being said, there was a lot of room for improvement.
Your animation was pretty decent and at times good. There were moments, however when problems arose. For example, at several points in one of the earlier scenes, a background tree was jumping around. At other times the walking was awkward. Similarly, there was a lot of camera jiggling and inconsistency of focus, not to mention the light flicker.
The car chase was problematic. The chromakeying was quite lacking, as it would alternate quite a bit between frames, often either showing background on top of people’s faces and the set or not showing the background where it ought to be. The edges were quite fuzzy as well. The looping paper effect was poor as well, as it was clearly one image moving back and forth. In a few moments, the edge of the paper on the set was quite visible. Also, why were the trees at night blue?
The voicework in this film was not very good. The commisioner’s voice was probably the only voice that really sounded appropriate in his role. The youngness of the voices aside, the delivery of said lines was also quite bad. Most of the lines sounded completely read and very flat.
As I said before, the plot was pretty decent, especially considering the ambition involved. There were lapses in the logic of it, however, and problems with the dialogue, much of which was quite cheesy/melodramatic.
For one thing, the opening with the James Bond gunbarrel sequence was too much of a rip-off for my taste. Secondly, it was odd that everyone seemed to know that Jamison was a secret agent – that doesn’t sound very secret to me. Another problem I had was the point in which it was revealed that the nuclear power plant had no security cameras installed, a highly implausible notion. Also, one does not simply store a jar of “nuclear power.” At one point, Jamison announced that he had the thief surrounded. How exactly can one man surround another?
Lastly, there were two issues I had with your building of sets and props. The helicopter model was not very good, bearing only a slight resemblance to a real-life helicopter. Also, why did Dylan have giant computer screens displaying Batman villains?
I know I’ve put a lot of criticism into this review and I don’t want to sound too harsh. I feel like, however, if you put the work into creating a film of this length that you deserve a good, detailed review. You have much to work on, but I’m confident you can learn and grow in your brickfilming abilities. I look forward to seeing your future work.
Exactly. Everyone starts at a point in animation with very similar problems to yours. I couldn't take criticism at the start, but I eventually learned and I've improved so much now. Listen to the reviews you get and don't complain, it'll always pay off.
justforparody wrote:LuckeMasse wrote:lol. So I was the youngest actor? damn. And I got the role of playing a black guy? lol.
No you weren't the youngest actor. Also I made you a black character because all the white characters were taken. Dont' feel bad though BrickUnit had to play a black guy too
Oh, then who was the youngest actor? I was 12 when I recorded my voice.
My brother he is 11.
First off, kudos to you for creating a film longer than most and writing a decently complex story. You went beyond most your age attempt. That being said, there was a lot of room for improvement.
Your animation was pretty decent and at times good. There were moments, however when problems arose. For example, at several points in one of the earlier scenes, a background tree was jumping around. At other times the walking was awkward. Similarly, there was a lot of camera jiggling and inconsistency of focus, not to mention the light flicker.
The car chase was problematic. The chromakeying was quite lacking, as it would alternate quite a bit between frames, often either showing background on top of people’s faces and the set or not showing the background where it ought to be. The edges were quite fuzzy as well. The looping paper effect was poor as well, as it was clearly one image moving back and forth. In a few moments, the edge of the paper on the set was quite visible. Also, why were the trees at night blue?
The voicework in this film was not very good. The commisioner’s voice was probably the only voice that really sounded appropriate in his role. The youngness of the voices aside, the delivery of said lines was also quite bad. Most of the lines sounded completely read and very flat.
As I said before, the plot was pretty decent, especially considering the ambition involved. There were lapses in the logic of it, however, and problems with the dialogue, much of which was quite cheesy/melodramatic.
For one thing, the opening with the James Bond gunbarrel sequence was too much of a rip-off for my taste. Secondly, it was odd that everyone seemed to know that Jamison was a secret agent – that doesn’t sound very secret to me. Another problem I had was the point in which it was revealed that the nuclear power plant had no security cameras installed, a highly implausible notion. Also, one does not simply store a jar of “nuclear power.” At one point, Jamison announced that he had the thief surrounded. How exactly can one man surround another?
Lastly, there were two issues I had with your building of sets and props. The helicopter model was not very good, bearing only a slight resemblance to a real-life helicopter. Also, why did Dylan have giant computer screens displaying Batman villains?I know I’ve put a lot of criticism into this review and I don’t want to sound too harsh. I feel like, however, if you put the work into creating a film of this length that you deserve a good, detailed review. You have much to work on, but I’m confident you can learn and grow in your brickfilming abilities. I look forward to seeing your future work.
I'm going to answer those questions. One the thing about people knowing he was a secret agent was a joke. I mean the whole point of being a secret agent is to be secret i know that. Also the security cameras thing was also a joke that i thought would be funny. Also the surrounding thing, the bad guy had no where else to run and if he tried to run off Jamison would get him so he said "I have you surrounded". The voice thing yeah i'm sorry the young voices I don't have friends with mature voices except for some, also mine is very young but i just can't help that. The helicopter also was just a model i made in MLCad since a real CGI helicopter from the internet costs money to download. Also the computer I tried to hide the Batman villains but i guess it didn't work out. Also the chroma keying i'm still practicing it, I'm well aware it's no good, but i'm still trying no matter how many times people tell me not to. I hope some of these answers help you understand the video a little bit better. Thanks for the review too. I like when people help me make my films better 
Cool, I'm glad you liked it. Two ideas for you:
1. Post a casting call on here. There are some talented voice actors on BiM.
2. Look through places like Brickshelf and Flickr for good prop designs. There's no shame in reusing or tweaking something that looks good, though it's nice to give credit.
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