Windel Hexington and the Brick of Secrets

The camera was a video camera - the RCA Small Wonder EZ201A that I'd gotten for my 11th birthday. It had absolutely no features to take only still pictures, so, I had to find a workaround - I realized that I could click the pause button (usually used for watching back clips) during recording - thus 'pausing' the film during recording. It was totally barbaric and very frustrating; on top of the horrible quality. Yet, somehow, I managed.

I had an Acer Aspire Windows Vista laptop back then, and thus, used Windows Movie Maker 6.0 as my editor. Vocal recording was done through my laptop's built in mic, which, I originally used to "bootleg" the Indiana Jones theme. - But, I'm pretty sure that I took that out before uploading to youtube.

Originally, there were to be two sequels, making the whole thing a trilogy, however, only part 2 was ever completed - and my Vista computer crashed soon afterwards, deleting all that I hadn't uploaded or transferred yet...

I doubt many (if anyone) can top that one That's pretty limited and barbaric as far as filmmaking goes. But, I overcame those handycaps and pressed on. I'm glad to see just how far I've come since summer of 2007.

(Maybe this would be better suited in the "General Film Discussion" forum. )

The Time in Need: LEGO Nativity Story

This was my first stop-motion brickfilm. I made a couple LEGO films before this, but they were all video camera films with no stop-motion. This was made on December 1th, 2007 (as the time-stamp says ) on the floor of my living room. Made in less than a day, I tried to re-tell the Nativity Story. I did not have a script, instead, I had the Bible open, just filming based of specific verses. I recorded voices after I animated it. The reason part of the film is out of order, is because someone in my family told me that I don't have to animate it in chronological order, so I didn't, but forgot to re-arrange it. It was filmed with a little Kodak EasyShare Z700 digital camera (which I still have in my closet, though it is not working well anymore). A little Logitech microphone was used for audio (which I also still have, but it's broken, though, it still works). I edited it in Windows Movie Maker on Windows XP.

It's not really a good film, but it was my first. I do have a playlist of my second and third brickfilms (but actually, the third film was not completed until about a year later when I discovered the frames in a folder).

But I actually stopped brickfilming after 2008 (I think?), and moved on to live-action films. In 2011, I started back again with this film, and continued until the end of 2012. I started back once again in December 2013 with a small short which I never released, and have not stopped since!

YouTube • Website

"Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." - 1 Corinthians 10:31b

I sort of have two first brickfilms. Before I knew brickfilming was a thing, my friend and I made this thing (part 2 if you're a glutton for punishment) the same way Dyland did his, a short video clip for each movement (though it was done with a digital camera), and talking behind the camera for audio, which is why no one ever moves and talks at the same time. Most of the way through I realized we could just use still shots, so the scene on the "island" is done this way, with what is technically stop-motion. Neither of us had any idea stop-motion existed, despite having seen Wallace and Gromit (and Spite Your Face's LEGO version of the Monty Python Camelot song, I had actually seen a brickfilm already ), so we invented it ourselves. Don't ask how this got nearly 800,000 views, I have no idea. When our friend saw it, he said "Have you guys seen LEGO the Force Unleashed?" and we said no. He proceeded to show us FancyPants' masterpiece of animation, and my jaw dropped. I promptly went home and spent hours watching brickfilms, followed by a series of lengthy YouTube sessions over the course of which I watched every decent brickfilm I could find.

I then realized I had everything I needed to try this myself (and in fact, had already done so), and set to work making this video, because why not try masking in your first animation? It was shot on a Canon XTi, with me pressing the shutter for every frame (hence the severe shaking), edited on Pinnacle Studio version 11, and I recorded audio onto audacity with a terrible mic that came with a cheap keyboard (as in piano). It's really hard to watch, but at the time I of course though it was decent, and kept on going and slowly improving.

Youtube Channel

I really have no idea what my first animation was. I must have deleted it or something because I don't see it anywhere. Anyway, I used the iSight camera stuck to the top of my MacBook Pro, and used FrameByFrame to animate. Then I exported it, and watched it.

TwoGuysBrickfilms Youtube Channel

My first Brickfilm was Attack of the LEGOs it was 21 minuets long, we had a sequal we started making before discovering Brickfilms.com, Attack of the LEGOs: Revenge of the Order of Darkness, it is also 21 minuets long, both are pretty bad.

Mine is Lego Pan Am.  It's just a quartet of Lego Cube Dude stewardesses from the ABC series assembling themselves and strolling off.  I filmed it at work , holding the camera in my hand with each frame!  I marked borders so I can line the frames up in post-production!  I used Vegas Studio 6 then, I think.  The camera is the one I still use today, a Sony CyberShot WSC 540 or some number like it.  It's no longer online but it's on the HOO episode 1 DVD.

Here's mine.
Super farmer and the alien invasion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3si55L … j8Nu6aHKTB

Last edited by Smocktopus (January 29, 2016 (10:22am))

I'm afraid that some of my "early" brickfilms have a similar fate - they were wiped from my first laptop when it crashed...

Me too - Mine was "Windel Hexington 2 - The Telescope of Mystery."

I still remember that film fondly, however, as, it was the first video I did with an actual still camera. But, alas, it is gone - probably forever. I've often contemplated "remaking" it, just much bigger and grander, in the form of a Johnny Thunder sequel. But, it may just lie as it is - awaiting a brief mention in an autobiography someday.

Many moons ago (i.e. in 2012), past me toyed with the idea of taking up brickfilming.  Having been a lifelong fan of LEGO, I had chanced upon Pirates Rule! and How Not to Rob a Bank.  'Twas these two Brickfilms that inspired in me the prospect of participating in this very form of artistry, and in the process, became a guiding light to an awed me who was as of then uninitiated in the ways of Brickfilming.  I shot a few horrifically bad tests and even a 20-second or so long video brought into existence by a Canon Digital IXUS 95 IS and animated by the magic of Windows Movie Maker.  They have now been lost to the mists of time thanks to my old computer expiring and dragging everything stored upon it into whatever Nirvana computer files go to when their physical form of storage ceases to exist.

Then I joined Bricks in Motion and actually learned about the concepts of frame rates, light flicker, and not using your bedroom floor to animate stuff on.  I made The Time Machine in early 2013, proudly displaying it to the world via this beautiful website and YouTube.  The motivating factor behind this nascent cinematic endeavour of mine was a local youth festival with the theme of "Back to the Future".  Said film was displayed upon the screen of the local cinema, allowing me (and a bunch of other random parents and kids) to enjoy it in glorious cinematic big-screen-ness.  I was encouraged by this early success despite my entry getting royally snubbed by the festival organisers which ignited in me a burning desire to drink more of this beauteous nectar that is known as Brickfilming.

So now you know the epic tale of how I came to set upon this path of artistic endeavour and tiny plastic figures.

srsly

As far as first efforts go, I've been told that this is pretty good, though I kinda cringe when I see how wobbly and choppy my animation was.  I guess it's good to see how far I've come (not that I'm an especially good animator
now...).  It also actually got me interested in film and stuff, which is not too bad I suppose.

But you must admit that it is a beautiful legacy, is it not?

Last edited by Mr Vertigo (January 22, 2015 (03:29pm))