Thanks

The animation was cool in this. It had its own cartoony character to it. That's hard, to make the animation your own, but I think you did a fair job doing so. I hope this one places high.

Your animation was great! I am truly humbled and inspired. You make brickfilming look easy! (which we all know it is actually very hard) Keep up the good work!

Thanks thistof! no, the crazy laugh was downloaded from the internet

I really liked this brickfilm. It was wacky and fit the theme nicely.

thistof gave some excellent feedback. I'll do what I can to add to it and discuss my biggest issues with the film.

I didn't like the cuts when the Joker started spinning. I actually got a little confused the first time I saw it. I think it had to do with a couple of things. The Joker's brief glance at the money before he started spinning wasn't emphasized enough, so I kind of missed the meaning of that. Then when the spinning started, I was confused at first, but I did end up figuring out what was happening.

The Joker noticing the money was the pivotal scene, and I think that part could have been communicated better. Here's how I would have shown it:

Joker sees the money next to him
Cut to closeup of money
Cut to closeup of Joker's face - he's curious at first, and then gets excited!
Cut back to wide shot of joker looking at the money. He begins chasing it.

The cuts during the chase could have been done better. As thistof said, the jump cuts were too similar and so it was hard to follow. Also, during this sequence, it was clear the animation was being looped. In my opinion, it didn't look that great on screen. I'm a proponent of getting the most out of a single piece of footage, but you have to be careful how you do it.

Another thing to work on is framing. There were a handful of scenes where the character was off-centered or just in an odd place on the screen. Following the rule of thirds is a good start to properly framing a shot.

One last suggestion I have, and this is especially relevant since you were going for a cartoony style, is to really let the characters express themselves. Let them go wild! This can be very hard to do as it's not natural, but it's perfect for cartoons. When the people grab for the money, make their actions larger than life. Their arm could swing way back, and then swoosh in to grab for it - remember to follow through with the action. In general, cartoony animation should still follow the laws of physics, but there's definitely some flexibility here. Maybe some of the people swing so hard they fall on their face? It felt a little bland when the characters were reaching for the money. I would have liked to see a bit more action.

After saying all that, please take my advice with a grain of salt. I gave specifics on how to fix some issues I saw with your film, but in reality, you could fix those problems any number of ways. There's no perfect solution. You are in complete control and get to tell the story in your own unique way.

If you take away anything, let it be the big picture stuff:
Cinematography - Use camera positions/angles to tell the story.
Jump cuts - Use appropriately
Cartoony animation - Go over the top. Large actions and reactions.

Remember that ultimately you are telling a story. Every aspect of film comes down to this, so any time you are trying to figure out where to place the camera, what actions should be performed, etc. just think of it in context of what you are trying to communicate to the audience.

Wow, I wrote a lot more than I planned... Hopefully this doesn't sound too negative. I loved your entry. The story was good, it fit the theme very well and your animation was solid. You did very well, and I'm excited to see what you bring to the table next time around.

Take care.

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