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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Plunder
Director's Cut - Contest Version
A kerfuffle involving two rival pirates.
Made for THAC XV. I had to quickly edit the video in order to meet the deadline for the contest, which ended up containing a few hiccups and no sound effects. So that's why there are two versions of the film.
Last edited by AnimatorUnknown (January 13, 2018 (08:18pm))
I loved the ending! The whole film is perfectly paced, well done.
Ha ha, that was very nicely executed! 
I watched the contest version first and then the directors cut, the lack of foley really stood out in the contest version. I'm assuming that was due to the time constraints? Well done on the directors version. I liked the rack focus as well.
The only thing I would point out is that there is quite a difference in the framing between the shot with the pirate and treasure chest, and the shot without the pirate and treasure chest. It would have worked better if the framing had been the same. Only a little thing, feel free to ignore me.
Spoiler (click to read)
The only thing I would point out is that there is quite a difference in the framing between the shot with the pirate and treasure chest, and the shot without the pirate and treasure chest. It would have worked better if the framing had been the same. Only a little thing, feel free to ignore me.
Always thankful for some constructive criticism! I totally agree with you about the framing not working as well as it could have. I actually had forgotten to animate both that and the rack focus shot of the treasure chest when I was initially filming that scene. I guess I had been awake for far too long 
.
DISCLAIMER: This was THAC. You only have 24 hours. It's not easy, and no THAC brickfilm is ever perfect. I know this when I write the detailed review. IF IT COULD BE PERFECT, what could have been added/changed/improved? When we think about all these details in retrospect, we are training ourselves to think about them the next time we sit down to make a film.
Yet another good film that deserves attention from this year's THAC!
The animation is good, voice acting is good, set design is good, lighting is pretty good (could be better), theme use is good, a lot of things were done quite well. Which is why I'm having a hard time figuring out why it doesn't draw me in like it should. It could be that the back and forth dialogue and writing was somewhat stereotypical. The sound dropping out when they start sword dueling and replaced with the music kind of took the legs out from under the duel animation itself (though the type of music was a good choice), I wanted to hear the swords clash and clang. I think perhaps the barrel of gunpowder is probably the issue. For one thing, we don't get a proper introduction of it as a macguffin. It's just them dueling and then suddenly the sword goes along with something else into the hole. The camera shakes, and now the exit is blocked. We don't see it beforehand telling us "hey audience! there's explosives here!" and then the lighting doesn't really show a change in the cave. I'd expect light from the mouth of the cave would be gone. Also a big boom sound effect and a flash of light from the hole would also sell the change, plus noise of rocks falling etc. Also, the straight down light from above could have used more context, showing us more of the room, and the light source like this.
All of these little things add up (they also add up in time and THAC is short on time).
The goal as with all film is to create an illusion that seems to represent place, time, mood, etc. The illusion here isn't complete. Aside from that, I really like this film. The ending is hilarious.
"Friendship is the real tr-- awwww, you've got to be..."
Wow. I just want to say, thank you for leaving such a detailed reply. I'll definitely take your comments to heart as I move forward. The thing about the barrel especially. Not setting it up so that the audience is aware of it feels like such a head slapper in retrospect. But hey, what is THAC if not a learning experience?
(I actually didn't even intend for it to be full of gunpowder, just an old barrel that causes a rock slide through the impact when it hits the ground. The gunpowder idea is definitely more interesting though. But again, what is THAC if not a learning experience?)
The lighting change after the cave collapse is something that I did think about, but didn't have the time/energy to implement since I was still animating up until about an hour before the contest deadline.
The sound dropping out when they start sword dueling and replaced with the music kind of took the legs out from under the duel animation itself (though the type of music was a good choice), I wanted to hear the swords clash and clang.
Just in case you haven't seen it, I did go back and release separate a version of the film with sound effects added.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4f9n0d … e=youtu.be
Again, thanks for the comment! I really do appreciate it.
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