Thank you to Nathan Wells for handing over the Twenty-four Hour Animation contest to me this year.

Good luck, everyone!

• The theme is Discovery.

• The color mod is a red piece connected to or directly touching a yellow piece.

• The letter mod is the letter C.

• Submit your video link to [email protected].

The Twenty-four Hour Animation contest, or THAC for short, is a brickfilming competition that lasts for exactly 24 hours. All writing, recording, animating, and editing must be done within the time limit. It’s a challenge but it’s a lot of fun!

The contest will begin on Saturday, January 5, 2019 7:00 am EST. It will end on Sunday, January 6, 2019 7:00 am EST. You can check your time zone by clicking here. 

Anyone who is a registered member of Bricks in Motion and is in good standing before the start of the contest can enter. Judges may also participate but will not be ranked or considered for prizes. Joint productions are allowed but it is up to you to divide the prize amongst yourselves if you win anything.

• Your entry must be entirely made during the 24-hour period. To prove this and as a long-time tradition of the contest, mod elements must appear in every shot of your film (see the new mod element rule listed below).

• Your entry must consist of primarily LEGO (or similar building block toy) stop motion animation. Live action, CGI, and hand drawn animation are allowed but stop motion must be the primary focus.

• Your entry must consist of at least 30 seconds of stop motion animation. There is no maximum time limit.

• No mature or explicit content is allowed. This includes but is not limited to: swearing, excessive gore, overt sexual content, and blatant drug references.

• You may not make your entry public until after the deadline. The entry you make public must be the entry you submit to the judges. You cannot create a version of your film that includes the mod element to send to the judges and then release a second version of the film with the mod element removed. Once the judging process is over, however, you can make any changes you wish.

• Use of copyrighted material (such as music) is allowed, though be aware of copyright infringement. Use of copyrighted material will not affect the judging of your entry. Due to time restraints of the contest, music may be created before the contest. While using copyrighted/trademarked material is allowed, you are discouraged from basing your entry on pre-existing franchises such as Star Wars, Marvel, etc. There is no direct score deduction, but a film that uses pre-existing intellectual properties will not be viewed as favorable as a film that creates something entirely new.

To prevent cheating, a theme will be announced at the start of the contest. You can brainstorm ideas beforehand, but there is no guarantee that your ideas will match the theme. The theme will either be a single word or a phrase. 

In addition, “mod elements” must be present in every shot of your film. A mod element is a visual component that must be physically included in each shot of your film to prove that it was made in the 24 hour timeframe. There will be two mod elements to choose from–you do not need to use both, you can pick one or the other, or even mix and match them if you like. As with the theme, these mod elements will be announced at the start of the contest. The first mod element is a color mod. This will be a combination of two random bricks that must be connected together or touching. (For example, a green brick connected to a white brick.) The second mod element is a letter mod. This could be any one of the 26 letters in the English alphabet. You may use upper or lowercase versions of the letter, but the letter must be recognizable.

There is a new exception to the mod element rule this year. Please see the first bullet point directly below.

• MOD ELEMENT UPDATE FOR THIS YEAR'S CONTEST: In collaboration with the Bricks in Motion staff, we have decided to allow for 15 seconds of leeway with the use of the mod elements. For THAC XVI, you do not have to include ANY mod element for a maximum of 15 seconds of animation. When you have reached 15 seconds, you must then include the mod element in every shot. The 15 seconds can appear anywhere in your film and do not have to be in order. This will allow you to film shots where the mod element is difficult to incorporate. Additionally, we do not want to disqualify an entry for accidentally forgetting the mod element in a few shots.

• The letter mod may be upper or lowercase. The letter can be rotated but not mirrored. It must be clearly identifiable as the particular letter. It may be written on a piece of paper or sticker, drawn directly onto a brick, printed onto a piece, or built from pieces and integrated into the set.

• According to Bricklink, the acceptable colors are:
     Dark Red (Bricklink color ID: 59)
     Red (Bricklink color ID: 5)
     Rust (Bricklink color ID: 27)
     Sand Red (Bricklink color ID: 58)
     Reddish Brown (Bricklink color ID: 88)
     Trans-Red (Bricklink color ID: 17)
     Dark Yellow (Bricklink color ID: 161)
     Yellow (Bricklink color ID: 3)
     Bright Yellow (Bricklink color ID: 103)
     Light Yellow (Bricklink color ID: 33)
     Trans-Neon Yellow (Bricklink color ID: 121)
     Trans-Yellow (Bricklink color ID: 19)
  Here is a link to the overall Bricklink Color Guide.

• The letter mod may exist as a printed LEGO piece, but it must clearly be that letter. Expressions on a minifigure face or folds in clothing on minifigure torsos are not letters.

• Mod elements must be physically present. They cannot be digitally added in post production.

• Minifigure parts such as a green torso attached to white legs do count as the color mod. However, bricks connected to or touching a baseplate do not.

• You do not need to include the mod elements in the title or credits.

Send an email to [email protected] before 7:00 am EST on Sunday, January 6, 2019. I will reply as soon as it arrives to confirm that your submission has been received and add you to the Accepted Entries list below. In the body of your email, please include a working link to your film and a password if you choose to upload it to Vimeo. Please format the subject of your email as follows:
THAC XVI Entry, [Your Bricks in Motion username], “[Title of Your Entry]”
For example: THAC XVI, Penta, “Benny n' Lee”

Your entry may be in the following formats:

• Unlisted YouTube video. To make your video unlisted, go to the video page and click the little blue icon next to the video title, then select UNLISTED from the drop-down menu.

• Password-protected Vimeo video. To make your video password-protected, go to the video page and click Settings, then under the Privacy tab, choose "Only people with a password." Please remember to include the password in your email! If I cannot view your entry, I cannot accept it.

A special thanks to AquaMorph for creating an instant runoff voting add on for Google Sheets that will be used to assist in the judging process. Additionally, a special thanks to dewfilms for coming aboard as a judge. We now have a panel of four judges!

The judges for THAC XVI are:
dewfilms
legogod
nswihart
Willow Tree

Edit: Chris W.
5 judges total

If your entry places in the top 3, you are eligible for the prize pool. This year the prizes are as follows:

Mr. & Mrs. Claus BrickHeadz - 40274

Modular Winter Vacation - 31080

People Pack -Outdoor Adventures - 60202

There is one change this year. If your film requires, you do not have to include the mod element for up to 15 seconds of footage. This new rule is to allow for close-ups or shots where it may be difficult to incorporate the mod element. Additionally, we want to reduce the amount of reshooting or disqualifications if you should forget to include the mod element in a few shots. Once you have reached the 15 second maximum, be sure to include the mod element in every remaining shot of your entry. Aside from the new mod element rule, everything will operate the same as previous years.

If you want to participate in and keep up with everyone's THAC progress on Twitter, use the hashtag #THACXVI and keep an eye at the top of the forum!

Lots of people will be sharing their progress on the Bricks in Motion Discord channel, as well.

Martin the Builder
Joshua Nelson
lotsatoast
MatrixBrixProductions
Awesomepants Films
VPLO STUDIOS
MonkeyMotion Studio
SCDude1999
Slotborg
Duffosaur
BeatupBricks Productions
cracksplatpop
DudeBrick
Cheddarbob10
AoW-Gamer
Bernard DUPOND (Vimeo)
Robukka (Vimeo)
Ozone Studios
Amari Studios
Shane Studios
JumboGauge
Shawarma Studios
Brick Block Animations
Hoverfrog Films
TheLoginProductions and Dyland
Squidtastic Videos
Lord Ringozinglyzong
Von Steuben
Pongowl
2x4 Productions
brickorbrack
ibaschi
BrickBen Productions
the2awesomeguys
Blandeer
Brickquarium Productions
Yetgo
TheClassicSpaceman
Ice Fox
Feinstein Films
Chaizin
chris@ghp
ten animator
OneDouglas
DarthLevee
Tiny World Studios
BertL
Humbug
Shahriar
rioforce
Isaac the Animator
Onecras Films
Samuel_Burt
Plastic Point Productions
Buck Brothers Projects
thistof
Future Past Productions
SuitedNinjaNerd
William Osborne
TurtleFlight Studios
Raytistic
Irregular Quad
twickabrick
MarkNelsonMovies
sillypenta
Frog Studios
Nathan Wells and Zach Macias
Sunspace
Blue Brick Studio
Bricks and Pieces
Adri Piqueras
Jasper
Wammy
mysteriouspi
MrMagicMan
Aroben
Mighty Wanderer and SlothPaladin
pjlegomotion
The Immortal LEGO
BC Lego Movies
Legoander
JOCo
Top Hat Robot
Undershadow