I can see both sides of the issue. My personal stance is that assembling sets, props and characters is part and parcel of the 24 hour challenge and that pre-building gives an unfair advantage. That said, thus far I've attempted to enter THAC four times and never once made it in. I can't deny that much of my time is taken up with building and freely admit that my ideas (refined as I build) tend to get too big really quickly. Not to mention I'm getting old I don't have the capacity to push myself 'round the clock like I used to.

If you are a pre-builder, then we expect that your movie SHOULD have better animation, effects, what-have-you. If you build on the day, we would expect your movie with be a little rough around the edges which is also okay. There are two big problems, then, as I see it. The first is that all movies are presented for judging without knowing who took what road to achieve what we're seeing. If the animation is lousy, is it because much of the time was spent building or because the animator was lazy and thought they could rely on the production value of quality pre-built sets to carry them over the finish line? The second problem is that if someone truly works from the ground up and builds sets, animates, makes custom sound effects and music and the result is fantastic - it doesn't really look like that much of an achievement next to the others, does it?

Personally I have no problem with grabbing sound effects and music from elsewhere - not everyone has the facilities to create a wide variety of sounds or musical talent (I know I don't). But everyone here has at least SOME animation skill and a supply of LEGO - a BUILDING toy - with which to create a BRICKfilm. Building should be an integral part of the challenge. It's what we do.

In the end, participation is what's really important. If you're like me and strike out year after year then you might just stop trying and that's no good either. And, if you're young, building AND animating AND post AND audio might be too much to handle in 24 hours (or 16 hours if your parents send you to bed halfway through). Our community isn't big enough to be picky or exclusionary so I say we just keep going the way we're going and take any movies we can get from anyone who will make them. Just don't expect us to clap really hard when you win if we suspect it's unlikely you built that huge mountain fortress in four hours.

Saturday night church.

I kinda like it when others pre-build because I'd like to watch a slightly more polished film from other people.

Going into plot ideas is a very dangerous thing.  One might try to develop something, but then the theme could be something different.

For instance, if Bank were made for THAC X, how ever would I have stuck a grand unveiling into the story?  It feels usually oddly specific and yet simultaneously vague.

Though, one might be able to force it into a film, but that could feel very awkward.

Though, I can't help trying to think of random ideas before thac of what it might be and what it can't be.  My imagination really runs wild.  And I unintentionally think up a dozen possible stories and such before BRAWL, none of which I actually ever use.

I've always guessed that Nick just thinks up a new chapter to abduction and tried to fit in the theme.

The only thing I'd really consider blatantly going against the spirit of THAC would be taking a script you've already written, then jamming the theme into it.
Even if I already happened to have a script that fit with THAC perfectly, I'd right a new one.

I don't now really, when people say it goes against the spirit of thac, it kinda feels like being called a cheater or lazy, when I just want to make a good film.
But I can see how it must be annoying to have people pre-build if you want to be hardcore, and you may have built this amazing set, but people might not believe you if you said it wasn't pre-build because it seems too incredible.

I do think it's really cool to be hardcore, I like it when people are hardcore, and I respect them for that.  I just want people not hardcore to be accepted, because that's cool, too.

Last edited by Squid (December 7, 2013 (06:08am))

We all know to create anything from scratch one must first invent the universe. My THAC film last year everything was made in the 24 hour period. Even the music was written in the 24 hour period. I feel like this best embodies the spirit of the contest but that is just my opinion.

Odysee ~ YouTube ~ Website ~ Twitter

Build some red and orange horns out of bricks to celebrate THAC while you're there.

I try not to use pre-built sets; in my honest opinion, I think it makes much more sense to base your sets on the storyline of the film. Here's how I do it:

-Theme is announced
-I brainstorm ideas
-I write a script
-I build a set that fits the storyline
-I get like 43rd or 44th place out of like 48 entries in the results

But, I won't bash any of you guys' methods. If you pre-build your sets so as to fit in with your schedule, that's perfectly fine with me. I'm just sharing my method.

Carry on, you guys.

Well, even if building sets prior to THAC wasn't fine with you, the person could still do it not according to you, just saying!

To be honest it's not as hard as it's made out to be (concerning prebuilt sets). Sure, you can build better sets going into it, but it means you have a more limited list of sets to make your film around. And set building is only one factor, the story, animation, voice acting, sound, editing, post in general, all have to stem from the theme on the day.

very pumoped to the ex treme. i keep getting ideas n i have to tell myself 2 calm down. pumpoed

Yes please do ily

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