Re: Leprechauns in France

Squid wrote:

I actually have no trouble with thinking up back story for Riigo-Faloo, though I get afraid that explaining too much back story too fast might get a little bit too confusing because most of it is rather detailed and complicated.

Blog format. Do a little bit of the history at a time, like those Old Republic saga guides.

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Re: Leprechauns in France

Well, I sure am late to the show.
There are three pages worth of comments so far, meaning I really can't add that much.
In fact, I'm not hardly even going to try.

Never noticed any light-flicker, and the animation and set design is some of your best work. The fire extinguisher and lowering rainbow were two that really stood-out to me. The punch-line at the end was great, and prompts an instant re-watch. I loved it, but am looking forward to something a bit different from you soon. Darkmoor and I am the Night both sound like they will learn from any story associated flaws as well as give a new tone and direction.

To echo the others, there's nothing wrong with fun "lolwut" films, and your style certainly gives them a freshness and joy that many films lack, but I would like to get something a bit more substantive in the future. Although I don't mind the heavier exposition that some dislike and look forward to seeing more of the history of Riigo-Faloo. Though maybe not until after having a bit of a break.

For example:
This seemed short on the story department, it was in a isolated bubble. We don't know who anybody really is, what they've been through, why any of the characters are the way they are, or how they all happened upon each other.
Not that it ruined the short, but it wasn't as good or full or fleshed out or something like that as it could have been.

Sharks and Clowns worked though, why? Sure two people just happened to met, but that can easily just happen.
We find out that Sharks and Clowns hate each other, we find out the cause of the argument, we learn about ninjas, then a big war, and other things that are all significant to the R-F history as well as help fill out the details of the hows and whys of the events that do happen on-screen.

Re: Leprechauns in France

Wow, three pages...

In my opinion, the animation was perfect mini/wink

Re: Leprechauns in France

After reading some of the comments here, I have to confess that I agree with them to a certain degree.  While your film was still highly enjoyable, it nevertheless felt like it was lacking something that I couldn't quite put my finger on, but now I realise what it is.  It just seemed a tad too formulaic and repetitive.  There was no real driving force or build-up in the film, and it was more or less a bunch of jokes strung together, as others have pointed out.  Despite the enjoyable randomness of it, the film was too repetitive (Garry sits down on park bench, leprechaun appears, randomness ensues, Garry screams something random).

It's not the randomness or weird characters per se (you are wonderfully good at making those), but it lacked some sort of driving plot behind that would make it a lot more coherent.  It doesn't have to be excessive exposition or a detailed back-story (although I'd really love to see more of your back-stories if possible), there just needs to be some sort of motivation for the characters to carry the story forward.

For instance, Garry might have forgotten who he was or somehow realised he has magical powers, and wants to find out why this is the case, so he sits down on a park bench to think it over.  Then Fred appears and tells him something important about him.  Now all of a sudden the random appearance of Fred has some significance within the plot, makes the whole story more coherent, and creates a build-up towards the climax of the story.  (OK, this is a really bad example, but hopefully you understand what I'm trying to get across.)  Randomness is great, but on its own it can't carry an entire story.  If there's no build-up towards a climax, the end of the story kinda fizzes out and feels weak.

I think one of the problems though is that it's too similar to your other films.  It has the same structure: omniscient 3rd-person narrator (who is always Sonjira--not that I have anything against him) opening with the lines "once upon a time", a storybook feel, and general fairy-tale atmosphere.  While I love the style and you make it work very well, you've used the same style over and over again in your films, and at this point it's beginning to feel a bit stale.  Also, constantly using a narrator can tend to overshadow the characters themselves and stifle room for their development.  Since an omniscient 3rd-person narrator sees everything, it kills off any ambiguity, which is sometimes (but not always) bad since good stories often have a touch of ambiguity.  What I'm trying to say is that this style is not bad inherently but I would like to see you try something new and different for a change.  Not necessarily something majorly different but perhaps something with a somewhat different style, e.g. something perhaps less overtly fairy-tale like or without a narrator.  (On a side note, I'd be really interested to see how you'd tackle a serious brickfilm). 

However, you did mention you wrote the script over 2 years ago, so I think this feeling may also have to do with that.

Anyway, as I mentioned before, this film is great technically (in fact, probably one of your best), and the animation is beautifully smooth (i only wish I was half as good as you).  But I do think it would be nice to see something different from you, and while Leprechauns in France is a lovely brickfilm it is beginning to feel repetitive (I mean, you used the exact same style in Sharks & Clowns, Odoriferous, The Lost Invention, and LiF, along with Planet of the Sneeuwpop, which is about half of your films). I hope you don't mind my excessively long post.

Irish leprechauns are generally like normal people and don't seem especially special, though they do actually speak in their correct accent.  However, Irish leprechauns hold an almost American obsession with guns, and also have the habit of acting quite polite then shooting people on a whim.

Just a thought: shouldn't American Leprechauns be the ones obsessed with guns, then?

Retribution (3rd place in BRAWL 2015)

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Re: Leprechauns in France

I'm only now seeing this, I had forgotten that I even voice acted for it but somebody alerted me on Twitter today.

I thought it was wonderfully executed, I love all the use of color, especially the colored trees. I found it entertaining; I haven't read all the comments but if there's a crit I have it's that I thought the gun/killing thing at the end didn't work very well, it just felt out of place with the rest of film. Perhaps if it'd been used to brilliant comedic effect it might have worked, but generally my rule of thumb is not to have guns/gunfire in a movie unless it's super well motivated, because guns are so overused in movies these days.

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Re: Leprechauns in France

Smeagol, did you watch all the way to the end if the video? mini/confused

Re: Leprechauns in France

To me, it felt like a short comedy sketch, but set up to be something far grander than that. There was an imbalance between the brilliant sets, smooth animation, and intriguing characters, and the actual content of the story. But like everyone else has said, this is still a fantastic brickfilm.

Re: Leprechauns in France

Your set was good, but seeing the same type of set for every film is slightly annoying. It's a minor gripe though. I like your style of animation, it fits the genre. Obviously there's not really a plot, but I do wish there was a little more continuity with the film. If you're going to string together a bunch of jokes, that's fine, but at least make sure that they're moving the film in a certain direction.

On a positive note, your camera movements were really good. The opening shot was lovely.

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Re: Leprechauns in France

backyardlegos wrote:

Smeagol, did you watch all the way to the end if the video? mini/confused

Yes, but the reveal that he survived doesn't do anything to change the experience of the moment I was talking about.

http://i.imgur.com/wcmcdmf.png