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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How To Make A Lego Stop Motion Movie
How To Make A Lego Stop Motion Movie
This film/documentary was made for a fourth grade school project. Hopefully you enjoy it as much as he did making it!
First off:
This is the same way they made the Lego Movie.
No. The Lego Movie was made using 3D animation and is not a stopmotion work.
Then, onto the actual tutorial and animation. Your animation looks incredibly poor, i mean, when i animate a walk cycle i normally don't skip my figure one stud at ALL, and i'm assuming you didn't even notice that. Besides, the animations shown in this tutorial are very choppy, have loads of lighting issues and are kinda shaky too, and definitely not pretty to look at.
Why would you decide to voice-act before you've actually finished making the animation and everything? I'd rather see what i've animated and then do some voice acting afterwards to sync with the animation i did. That's how everyone usually does it and your method seems useless this way.
The part where you're talking about actually animating... why. At least it wasn't a real animation, thank god. You're taking a big risk in nearly moving that van. Even though you're saying that every single mistake could be disastrous to a brickfilm, you're making them constantly yourself... Come on, at least connect and tape your set down and don't even think about moving it.
I really feel like you read all the stuff you've told the viewer straight from an autoque or something similar. Some parts are really hard to follow and the way you're talking is boring as heck, there's no life in it (i know, sounds stupid but that's really a problem if you'd have to sit through a 14 minute tutorial like this).
Also, there is absolutely NO NEED to add in all your previous brickfilms! Just link people to your channel or something! It only lengthens the tutorial and it's really just unnecesary.
And that ending... *cringes*
Why would you decide to voice-act before you've actually finished making the animation and everything? I'd rather see what i've animated and then do some voice acting afterwards to sync with the animation i did. That's how everyone usually does it and your method seems useless this way.
Be careful when talking to a person like they are the n00b. Most people on this website do exactly what you just called "useless". You're sounding like the n00b.
Wow, you are pretty much a jerk aren't you, Woutstopmotion? Did you miss the part where this was made by a fourth grader? Let me help you out a bit here...
First, your point about the Lego Movie stands, but I refer you to the fact that a 9 year old did this. The audience was fourth graders who had no idea about the process other than what they saw in the Lego Movie, which of course was an animation.
About the animation, creating these films has been a journey. Yes, the animation was poor on the walkcycle test that he used. It was the first time he'd ever tried one. Did you stick around to see the THAC 11 entry or "Lego City's Hero" films? I'm sure your first attempt at animating was flawless, let me check for your winning entry in one of the THAC... Oh wait, your name doesn't even appear...
On to voice acting, you see, we use Dragonframe and create an x-sheet from the audio. This allows us to animate exactly along with the audio. No guesswork, math or cheating required. Your saying "that's how everyone does it" only further puts your arrogance and ignorance on display. Please don't offer advice to anyone in this area as you obviously don't know what you are talking about.
He didn't have footage of him doing animation and had a deadline at school for the film. What he was trying to show was working on a set and getting ready to animate. Its what he had. Thanks for the great tips on set preparation. How should our camera slider/dolly be positioned? How about the fluid head that our T4i mounts to the slider on, will that be OK for animating? I appreciate the key advice you share about tape and connecting pieces. Advanced stuff there...
He was reading the script from cue cards. Part of the project was writing a script in class, so he had to use it. I'm sure at 9 you were a spectacular performer and could have whipped something like this out in no time and in spectacular form. Can you point us to some of your amazing hits that has Hollywood beating a path to your door? I'd really like to some of your earliest work to get a handle on how amazing you are. Had you done anything of note at 9 years old?
As far as adding the previous brick films, oh yes, it was necessary. It was done for a class project and the class got to see it. Links to YouTube would not have served the purpose at all, it would have left everyone wondering what the hell he was talking about. In the end, the class absolutely loved it and they actually voted to cancel a field trip to make a class movie on the day before the last day of school. Evidently the critics that matter loved the film.
I'm going to give you a bit of advice. This is coming from a real-life adult who makes a pretty good living based in part on this skill. When giving feedback or even criticism, don't be an !@#$%^&. Be constructive. All you've done in your response is alienate people, shown that you cannot be trusted and limited your ability to gain valuable assistance from others who see you as an arrogant, condescending jerk. Also, understand the context that something is being presented in, this very clearly stated that it was done by a fourth grader for a school project. If you have difficulty with reading comprehension, have someone who isn't illiterate interpret what was written before inserting your foot into your mouth.
Other than that, your review was quite valuable.
Mod edit: Watch the language please.
Last edited by Pritchard Studios (June 11, 2014 (04:00pm))
I agree with AFewBricksShort and Legocloniac477. If you're going to offer critique, WoutStopmotion, please be a little more constructive, knowledgeable, and tactful with it.
And yes, there are very few professional animators who do not record dialog before creating the animation.
That's really impressive for a fourth grader. I know I would've done much worse at that age! 
We should try to encourage the work of young brickfilmer's, even if they make simple (and sometimes annoying) mistakes. How else is the brickfilming community going to grow if we don't support new brickfilmers, and inspire them to achieve great?
Lets keep these forums positive, and acknowledge that everyone here has put in a lot of effort to do what they've done (if that makes sense 
)
Id be happy with a project like that. 
. Oh, and your sound recording set up - id kill for that hardware! 
That's really impressive for a fourth grader. I know I would've done much worse at that age!
For me, I was worse for years after the fourth grade, so personally I find this film especially impressive.
Thanks, everyone, for the kind words. I know this is a great community of folks.
Of course, we are open to feedback and insight, I just need to make sure to preview it before I share it with him. I don't want to extinguish this creative flame that has sparked in my little man :-)
Wout, be more civil. Technical quality is not the only thing that makes up a brickfilm. A Few Bricks Short, you may be upset with WOut, but profanity is discouraged. BiM is supposed to be family-friendly.
--
The user cleaned up his post. So ignore this. Good job. I still didn't see the video yet, but I will.
Last edited by HoldingOurOwn (June 12, 2014 (06:25am))
First off:
This is the same way they made the Lego Movie.
No. The Lego Movie was made using 3D animation and is not a stopmotion work.
Then, onto the actual tutorial and animation. Your animation looks incredibly poor, i mean, when i animate a walk cycle i normally don't skip my figure one stud at ALL, and i'm assuming you didn't even notice that. Besides, the animations shown in this tutorial are very choppy, have loads of lighting issues and are kinda shaky too, and definitely not pretty to look at.
Why would you decide to voice-act before you've actually finished making the animation and everything? I'd rather see what i've animated and then do some voice acting afterwards to sync with the animation i did. That's how everyone usually does it and your method seems useless this way.
The part where you're talking about actually animating... why. At least it wasn't a real animation, thank god. You're taking a big risk in nearly moving that van. Even though you're saying that every single mistake could be disastrous to a brickfilm, you're making them constantly yourself... Come on, at least connect and tape your set down and don't even think about moving it.
I really feel like you read all the stuff you've told the viewer straight from an autoque or something similar. Some parts are really hard to follow and the way you're talking is boring as heck, there's no life in it (i know, sounds stupid but that's really a problem if you'd have to sit through a 14 minute tutorial like this).
Also, there is absolutely NO NEED to add in all your previous brickfilms! Just link people to your channel or something! It only lengthens the tutorial and it's really just unnecesary.
And that ending... *cringes*
Dude, quit being a jerk. He's a fourth grader. Also,
Why would you decide to voice-act before you've actually finished making the animation and everything? I'd rather see what i've animated and then do some voice acting afterwards to sync with the animation i did. That's how everyone usually does it and your method seems useless this way.
First of all, I not i, I've not i've. Second, this is very wrong. Most people voice act before they start animating. I have no idea where you got that everyone voice acts after they animate.
Anyway, this was really good considering this was made by a fourth grader. The animation was a bit choppy and there was some light flicker but pretty good. Also, I don't understand the part when he was talking about how to animate, since he wasn't animating. I'm so jelly of all your equipment.
Last edited by Rockydude411 (June 12, 2014 (08:23am))
I always write my scripts first, get the lines out to the voice actors then begin to film.
That was really good, A Few Bricks Short! I don't know how much of the Scripting/Editing your son did himself, but he did a very good job on what he did do. The video can feel like it drags on a little at times, though this may be due to me already knowing the material. I'm sure this would be helpful to someone starting out.
And just a quick extra thing: At step four, as you son was moving the car around the set, you road base plates were moving due to not being held down. I don't know if you do this already, but I recommend keeping you base plates held in place by taping them down or attaching them to already taped down plates.
And yes, it is very rare to find any Stop Motion Animator, just an animator PERIOD, who doesn't record audio and voices before animating. It makes the process incredibly easier due to removing the need to possibly edit your script to fit in with the timing of your animation. I know several animators who started out animating before making audio, and once they made the switch they improved greatly.
Last edited by Sonjira (June 11, 2014 (06:38pm))
First of all, I not i, I've not i've.
First of all, "choppy and", not "choppyand".
Oh, yeah. I went there.
That was really good, A Few Bricks Short! I don't know how much of the Scripting/Editing your son did himself, but he did a very good job on what he did do. The video can feel like it drags on a little at times, though this may be due to me already knowing the material. I'm sure this would be helpful to someone starting out.
And just a quick extra thing: At step four, as you son was moving the car around the set, you road base plates were moving due to not being held down. I don't know if you do this already, but I recommend keeping you base plates held in place by taping them down or attaching them to already taped down plates.
And yes, it is very rare to find any Stop Motion Animator, just an animator PERIOD, who doesn't record audio and voices before animating. It makes the process incredibly easier due to removing the need to possibly edit your script to fit in with the timing of your animation. I know several animators who started out animating before making audio, and once they made the switch they improved greatly.
That was me. lol.
Finally got the chance to view this. It's actually impressive for a 10-year old, except there were drastic sound variances throughout. The writing was actually in complete, grammatically correct sentences, which can't be said for much of YouTube or network TV for that matter. With continued experience, you're off to some really impressive work.
After reading through this, I'm just going to leave this here....
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