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!
A place to discuss, share, and create stop motion films.
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Released [THAC XII]
Careful what you wish for.
Made in 21 hours for THAC XII.
As with most THAC entries (of mine anyway), this originally started with a much more nice, full story. Time restrictions, however, devolved the original into this. Oh well, love to hear what anyone thinks!
Man, I really enjoyed this entry. Love the concept above all else, but that one shot which had the camera moving while the office changed was superb.
Oh, I like it!
You tell a great story with the visuals, and the lighting and set work is superb.
The story may be basic and short, but it carries a nice punch, and does a lot in the short run time.
That scene when he is reaching through the bars is just fantastic, and is (for me) the most impressive shot.
Your use of few sounds and no music really sells the emptiness, and shows that sometimes less is more.
One of the tiny flaws would be the walls coming in, stopping, then clicking together.
It felt disjointed, and like a few frames needed to be removed to smooth it out.
But other than that it's a very well polished short.
This was excellent and needs more attention. I am surprised this only took a day to make. The shot Jstudios mentioned was outrageous for a contest this brief.
Wow, that was impressive and very unique. I enjoyed the animation, it was awesome. I especially liked his arms through the prison bars. I think that there could have been a low rumble or some type of ambiance because I didn't hear anything in the film, not even the sound of air, until the chair sound effects came in.
This was awesome! Loved everything about it! Too bad I couldn't be there to help, but honestly, I don't think it could get better. 
What I liked about it was that it held the line for symbolism and didn't become blatant symbolism. Mentioned previously the hands through the bars shot was nice, did the arms need to come off the torso for that shot? And lastly you probably noticed this but the clock effect shows up in the previous shot for about a frame, but of course that's easily missed especially in this short of a time frame.
One of my favorite entries this year. The lighting in this film as well as the camera work were both excellent, and the animation was great as well. One thing that I also especially enjoyed was the audio (or lack thereof at parts), and I felt that it really worked to sell the atmosphere. A great film all around!
This had some really impressive shots in it. Shots that would usually be impressive even were this not a THAC film, but having them in a THAC film makes them even more impressive.
Films without dialogue are difficult to pull off.
You pulled it off well and in 24 hours.
I think a lot of us can relate to the 'trapped' feeling from time to time...this is well represented with the visuals.
Well done.
So that pink slip means he got fired? Or laid off? I'm guessing that because otherwise "Released" would seem irrelevant as a title.
Wow, thanks everyone for the great responses. I honestly didn't expect it.
@jstudios Thanks! That shot you mentioned was fairly tricky to pull off, glad you liked it!
@Pritchard Studios Thanks for the response! Also, I completely agree with you. I thought I had counted out the studs right for all the walls slide smoothly together, but I still managed to mess up and the walls didn't meet like I wanted them to. So, I had to do a sort of ad-hoc "slam together" animation. Ah well.
@RealBrick Thanks! Don't tell me about it. I went almost two hours over my time budget for this shot... 
@rioforce Thanks! In all honesty, I probably would have had some more sound in certain places, but I had to cut off working on it. I only made the submission deadline by 8-10 min as it was...
@LPGPictures Thanks for the comment. Actually no, for that particular prison bar piece, the arms of a minifig fit through quite nicely. It was a pleasant surprise because I was prepared to take the minifig arms off to take that shot. It actually ended up being one of the easier shots of the entire movie. Also, about the clock, ARGH, that is definitely the most annoying thing about this movie for me. I would have fixed it but I was racing the clock already (hehe) and didn't have time.
@BuilderBrothers Thanks for the comment! Glad you liked it.
@Squid Thanks much!
@dewfilms Thanks! Honestly, I sort of default to no dialogue films! I am an extremely visual person, and I enjoy using just imagery to tell stories.
@tenny1028 Your assumption is correct.
Nice entry, and congrats on 3rd Place!
I thought there was a great use of visual shorthand in this film. If I were conveying the same idea in a film my natural inclination would be to have some long scene of the boss yelling at the worker until he leaves, but cutting to him holding a pink 1x2 tile was somehow 100% clear in its meaning and much more effective. I'd like to see that kind of creative restraint in more films, and it's something I want to get better at in my own work.
@Mickey Thanks!
Thank you for the high praise Sméagol! I do enjoy trying to pull things back sometime and letting the viewer take a more active role in deciphering a situation. Can't say I always succeed but I'm glad I worked this time.
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