An Idiot's guide to Brickfilming (a.k.a. what NOT to do)

[Playwell Bricks]

In my blind ignorance in the genre of Brickfilms, or any type of filming in general, I rushed into Lego stop motion with great abandon and a glorious vision of how I would achieve great things in this media. I had planned on starting a Youtube channel to help teach Lego techniques in a quirky way that kids would enjoy (and by kids I mean adults who still act like kids, so basically all my closest friends)

Without reading a tutorial or watching any how to videos I set about upon my quest to do something entirely different in stop motion.

I want to record my journey though learning stop motion for people to read and maybe for those just getting into the craft, like myself, to learn from my successes but more importantly to avoid my mistakes. Of course, the prerequisite of that is for people to avoid the very first pitfall, blindly rushing in as I did :P

My first attempt was to simply do a small snippet of myself in minifig form (a very similar likeness when I put on a generous application of spray on tan) saying "Hello" in my near to perfect Rowan Akinson voice.

Here it is for your viewing pleasure.

"WOW! That was awesome!" I said to myself. I am so going to be the next George Lucas of the Stop Motion world... oh yeah... the never-to-be-seen-again Prequels... Never mind that, I made a MY minifig move and talk!

Oh... What is that annoying light flickering and why does the plate keep moving around? There should be no light flicker. I have full Studio lighting, a pretty good DSLR camera and no external light source. So I guess for my next movie I will need to edit each frame for white balance. Hours after searching for a good free, non-pirated, editing software I came across GIMP. It was perfect for my needs! As for the plate, I shall use my secret weapon, the super stickified sticky tack!

Oh and the sound was far too low, easy fix for that, crack the volume on my headset mic.

Done and done, ready for my next adventure in the world of Brick film!

A good friend asked me to do a video with my minifig, who I named LegoDad, doing my My Bean impression. "Why not? I am genius at this now!" Don't you agree?

Okay, maybe not genius... but see the sound of footprints is ALMOST lined up with his actual foot prints. And there is only one bad flicker of a shift in white balance. I spent a long time editing each frame, step by step changing the brightness and contrast of each and applying colour balance! A true masterpiece I tell you, all that work will be worth it when I wiln my... wait, do they give Oscars out for Brick films?

The head bobs and quickly twisted head motions may need a bit of refinement, just a touch.

Oh, that missed step... guess I missed that frame in my editing. The plate was a particularly brilliant idea to get the minifig to move on a flat surface if I do say so myself.

The voice though, near to perfect! I spent over an hour watching Mr. Bean say that line, and I nailed it! Almost...

A truly amazing improvement over that first "novice" film! I am ready for the big time now!

Stay tuned (probably the next time I get bored in the middle of editing) for my continuing adventure into unknown nether regions of Stop Motion where I put my very first Public video on Youtube!

Edited July 7, 2016 by Playwell Bricks

[Playwell Bricks]

Onto Chapter Two of my incredible journey into this crazy world called Brickfilmation

Yup, you guessed it, I am stop motioned out for the day. Time to write of my glamorous exploits so you can live vicariously through me.

Approximately, two arduous weeks ago I decided it was time to post my first official Youtube video. Little did I know what I was delving into.

My first video is best described as a hot steaming pile of... PURE AWESOMENESS!!!

I simply don't know how to describe in words the utter perfection you will witness in this video. You will just have to see it for yourself.

Okay, so perfect might be too strong a word. But c'mon there is a explosion in it! Every good stop motion should include an explosion, right?

Yes, the camera was too far away from the action, and yes, it is a bit jumbled. There should be a warning label attached because the strobe light effect from the multiple light flickers might cause a seizure in small children. The over saturated colours could cause temporary blindness. And the constant out of focus frames would drive even a far sighted person, without their glasses on, to shudder in revulsion. But, besides all that, perfection!

I DID manage to get the voices in on the right cues, using Audacity. Honestly, the voices are my favourite bit. Disney really should give me a call, I could give them a few pointers.

I had actually included LegoDad doing the intro and extro at a later date,as well as the Splash screen

Strike it up to lessons learned and move on to my next great achievement!

It was time to try my new found skills to put together a whole video, with a stop motion segment, and a quick build review segment. Also, at this time, I filmed the intro and extro.

Now I don't want to set your hopes up but this, ladies and gentlemen, is truly something which must be seen to be believed!

DID YOU SEE THAT!!! Oh... you only got through half of it and fell asleep... Yeah, most of the kids who watched it did the same.

So I have to rethink the video segment, no worries I got a plan!

Onto the important bit, the truly revolutionary Stop Motion segment! And what about that intro and extro. I have no idea why LegoDad refuses to stop looking around like a wanted fugitive who hears sirens in the distance. And look at how smooth his movements are. That there is just plain impressive is it not? No...hmph, what do you know anyway :P

There is an explosion! That counts for something, right? And just because you have no idea why the explosion happened doesn't dilute its effect at all. I mean did you not notice the guy falling on the detonator while the dump truck ran over the dynamite? No... sigh...

But hey, look almost no light flicker! Woot, score that one up to a win!

Believe it or not, and I know it is hard to believe, but I, me, I did all the sound effects! Yes, sirry, you should be impressed!

Stop looking at me like I am little child who just tried to draw their dog and managed somehow to create a passing imitation of a Picasso painting. It's not THAT bad...well..sniff.. it isn't, is it?

Yeah, yeah, I am going to go away now, but I will be back and better! You wait and see!

Edited July 7, 2016 by Playwell Bricks

[Suproc]

I thought the final video was pretty smooth. Sound and effects were nice as well. Practice makes perfect when it comes to stop-motion.

I'm a little confused on the backdrop though, it's very distracting to me especially in a review video where the focus should be on the parts. Then when you do the fun silly stuff it's still hard to see what's going when there's a huge mass of bricks that aren't really bricks on the floor.

[Playwell Bricks]

Thanks for the input :) I hope I am at least improving a little with each video.

I was shooting for something a little different with the backdrop. It is possibly too far out there lol. I will try a more standard screen next time I film and see if that helps.

[Playwell Bricks]

Time for another installment of the hit series "What to do when you are bored and want to read the inane ramblings of a mediocre-at-best stop motion animator"

The great burden of responsibility fell upon me to provide quality a quality video for all of my six Youtube subscribers (My wife and my other Youtube account not withstanding) last week and that is exactly what I set out to do!

You are fortunate enough to be able to see before a work of true... hmm, Vision? No. Artistry? Not really. Splendor? Most definitely not! Shi... Don't say that kids could be reading this!

Dear reader I shall let you decide.

I can tell by your stunned silence that you are at a loss for words. I shall take your awestruck expression with the greatest of humility. I know it is not everyday you see a video of that calibre.

That special effect with the ever changing colour balance in the intro took some doing, hours of painstaking editing went into making sure each was just a little bit off from the one before. Look at how smooth LegoDad moves! Notice how you can hardly tell where I repeated the loops for his headshake and emphathic gestures. Oh, you did notice... Well NOW you see it because I just pointed it out, obviously! An look how his hair moves so naturally as he moves his head, it is almost like it is actually real. Can you imagine the work that went into that effect!

Did you hear the music? That is called production value! Only the best for people watching my videos, I do after all have subscribers to please.

Easing??? That's what I do on Friday night with a few pints of Guinness. How the heck does that apply to brickfilming? Unless, you mean, it helps to be slightly inebriated when filming or watching this stuff. That makes sense, I mean the blurred vision would be useful in blending the images together, just like a mask for photo editing. That makes total sense, thanks for clearing that up!

Ease in. Ease out. Ohhh, now I get it. Speed up the frame rate as I get to the apex of the action then slow it down at the end! Got it! No? But... argh, that should work in theory right?

Okay, okay, that doesn't work. Well then, what about adding in extra frames to blur the action? That sounds all technical, so it should blend the whole sequence together, just like those Guinness I mentioned before. Oh.. they needs to be high speed so you don't actually see the blurred part hmmm.... might need to work on this easing stuff a bit more.

But wow a pay loader drove OVER a dump truck! Magic I tell you, pure studio magic! I bet you did even see the bricks holding the wheels in place as she went over the ramp. Yeah, yeah, sure you did. Just like you noticed the recycled loops pfft your such a liar :P

And what a flawless explosion! You could just feel the concussive blast waves coming off that one couldn't you. So fluid how the pay loader fell apart like that, exactly how it look like in real life. Rushed you say! My Guinness had just settled out, of course I was rushed to finish. I had some easing to do.

The subtle smooth panning seamlessly followed every movement on the screen with no distraction added at all, you could hardly even tell that you were looking through a camera lense. Such a marvel of filmography! I really don't know how I could improve on that. Oh, yes, I am sure you do!

The sweet lovely tones of the pay loader driver's voice took me hours to perfect. Sadly, no, that wasn't a joke... Her grating voice was a result of mixing a terrible Miss Piggy impression with and equally horrendous Southern US accent. Wrap that up to a stereotypical country bumpkin persona and you have sheer genius!

I will be hard to top that level of stop motion excellence. I have taken over a week to film my next video and I am not even close to complete yet. Maybe, just maybe, I will be able to do better. You will just have to wait and see! Hint, hint, do what the little man says at the end of the video so you don't miss an genre altering videos ;) Of course, you could always wait until I post again, but where is the fun in that!

Between now and then my Guinness and I have a lot of easing to do.

Edited July 9, 2016 by Playwell Bricks

[Playwell Bricks]

It may be hard for you to believe that I could top the masterpieces I have put out for public consumption before but, I may have succeeded in doing the impossible!

Fingerprints on the windshield? No, no, that was just some streaks of water left after Chief drove through a mud puddle.

I think the people of New York City would be honoured to have me putting their little city on the map by me doing an impeccable imitation of their local accent. I am expecting the Keys to the city to arrive in the mail any day now.

Notice how still that truck was when Jack was moving around the bucket. I don't know how he was moving around a huge vehicle like that, I think there is more to Jack than meets the eye. I mean did you see him hold himself on that hook with ONE HAND!

Now you may ask yourself, "How does a small pay loader and a crane lift a dump truck and move it with such ease?" "Science," I say, "basic physics really, I mean c'mon..."

We made Chief clean the cab of the truck out later. Do you know what it looks like after a Mini fig gets sick??? You don't want to, trust me.

Now I don't know if a crane would flip over so elegantly like that in real life. I took a lot of precautions to make sure the cab wouldn't be crushed on Sal, so I took a few liberties with that shot.

There we have it, another Stop Motion video par excellence.

Stay tuned! (and subscribe :P)

[Playwell Bricks]

Thanks for the recommendation, another source to add to me vacation reading :)

I had a few complaints about the background being too busy so I put up a blue back drop and laid base plates down for the floor.

Here is a photo test

Thoughts?

[Darkdragon]

The simple background looks nice. I think I see some wrinkles or shadows so you'll want to try and correct that before filming. I don't know if you are already planning it or not, but your background needs to have its own static light source which should be bright and soft (no hot spots).

[Playwell Bricks]

I am still thinking about how I want my light set up. Right now, I have a light in the foreground and in the back but positioned at the top of my filming space. I do have a third light available but I think I need a smaller bulb in it. All of my lights are 150w presently.

My backdrop is just a flannel sheet pinned up over my studio space. I will eventually replace it with something more permanent.

[Darkdragon]

Here's a bit on lighting for stop motion http://www.stopmotioncentral.com/lighting2.html

If you might want to drop in backgrounds in editing, you'll want to light for greenscreen (no matter what color screen you use): https://www.digitalanarchy.com/demos/chroma_lighting.html

You don't need to spend a lot of money on lighting, I suggest using daylight (5000k) CFL or LED and the silver clamp lights (available at home depot, walmart, etc) in various sizes.

Why the clamp lights?

* They are cheap, light, and store in a relatively small space.

* You can clamp them to anything, chair/stick/lego stack/window ledge, to get the angle you need.

* You can use clothespins to clamp light adjusters, diffusers/cookies/gels, to the lights

* Here's an example from one of my shoots.

[Suproc]

Why the clamp lights?

* They are cheap, light, and store in a relatively small space.

* You can clamp them to anything, chair/stick/lego stack/window ledge, to get the angle you need.

* You can use clothespins to clamp light adjusters, diffusers/cookies/gels, to the lights

* Here's an example from one of my shoots.

I can't seem to access your photo of your set-up.

[Darkdragon]

I can't seem to access your photo of your set-up.

Strange. Well, here it is:

[Suproc]

Wow, that looks great. How much did those lights cost you?

And I love that backdrop, where'd you get that one?

[Darkdragon]

Wow, that looks great. How much did those lights cost you?

And I love that backdrop, where'd you get that one?

It worked well for This comic.

The lights were $5-8 for the lamps and $4 for a pack of 4 bulbs.

The background is one of many from the old Studios sets http://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=4130910#T=C&C=0

[Suproc]

Thanks, that looks really great. I find lighting to be the part I have trouble with the most so I'll check those out.