Lego Animation

101 Contents: How to Animate Faith in Film—interview The Animator and the Boy – short story A Interview with the Builder Brothers Unrenewable—Brickfilm review How to Set up a Good Animation Table Letters to the Editor

So you want to start in animating but don’t want to spend any

money? Here’s how you can do it!1. Getting started. I assume you already have a camera, one or two desk lamps, and some Lego. So first things first-- grab a Lego baseplate! Set it on your table and tape firmly. 2. Grab your camera. If you have a tripod, put the camera on it. If you don’t, it’s pretty easy to make a Lego camera holder. The important thing is to keep your camera steady. 3. Grab a mini-figure and your lamp. Set the minifigure on the base plate and set your lamp on the table. Position your lamp so light falls on the minifigure. 4. Turn your camera to shortest possible timer (normally this is 2 seconds)

5, Take photo of minifigure. 6. Move minifigure slightly. 7. Take another photo. 8. Repeat until you have a complete movement (a few steps, etc.) 9. Find animation software. There is a lot of free animation software on the web that works great. I started with Frame by Frame and now use iStopmotion. 10. Import photos into frame-capturing software 11. Set frame rate to 15 frames per second 12. Play back and enjoy!

How did you get into brickfilming? -It all started in November of 2010. For some reason my mom was leafing through a random Christmas catalog and saw a stop-motion kit for sale. She asked if I was interested in that kind of thing as a Christmas gift, I replied yes, and the rest is history. What gave you the idea for STEAMPUNK? -I can't really say that there was one special source for it. I like the building aesthetic for sure, and really wanted to make a serious drama type film, so the idea just kinda grew from there. Steampunk is a theme that is naturally grayer and grimmer, so that gave me several ideas. The first two shots I thought up were the opening clips, and the dramatic encounter between Evil-Red-Shirted-Lady and Captain, so that may help once you see the film. How or where do you get inspiration? What about story lines? -Good question, I'd have to just say that life itself is a great place to find inspiration. For example, 'Ax' was born from a fairly common joke concerning the mis-pronunciation of the word 'ask'. I generally start with a concept of the tone of the film, and perhaps one or two scenes and/or lines that I'd like to include, and things just go from there.

Other times I've drawn from movies, songs, or just something that struck me as being incredible film-able. It seems like most of my shorts are born when I have the desire to use a particular building or animating style, along with a compatible tone or feel. I look through my list of cool shots/effects I want to try and with all of that as a guide, I fill in the blanks and there we go. What are some of the normal steps you go through to make a film? -As detailed elsewhere, I usually have an idea or concept randomly bounce into my head, and if it sounds good enough, I'll sometimes try to write it down. I then think over it a while and try to flesh things out into a decent story. Once I have the basic story and general actions down, I type it up and proceed to drafting a script. By this time set and characters have also been imagined, and those are built. I animate the thing as quickly as I can, without noticeably sacrificing quality, and then hop into post-production. During the previous weeks of late planning and filming the posted casting call has hopefully filled all the voice acting roles. Using the voices, I get everything lined up, then finish with sounds and whatever music would go well with it. Finally, try to promote the film with several frames and set pictures, so by the time it's ready there is a bit of anticipation in the air. Once it's posted I try to keep up with comments and all, but by that time I'm deep into planning my next film. What is your favorite phase of filmmaking—pre-production, production, or post-production? Pre-production. There's just something amazingly cool about being able to sit down and go from nothing to a fully-developed script complete with sets, character designs, and shot ideas. Not that the others aren't fun, but they tend to drag out a bit longer, and just aren't quite as cool. (Until everything's done and it's released, in which case the whole process instantly becomes worth it.)

What other hobbies or interests do you have? -I have an obsession with all things Tolkien, play airsoft some, played basketball for three years, and (Obviously) am interested in filmmaking and especially the many behind-the-scenes aspects of movies. Building Lego and participating on several Lego-related forums are some other things fairly high up on my list of hobbies. What’s your brickfilming goal? -Overall I'd like to help point others to Jesus Christ, and the beauty of the Bible. But another big one is to show folks that you can make clean movies that are still very high-quality and entertaining. I'd be nice for something to go viral, but What are some of your favorite brickfilms? -Unrenewable, Zombie Genesis, How to Not Rob a Bank, No Crawme's Sing Along THAC, and The Button just to name a few.

Do you have any funny brickfilming stories you’d like to share? -It seems that both my dogs take a fiendish pleasure in bursting through my closet and coming to lick me. They usually calm down after a bit of attention, but the one also likes to hop up on my bed and watch as I work. Thankfully they are (Mostly) harmless, but they are the cause of more than one delay and rebuilding of sets. The one has taken off with a minifigure before, but it was easily recovered. How did your growing up years affect how you make brick films? -I've always heavily involved myself in whatever activity I had going on at the time, so that obsession and dedication carried over into a strong determination to get things done in the brickfilming world. I was home schooled, so I had the time to really research, increase my skills, and get into the hobby at an accelerated rate. Another tendency I had was to 'bit off more than I could chew' which did come back to haunt me after several film projects went unfinished due to not being ready for something of that scale. I'm also a perfectionist to a fault, which trait always provided the motivation to improve. I'd also say that the way I was raised is directly responsible for my quirky style and sense of humor.

What does it mean to you to be a Christian? -To strive towards Christ-likeness in my attitudes, thoughts, and actions. A goal I can only achieve by being constantly in the Word of God and cultivating a close relationship with the Lord. To always be a physical reflection and representative of Jesus here on this earth, and to do my part in spreading the Good News of the Gospel to all men everywhere. How does your faith affect your brick filming? - For sure a lack of inappropriate material, as well as a very clear-cut line between good and evil. I think another aspect of that is that those that choose evil will suffer the consequences, but those that choose good are rewarded. Several of the more spiritual shorts are a result of praying about what God would have me do next, and acting on the answer I'd say it affects what I make, and how I make it. Obviously the content is much different, and you won't see non-Christians taking the very words in the Bible and using them in animations, but I think goes deeper than that. My faith determines how much time and money I spend on the hobby, and while I have been blessed in brickfilming, I feel that it is not due to my own self, but due to God enabling me with this talent. And no matter what happens with it, I need to always remember that it is just a hobby, and that if He asks, I must be willing to give it up for the cause of Christ. I believe we need more high quality Christian brickfilms. How do you see your role in that? -Right now, I think I'm in more of a 'support' type position. I can't actively brickfilm like I once could, but do still have the ability to encourage others. I can help with reviewing scripts and sets, with promotion, and sometimes I even have the chance to help fund another film. I've also written several tutorials in the hope that other Christians would lean from thse and pick up the hobby.

What advice would you give a new brickfilmer? -Be prepared for it to take a lot of time. Not only to develop your skills, but also to simply get the work done. You are going to have to dedicate yourself and discipline yourself to spend enough, yet not too much, time on it. There is a balance that you must find. It's like any other skill, you can't get it perfected in a day, and others may be able to do it faster or better, but with time, patience and persistence, you can still finish with a magnificent product.

The Animator and the Boy By Kaleb Barkman

I sat there, my eyes glued on the newly animated piece. The animation flooded the screen. The crisp, clear images flowed perfectly. Now just one more movement, and it will be finished, I thought. “Now let’s move him right just a tad,” I said aloud. “No, left.” “I said right.” “But left will look cooler.” “No.” “Yes.”

“Here I’ll just move him.” “No, it’s my turn.” “Here, I got him!” “Me to!“ “No!” “Yes!” Rgggggg! Bang! Pop! Capow! Inch forward slowly! “Now look at how you just moved the dumb set!” “Me?” “Yes, you! Now just get out!” “Me?” “Yes, you! Now just get outttttt!” I stood there, staring at the animation club hard at work. It all looked so nice, and how could it not, with all that LEGO? All those cameras, and all those people. Only ten more dollars and I, too, would be animating with them. A tap on the shoulder. I looked down at the beaming eyes of youth I had turned away just a short day earlier. “Hey, do you want to animate with me again?” “No, I said I don’t want to animate with you any more.” “But it was so fun.” “No. I said no!” I nicely tried to get rid of him. In the town crowd. It was harder than I thought, considering my limp. Ha! It finally worked, he’s gone, I pulled out my binoculars to see just how far away he was by now. I scanned the crowd. No sign of him yet. Ha! Ahhhhh, what’s that? Eyes. Big eyes. Big, big green eyes. Ahhh! Oh ye,a I forgot I still have my binoculars on. Whew. “Ahhh, how did you get here?” “Oh, I just followed you. Not hard considering all the cookie crumb you left behind.” “Oh, yea, but why are you here again?” “I just wanted to ask you one last time if you wanted to animate with me.”

“No! I already told you twice no! And no, you’re not nearly as cool as that animation club!” As I worked I didn’t really think about the pain of mowing a lawn with a really bad limp, or even about that really annoying kid I had yelled at. Instead I thought about how in just one more hour I, too, would be a member of that sweet animation club. And to think in just one hour I would probably have more animation friends than I would know what to do with! Just one more hour! Five hours later… Whew! I’m done! That was one big yard. I stood there staring through the window. The animation club would start in five minutes and for the first time, I would have a friends to animate with. The bell rang. Animation club was starting! I limped in past newly-made set after newly made set. I was almost to the Lego. I felt pain and my leg went limp, causing me to fall crashing onto the most beautiful set of all. My eyes opened. Yells, screams at someone. Someone really bad, by the sound of it. Then it hit me like a brick! They are yelling at me! They are yelling like I had yelled, loud and mean. I got up and ran as fast as I could. I would find that kid. I would apologize and animate with him instead of some stupid animation club. I would right my wrongs! I was exhausted. I had looked everywhere for him. Where could he be? He shouldn’t have been that hard to find, so where was he? The next day, as I walked back from school I thought, he didn’t even follow me to school. I decided to stop by the animation club, just to see if maybe they would let me back in after all. But as I walked up, I realized how that would never happen. I glanced in. It was all the same. Except for one thing: what I saw made me jump-- at the first table sat a very familiar boy. And I suddenly knew just how wrong I had been about him.

How did you get into brick filming? While I can't actually remember how I got into brickfilming, I remember starting around 10 years ago, when my brother and I began to create little animations with our digital camera. We didn't really begin actually making edited animations until about three years later though, when one of our friends gave us the LEGO Studios Steven Spielberg Movie Maker kit (he got it off eBay since it was a discontinued model). This kit acted as a sort of a starting point for our more advanced animations.

What made you decide to extend the story of The Squire and the Scroll instead of making a longer book into a movie?

We made the decision the extend the book when we were creating the script. We found that there were several events in the book that didn't make sense or that needed explaining, so we took it upon ourselves to turn these into scenes in the movie. While we could have just chosen to animate a longer book, we really wanted to make The Squire and the Scroll into film, and we also liked the freedom to adjust the story to our own style.

What’s the most challenging thing about doing such a big project as The Squire and the Scroll?

The most challenging part by far is actually a factor that most people don't take into account - interest. When you are working on a project of this length and scope, it is important to really be in love with the project. After all, you are going to be working on this in all your spare time for several years. I have seen so many other brickfilmers start ambitious projects that look great, but then they lose interest half way and the film never gets made. When I started The Squire and the Scroll, I was determined to learn from these mistakes and stick with the film through its entirety. Even now, I often find myself lapsing into periods of disinterest, and when this happens I am always careful to find some way to peak my interest again.

How long do you think The Squire and the Scroll will be when it is finished? While I can't say for sure, as we don't have a rough-cut ready yet, I guess it will probably be between 20 - 30 minutes in length. However, this is not counting bloopers, behind-the-scenes, tutorials, and a whole variety of content that we plan to release in segments after the film is completed.

How or where do you get inspiration? What about story lines? I get my inspiration from a variety of things, be it movies, books, nature, or even school. However, my top source of inspiration is probably music. I listen to a lot of film scores, and I enjoy imagining scenarios for films every time I hear one. I also find watching other people's work to be extremely inspirational, and I have often seen a technique or plot twist used in someone else's work that has given me an idea for a project of my own.

What are some of the normal steps you go through to make a film? I generally approach the production of films the same way as everyone else. I start with an idea, and this idea turns into a script and storyboard, and then these turn into an animation, and then this animation is edited into the finished product.

What is your favorite phase of filmmaking—pre-production, production, or post-production? While I would say that I enjoy all the different phases of making a film, I would have to say that post-production is probably my favorite phase, since that is when I get to put the finishing touches on the project and see the fruits of my labor. I also especially enjoy this phase because it is in this phase that I do the CG (computer generated) animation. This is a special love of mine, and I find it extremely enjoyable to spend hours working to get the best digital model that I can. How do you decide which parts will be CGI and which ones will be traditionally animated? This is a very complicated process, and generally involves me brainstorming and experimenting with both CG and tradition animation to see which will get me the best result. I usually try to do as much as I can using traditional methods, but as is the case with this film, I often have to use CG to make my landscapes and props much larger than they actually are.

How do you decide who does what when you do an animation? When my brother and I are working on a production, we always do the same jobs. I (BuilderBrother John) am always in charge of the animation and

post-production, while my brother (BuilderBrother Daniel) takes care of the prop design/construction. We work together on certain things, like script-writing and story boarding, but in general we stick to our specific jobs and we have found this to really help get things done more smoothly and efficiently.

What other hobbies or interests do you have? Well, outside of brickfilming, I enjoy working on computers (as in scripting and programing), art and graphics design, playing computer games (occasionally), reading, and writing/playing music (though not music that is ever used in our films). My brother very much enjoys sports (he plays both basketball and soccer), reading, playing computer games (more often then me but still not very often), weight training, cycling, and a whole variety of other physical activities.

What’s your brickfilming goal? My brickfilming goal is and always has been to make a brickfilm that will become a classic - one that people will remember and recommend to their friends and will be one of the first films people mention when listing their top 10 favorite brickfilms. It is our hope that The Squire and the Scroll will one day be that film.

What are some of your favorite brick films?

We have a lot of favorites, but some of our tops would have to be The Great Disturbance, Unrenewable, The Magic Portal, The Force Unleashed, and Zombie: Genesis.

What are some of your favorite books? Some of our favorite books are The Lord of the Rings (all three books), The Wormling, Midshipman Quinn, Sherlock Holmes, and Jeeves.

Do you have any funny brick filming stories you’d like to share? One story that comes to mind is something that has happened numerous times while I have been animating. Sometimes when I am animating a long or difficult scene, I will invite my friend David over (aka our Public Relations Executive) and he will assist me and my brother in filming. However, what generally happens is that somewhere along the line while filming I will look up and find that both my brother and friend have disappeared. They return shortly later with popcorn, but instead of going back to helping me they instead sit behind me and try to toss popcorn into each other's mouths! They also proceed to pester me with questions like "Are you done yet John?" or "Hurry up John, why are you taking so long?" And all the while they are laughing and occasionally tossing a popcorn in my direction. While this may not sound very funny, it has now become something of a tradition, and now I have even come to expect it.

What advice would you give a new brickfilmer? My advice to any new brickfilmer is simple - practice makes perfect. If you want something to look good, you've got to be willing to put a whole lot of time, sweat, and even tears into it. Also, be sure to ask lots of questions. There are a whole lot of people online who would be more than willing to help you out if you want to know anything (myself included), and often times a well-asked question can save you incalculable amounts of

time. Tutorials are your friend - watch them and follow them and you can save yourself a lot of frustration later on.

A ten minute film never flew by so fast. When I first clicked on Unrenewable I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into. And when the CGI lit up my screen, I thought, “Is this even a Lego film?” And then it came and a grin lit up my face-- the lighting, the mood, and the Lego!

The dialogue was not only well-written, but well-performed. The film score, which was written and performed by the director, also really added to the feel of a 1980s detective film.

I was hooked. I had never seen a Lego film be so great. Not even the less-than-stellar animation and sets brought this one down. The story, FX,

and camera work were just too awe-striking. And when I watched it with my family they all agreed.

Do you want to get started in animation and don’t know how to set up a workspace? Or maybe you suffer from set bumps and light flicker? If so, this is probably just the right tutorial for you.

1: find a nice room. You’ll need closable window shades, and preferably a hard floor, If you have a carpet floor never fear. [You can always put a piece of plywood big enough for all the legs of your tripod on the floor and way it down.] 2. Place a sturdy table in the preferred spot in your room 3. Set up a backdrop. Many people use blue posterboard. I prefer a big blue piece of cloth hung behind my table so I can place a light behind it. 4. Place your set on the table and position your lamps for your preferred lighting. Hint: make sure the lighting is bright enough to prevent grain in your animation. 5. Set up your tripod on the floor in front of your table. Place the camera on the tripod so it faces your set in the preferred direction 6. Close the window shades so your lighting is consistent. Also close your door and turn off your overhead light so only your lamps are providing light to your animation. 6. Begin animating! I hope setting up a great place to animate helps you as much as it’s helped me!

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR… Dear Editor, I am just wondering what camera I should buy? The t3 or t3i? I do a lot of brickfilming and videoing. Your asker, George The Editor You will probably want to get the T3i its video quality is a lot better As the t3 only shoots in 720fps and at 25 to 30fps when the T3i shoots in 180p and at 30 to 24fps . Also the swivel LCD screen is a nice touch. In closing the T3i is just a lot more of a camera if you are going to do any video or get into professional stop motion or photography. The Editor Mr. Editor, I am writing you this letter to tell you how stupid and useless your magazines are. Like the part about having to buy desk lamps and how bad it is to use natural light. Well, I don’t want to buy lights! I’ve been animating with natural light since 2008 and I am basically a pro. I know my animations have some light flicker and the lighting does not fit the mood, but, I mean, the nerve of you to say that you really have to buy desk lamps if you want to make high quality brickfilms is unfathomable. So, in closing, I just want to say I hate your magazines. I wish you had never written them, because they ruined my life.

Sincerely, Mr. Grumpily the Third Dear Mr. Grumpily the Third, I am sorry you do not like this magazine. The reason I said that you really need desk lamps is that I believe to do high quality brickfilms you need to set the right mood. One of the best ways to do this is with lighting. If you no longer want to receive this magazine, you can always unsubscribe. Truly, The Editor

Lighting By Kaleb Barkman

Lighting Intensifies Ghostly films Horribly important This aspect is. Inside dark rooms Not a lot of it is seen Grim no lighting is