Avant-Garde results!

I returned home from Denmark today to find that Philip Heinrich and the Bricks in Motion team had announced the winners of their 2010 competition, Avant-Garde!

Below is the results table from the Results forum thread.

Links to the films:

Sdrawkcab (Allekto1323) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqs250FejzE

Ye Giants of Olde (ancientbricks) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWBSqIpTZME
Crime Stories (bodville) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16USvlqgmNE
New Friendly (brenden17) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWm8VH5ulKE
The Lego Movie Montage (BrickAction101) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIwCzDq20Xc
Brick Battle (Builder Brothers) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxLkNuasOXk
Colour (CheeseyBricks) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUudhGJvW0s
Just me and myself (ct45211) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GMkf90LRho
Amnesia (Darkman) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsyicKgWol0
The Recycle Machine! (EddieHasscle) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrwR1qTRhzQ
Metamorphosis (fallentomato) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcmzTC_tltA
The After Life Experience (filmyguy) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjFTbiJgNac
Phil and Nick mafia time (Fredrikomovies) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZWDEXhBhJE
no title 17 (HausmacherFilme) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVzxg4akAH0
T.I.N. (Jed277.tv) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EN2Jhm5COQ
After Twenty Years (jogopocomedia) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSKM_bY4AwQ
The Missing Piece (juggernuatpictureshw) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocQfuOuV-GI
The Hero (Just Kidden) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qksjk3_19Kk
Home For Supper (KinzCove) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8JRMsV-1C4
The Dark One (kitbricksto) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cR_5MuZ5BHo
Radio Death (legostudiosplus) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHYK-yHckiE
The Lego Minifig. Head Corp. (legosword89) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbzqOZSVpjI
Mr. Bad Frame (lgfb1film) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk0NNSYCET0
The Magician (MindGame) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNKkY4vwDvE
It's a Pleasure to meet you (NiceGuy1130) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZtd57CX6Fs
The Quest of the Bricks (nate13545) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LORrqG8_JA4
Zombie: Genesis (Nick Durron) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQW0sGkgqCI
Brick World (PeanutMaster87) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV14IUy79BM
LEGOlogy (tbonesocrul) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs7QEF-Tfuo
Close Call (TheOstudio) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wToz-Z9pKGs
Studless Freedom (Timothy R) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGegmDZzJ-Q
Music (VIMStudios) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5rantTr7v8
Odd Jobs (namchild) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_ncqqtfhHY
The Importance of Life and Death (sabertoothedlime) http://img412.imageshack.us/i/movie0002d.mp4/

So congrats to the winners, especially Nick Durron for getting the top prize for his film Zombie: Genesis, which I reviewed a few weeks ago. I hadn't seen the other two winners, but now I have and stay tuned for reviews of both. Zach Macias' The Magician is up at 6, and David Boddy's Crime Stories at 7. Though I didn't love either of their films, I'm happy that they got that high up. They're both great Brickfilmers and I expect a lot from them in the future.

~John

Review: The Nightly News at Nine Chapter 1 DVD

A couple of weeks ago I received an email from David M. Pickett, the creator of the Nightly News at Nine, an award-winning Brickfilm series that I hope you've all heard of. David offered me a copy of the NNN Chapter 1 DVD, and there was no way I was saying no!

There's always going to be a problem with selling DVDs of films that have premiered on the internet. In our modern-day world of full access to videos via YouTube, there's little space for DVDs of anything other than feature films. However, there is still a market for this sort of DVDs (albeit a small one), and NNN: Chapter 1 is certainly something to look into buying.

NNN Chapter One cover

Firstly, the design of the DVD. I first expected the NNN DVD to be a rather simple DVD cover, but when it arrived it was much more professional that I imagined. It was even wrapped in a plastic cover like the proper DVDs you can buy at media shops, so +1 professional points for Pickett there.

NNN Chapter One back cover (with a quote from me, yay - thanks David!)

The actual cover design is nothing special, but it works well and reminds you of all the great characters and stylings that make you love NNN. The back cover is full of all the details and descriptions of what's on the disc, and even the paragraph of thin+tall text that gives you all the info on who made the films.

NNN Chapter One disc printing

There's no doubt that the design of the DVD is accurate and impressive, but what's inside? Well, firstly, it's got a printed disc, and they're hard to do. So good for you, David!

The actual DVD contents are quite simple: whilst it's not packed with extras and bits 'n' bobs, there's still a fair amount of other films.

The Nightly News at Nine films themselves have all been squished into one big movie so that you can watch them all from start to finish, seamlessly. The entire first chapter is 25 minutes long, but it's light viewing and fun to watch. You almost forget that you originally saw the Chapter in several parts - instead, it takes the format of Phil and Sherry's News programme, with ad breaks in between segments.

So, undoubtedly, the main NNN Chapter is the best bit of the DVD. It's great just to have that in a place so you can put the DVD into your TV and enjoy it on the big (-ish) screen. It's certainly something that both adults and children will enjoy: children for the fun and silly aspects of it, and adults for the subtle parody of TV and advert formats, plus the social stereotypes in On the street with Steve Deepsea.

Persephone from the SVELT interview segment

But of course, this DVD would be pointless without extra features. As I said, it's all available free online, so what's going to make you pay the $8 for this DVD? Well, David's chucked in two of his other short animations on the DVD as well - most notably Choose Your Own Storyline: The Fight for Paradise Hills, which is a hilarious mock-movie trailer. There's also a non-Brickfilm, Stuck in the Mud, which is short but sweet and quite well-made. I'd love to see more from David in that style.

There's also the NNN trailers, which I don't care much for, but they're on there in case you want them. There's a short deleted scene which shows the NNN studio whilst the SVELT trailer is happening. It's nothing important, but it's funny and a welcome addition to the extra features.

Now onto the most important extra feature: the Director's Commentary! It's obvious that David Pickett is new to the commentary format - he even explains that himself - so it takes a while for him to get warmed up. Don't get put off by the start, it ends up as thoroughly interesting and David gives a lot of hints as to what to expect in NNN: Chapter 2. Pickett shows a lot of humility and sincerity in the commentary, which you don't get in professional commentaries. He seems like a really nice guy; makes me hope he does well with Chapter 2.

So, whilst buying DVDs of Brickfilms is not something that you do very often, perhaps just consider NNN: Chapter 1? It's great simply for Chapter 1 in its entirety, plus some of Pickett's other short films and that interesting commentary. I hope to see a lot more other films from you on the Chapter 2 DVD, David (Metamorphosis, please?)!

~John

Avant-Garde: Crime Stories

It was only a matter of time before I saw David Boddy's (pe668) entry into the Bricks in Motion Avant-Garde competition, and it is with sadness that I must report that it is nothing compared to last year's entry.



Boddy has one clear flaw, that shows up in all his Brickfilms. It's nothing he can prevent; it's simply his personal style that gets in the way. His films are always crazy, fast and assisted by a constant soundtrack of guitar riffs and rock music. That's his way of doing things; I accept that.

But is the way of doing things that will create a good film? It didn't get in the way of CYCLIC, which was a great film (Boddy's entry to last year's STAR competition). Unfortunately, it's jamming up the works in this film, Crime Stories. I really could not stand the relentless guitar blasting away in the background, though I'll admit it was more appropriate here than in CYCLIC.

Oh, how I wish that Boddy's style was the only thing preventing this film from being as good as CYCLIC. But, of course, wishes don't come true. I can only conclude that Boddy made this film in a rush, or didn't think about it for very long before he made it. It is totally unrelated to the avant-garde genre, and could simply be swept away with the hundreds of other action Brickfilms on YouTube. There's no plot to speak of outside of "prisoner breaks out of jail, steals gold, gets caught", and you know how much I've been wanting to find an film that is avant-garde in terms of plot as well as visually.

But Crime Stories makes up for it, kinda. It's got some great animation - the best I've seen from Boddy yet, some awesome sets, and camerawork that should really be analysed more when you watch the film. Notice in several parts where the camera actually passes through walls, which is a very clever (and very hard to achieve) technique that Boddy pulls off well.

So, whilst Crime Stories totally misses the point of avant-garde, it's a lot of fun to watch and it should be enjoyed at least for its action sequence (which is the entirety of the film).

~John

Avant-Garde: The Afterlife Experience

Sean Willets (FilmyGuy1) has got his Avant-Garde competition entry up on YouTube, so I figured I'd get it reviewed.



I must admit that when I first started watching it, and when I saw that he had made more than half of it hurriedly in under 48 hours, I was not impressed. Brickfilmers have had almost a year to get their films done, and the start of the film did not help. It's well shot and well animated, but it falls into two big pitfalls: firstly, the actual image quality is poor; and secondly, Willets had the common symptom of making the film very high-contrast and very dark. Loads of Brickfilmers do it, and it really does not look good.

However, after the unimpressive opening, the rest of the film was enjoyable. Quite what it was trying to say (if anything) was lost on me, but it was fun to watch and some bits were well animated. I did, however, have a sharp intake of breath when I saw the infinite-white-expanse background used. Luckily, it didn't last long.

The Afterlife Experience is a silent film, which is nice and calming but really does not help with the emotions our main character is going through. Another thing that was confusing was this: at the start of the film, it seems that the man has a very cold relationship with his wife. She does not seem to show affection to him. Yet, at the end of the film, they love each other. I understand that I misinterpreted the start of the film, but that is not my fault. Some dialogue would have helped oh so much!

So, is this film a contender for the Avant-Garde prize? Perhaps. More so than The Magician - it's interesting, surrealist and original. But is it the best Brickfilm I've ever seen? Not so much.


~John

Avant-Garde: Zombie Genesis

The future is looking up for the Bricks in Motion Avant-Garde competition. Here's an entry from Nick Durron (director of Picturesque, which I luckily didn't review when it was released because I thought it was awful).



I must admit when I first saw the title of Zombie: Genesis I feared the worst. Another zombie movie. Trying to be realistic. It looked like things were all downhill for the Avant-Garde competition.

However, when I watched it I realised it was in fact a very clever, witty and well made Brickfilm with a clear style and a clear aim. It's a parody of informercial-like programmes you see about the making of movies. It preys on the stereotypes - both obvious (the Swedish bodybuilder, who is the star of the movie) and subtle (the director, who speaks in a Hollywood style that everyone knows all too well). It's well observed, fairly well animated (though some work still needs to be done on the face animations) and I'd say it was a great film overall.

Will it win Avant-Garde? I don't think so. I don't really want it to, either; it's certainly different but it's not something that is truly avant-garde. Either way, Nick Durron has really improved his rep with me after Picturesque.


~John

Avant-Garde: The Magician

The big news in the Brickfilming world is of Bricks In Motion's latest competition, Avant-Garde, which is ending today. Films were available to post online since the 18th, but I haven't seen very many so the Brickfilmers must still be working on them.

But remember - the deadline is almost over! Then it's time to review all the films and, as always, I'll be there for the showing at some stupid hour of the night. Now onto Zach Macias' entry!



Mr. Macias' entry, called The Magician, unfortunately fits with the predictable empty-expanse format. So, I guess that -1 originality points for this film. However, it's not the format of your film that ultimately matters, it what you do with the format. Macias animates the central magician character expertly, with smooth, natural movements. There's not a flaw in there.

However, a part of me feels let down that one of the best Brickfilmers, Zach Macias, didn't attempt a more challenging topic. Animating bricks to music has certainly be done before, and I must admit that Macias could have done a bit more than what we see in The Magician. The film is avant-garde with its concept, but not with its plot, which is what I hoped to see.

So, whilst Macias' entry is a good film in its own right, I'd hope it's not the kind of quality that will win such a challenging competition. I wonder what everyone else has been up to...


~John

Under cover

Remember Atin's mind-blowing The Bombing of LA scene? Well, he's back for more with another scene named First Contact.

First Contact by Atin

Once again, the atmosphere and lighting work brilliantly to create a mood for this scene. The sunset/sunrise in the background in particular makes the windows on the buildings glitter with the 'sun' shining through them; really beautiful stuff. Closer to the front, we sadly start to lose detail, as the buildings are quite plain and flat. So, whilst this isn't as good as The Bombing of LA, it's still another great scene and I hope to see more like this from Atin in the future.

~John

Stranger than Fishin'

Well well, look who's back: it's Zach Macias, with his new comedy sketch Brickfilm, Stranger than Fishin'!

In a way, I feel that Macias' talent is wasted with so many small sketches - much like Spastik Chuwawa - but if it's the way he wants to go, then that's OK with me. Sometimes Brickfilmers just want to provide a bit of comic relief, and not a full-blown masterpiece like The River, Driven or Unrenewable. Macias has found his niche, and I guess that's where he's going to stay.

Nonetheless, this film is full of brilliant animation, and certainly makes up for the long wait when you see how much masking is involved (masking is the process of animating sequences where bricks are in mid-air, and is a very long process). Macias has developed a lot from his early days, and Stranger than Fishin' really shows off his skill in animating smooth, natural movements. 

One last thing to note in this animation is the use of several different faces for the main character, a technique that is becoming used more and more often. I hope to see it used a lot more in the future; it's one step closer to creating a Brickfilm which viewers can connect with.

~John

Ccccoooooffffeeeee!!

You should probably already know by now that I love every single thing that Alex Eylar (Profound Whatever) builds. Thus, when he turned one of my favourite paintings, Nighthawks, into Lego, I thought Christmas had come early. When I saw he'd distorted Nighthawks into a zombie post-apoc scene, I thought I'd had two Christmases, both early.

Alex Eylar, you da man.

~John

How we built: Containment

Welcome to a new series of interviews, called howibuilt (in this case, how we built)! The idea with these interviews is to get inside the minds of your favourite builders and get an insight into their building processes. We've already had one howibuilt post, about the Mistral II, but now I'm officially starting the series.

'Containment'

The recent collaboration between famous builders Nannan Zhang (NannanZ) and Tyler Clites (Legohaulic) created what I think I can safely say is one of the best MOCs of the year: Containment, a massive diorama of an alien world, a cross between a utilitarian space station (built by Nannan)and a post-apocalyptic wasteland (built by Tyler) complete with market sellers.

So let's get started with the interview between myself and Nannan and Tyler!

John: Where did the inspiration for Containment come from?

Nannan: We drew inspiration from the general concept of contrasting an orderly cityscape with a chaotic wasteland. Eventually the city that I was planning to build turned into a factory that took on the theme of isolation from the movie Moon.

Tyler: A lot of the inspiration comes from films and video games. Some of the themes present in the display are inspired by Moon, District 9 and Enemy Mind. Some of the aesthetic inspiration for things like the crashed ship come from films like Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes.

John: How long did Containment take to make, and how many bricks did you have to buy especially for it?

Nannan: We started planning at the beginning of April. Tyler built consistently, but I built my portion in the last three week before the convention due to graduation. I don’t have an estimate for the brick count, and I bought most of what I needed from Bricklink. Tyler was more resourceful and used more pieces from his collection.

Tyler: We finished it several days before Brickworld. The only bricks that I bought specially for the display were roughly 400 dk tan parts.

John: How was the diorama planned? Presumably you met to build it together in the end, but did you build individual sections on your own beforehand?


Tyler: The dio[rama] was planned via Skype. We would occasionally get online and brainstorm different ideas. Nannan came to my house the week before Brickworld. About 95% of our respective parts were complete prior to our meeting.

Nannan: I traveled to Tyler’s house five days before the convention to put everything together and photograph the diorama. This process was the most rewarding experience of the collaboration. Building with someone else is not only fun, but it’s also a great way to become really good friends with another builder.

John: Before announcing the project, you released a dozen of smaller teaser vignettes. Were these originally part of the plan, or did you have that idea later on?

Tyler: The teasers were not originally part of the plan. Nannan approached me with the idea about a week before we began uploading them. 

Nannan: As our dio was nearing completion, I wanted to draw some hype for it through a series of vignettes that reveals the backstory to the creation. I believe that a creation of this caliber requires an introduction. Just dropping it from the blue might give someone a heart attack.

John: Do you think you'll have more collaborations in the future? With each other or with more builders?

Nannan: Yes! We plan on more collaborations, at least for Brickworld 2011 if not earlier. I don’t know how we’re going to top what we just did, but we’re up for a good challenge. 

Tyler: We will definitely be doing more collaborations in the future. Not only did we manage to create something that we are both immensely proud of, we also got to know each other better as friends and not just as fellow builders.




So there you have it - the complete story of Containment. Thank you very much to Tyler and Nannan for agreeing to answer my questions so soon after BrickWorld.


Hopefully I'll be back later for more howibuilt!


~John

Farewell, Pete.

Today I bring sad news: The Life Aquatic with Clumsy Pete reached its finalé today. It's been running for five months now, and I don't think there's one Lego fan on Flickr who hasn't seen and admired Bart De Dobbelaer's fantastic series.

So long, Pete! It's been a lot of fun, but I guess it's time for Bart to move on. I guess all good things come to an end and all that.

Hideout by Bart de Dobbelaer

See all Pete vignettes here!

~John

AT-ATs, on the go!

I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like the subject matter of RogueBantha's latest MOC. From the Star Wars Extended Universe (EU) comes the AT-AT Barge, a huge dark grey container which can pick up and drop off AT-ATs onto tactical positions on Hoth.

I love how RogueBantha always builds on his library of Star Wars mini models, so it's great to see such a functional concept, in a great vignette, and with his classic mini AT-AT model.

'AT-AT Barge' by RogueBantha

~John

Anglo-Saxon housing was the pits

...and yet my fellow TFOL Karrde makes it look quaint, clean and cute. His latest MOC is of an Anglo-Saxon pit house, half-submerged in the middle of a circle of green grass, with Anglo-Saxon people coming and going, to-ing and fro-ing, and generally doing Anglo-Saxon stuff all around it. A great 'bignette'!

Let's not forget the dark tan path, the SlyOwl-esque fences and the hair from the nurse in Collectible Minifigures Series 1.

"Anglo-Saxon Pit-House" by Karrde

~John

LA, say bye-bye!

I keep telling myself it's too late to blog, but it seems Atin is trying to prove me wrong with his amazing atmospheric scene The Bombing of LA. I literally made a 'ka-boom' sound when I first saw this photo.

Oh, the building is spot-on too. Shame about the slightly bulky plane, though. Good explosion nonetheless.

~John

And then...

I think I can safely say this is the quickest and craziest summary of the whole Star Wars original saga I've ever seen. And it's a Brickfilm.

Something tells me it wasn't made entirely by the narrator, unless it's just a 40-year-old AFOL whose voice has never broken...

~John

Discovered via @Fredoichi

May+June Background

"Well hey," you say, "what's this new background you've got on Brickspace?"

Well, it's part of what I hope will become a regular change on Brickspace; our bimonthly background. Inspired by Wallpaper* Magazine's guest cover design, I thought it would be cool to have a different guest-designed background every two months.

Whilst the background for May and June isn't actually designed by Mad Physicist (Ralph Salvesberg), it features his drawings and plans for some of his old fighter plane MOCs. I hope you enjoy the new background - and if you have any ideas or suggestions for July+August's guest background, just email me at john@brickspace.org.

See ya!

~John

Snip snip!

Maybe it's just me, but there certainly something Burton-esque about Arkov's latest creation, an Animé-style mannequin posing with large scissors. It's got a skirt, massive boots and a mechanical hand. What's not to like? Yah, OK, the scissors scare me a little too. But apart from that?

~John

Bell Tower

If someone asked me to name the true undiscovered talent of our community, quy would pop up on the list quite near the top. He gets a fair amount of hits, but certainly not enough to justify his amazing building talent. Whilst his latest creation, the Bell Tower from the latest Pokémon games, is not his best work, I feel that I need to blog something of his and this is as good a chance as any.

Despite having a limited number of dark blue and red pieces, quy has created a bright, pop art-ish tower - and you don't need to be a Pokémon fan to appreciate it.

~John

Brickspace Dictionary: Double-stud cheese SNOT

Double-stud cheese SNOT (n.) (technique)

The double-stud cheese SNOT technique has recently been discovered by Lego Monster. A simplified version of it had also been conceived by Moko.

The idea works by fitting cheese slopes sideways into the space between a tube (found at the centre of four studs, on the underside of a plate/brick) and the corner of the piece. The cheese slopes fit almost perfectly, with some friction and little damage to the parts. This is a fully legal technique.

There are two ways of utilising this geometry. The first is where you fit cheese slopes into the bottom of one plate and put another plate on top. The construction is stable, but the exact height between the two plates cannot be measured in plates or half-plates. There is also a gap between the plates.

The second way of using the cheese slopes is by using a plate and a brick, as seen above. This option removes the gap, so there is a simple geometry: the resulting construction is 4 plates high. However, when using this technqiue, remember to fit the cheese slopes into the plate first, then fit that into the brick. Doing this the other way round will mean putting the plate will push the cheese slopes into the brick, and getting them out will be tricky.

This technique does not apply to 1xn bricks or plates, since they do not have large tubes, and don't have enough space in their underside. Contrary to what you may think, this technique can be used on a 2x2 brick/plate - but with two cheese slopes at opposite corners. This still provides ample clutch.

Home Sweet Home

Over the past few weeks, Worker201 has been making a whole range of home furnishings. There's flower vases, TVs, and some wonderful chairs. It seems like I have competition, ha ha!

~John