Push the bar!

Today, after the immense success of the Bricks in Motion 2009 competition 'STAR', Mr Heinrich and the folks at BiM have announced the 2010 competition, 'Avant Garde'. This one is certain to produce some phemonenal films. Here's part of the press release (found here):

"What does "Avant-Garde" mean for the purpose of this contest?  French for advance guard, or vanguard, the central idea is to create something that is innovative and pushes the boundaries of what has been done before.  We want you to reconsider the standard conventions of brickfilming as it is now and create a film that is unique and, on some level, does things that haven't been done in a brickfilm before.  Your film can be experimental and surreal, or simply use new techniques and kinds of storytelling that we probably have not seen before.  Be creative!  Wikipedia's "Avant-garde" article provides a good introduction to the movement from which this contest takes its name.  While this contest is about pushing the boundaries, we're not asking entrants to create films so abstract and nonsensical that they are not enjoyable to watch.

As per the nature of this contest, think of some of the obvious concepts you expect other people to use, and avoid those.  A film about a minifig wandering around in a vast, white expanse finding himself may be experimental and surreal, but it has been done more than a few times in this medium and is not what we're hoping to see in entries for this year's contest." 

If that hasn't already got your Brickfilming imagination working overdrive, I don't know what will. It's certainly a a fantastic theme, and it'll get some of the more conventional (in plot terms) animators off their traditions and try something new. Brickfilmers have until the 25th July 2010 to make their films and send them off to BiM. The judging panel is yet to be decided, but I'm sure it'll include some Brickfilming greats as before.


So this is it, Brickfilmers! Push the bar! Destroy convention! Be creative! Be new! Be unique! 


I'm expecting something BIG...


~John

Yee haw!

Some of the stuff SlyOwl makes just astounds me. All of the rest of it bemuses me with its amazing techniques.

So it will come as no surprise to you that I think SlyOwl's newest creation is fantastic. The sloping on the rocks is unique and well carried-out, and the inside of the mine is meticulously detailed. Of course, there is (as with all MOCs) some problems: the outside ground is a bit empty, and I don't think the rocky-floor effect is very realistic. I'd suggest a desert floor, and maybe a cactus or two.

~John

Apocalypsis II

It's been a fair few weeks since we had our first look at the second episode in Mark Kelso's Apocalypsis story, and now it's finished. You may remember the amazing waterfall scene in the first episode, and the scenery just gets better and better. This time we've got caves, fantastic Photoshop effects, and all the rocky goodness you could ever want. Mark Kelso, I bow to you, master of landscaping.

~John

Lego Factory to become Lego Design byME

Just today Flickr user TallTim posted a discussion topic in the Lego group about some exciting news coming out of Lego.

Very soon, the Lego service we all know and love (or maybe hate because of the high prices), Lego Factory, will be changed into Lego Design byME. To be released along with the new LDD 3.0 on the 1st October, Design byME is said to be 'superior' to Factory beforehand. It comes with a shiny new box, a box within a sleeve, and fully customizable graphics. Then, once you look inside the box, there's a fully printed glossy instruction manual so your [awful] creation can look just like a real Lego set! [God help us]

It's not just Lego Factory that's changed. Now with 50% more bricks to use, Lego Digital Designer has changed yet again. The press release says it has a 'more friendly tone of voice', a new logo, and a fully redesigned layout. We've got an updated hinge tool, a way to hide bricks and focus your construction on a certain part of the creation, custom templates, a 'buyability tool' which will help you not spend so much, and to run all that there's some improved performance. Sounds great.

So, on the 1st October, we'll be happy as nutcakes buying our custom Lego sets with new bricks, having designed them on a newly redesigned software. Maybe not. What I didn't tell you is that the new custom packaging means an extra $10 on top of P&P and the cost of the model itself, which is also high: Lego bricks from Factory cost, in some cases, over double the price you can buy them on Bricklink for. So what's the point in spending so much money? The idea is that you don't know the alternative - people wasting their money on glossy manuals for awful creations will be those who don't know about Bricklink, and who don't know acceptable prices for bricks. And so Lego will rake the money in, one gullible sucker at a time. Ah well.

What are your opinions on this new announcement? Write a comment below!

~John

Caption competition no. 5

Hi guys, it's time for the fifth caption competition, all you need to do is add your funny, witty, interesting and/or humorous caption for this pictyre as a comment on this post. Enjoy!

John's note: ps. No, you're not allowed to use the picture's actual name, silly people.