BrickTopia - Introduction

So I've been dwelling on this idea for a while now and I'm wondering if I should do it. Read the post, and if I decide to go ahead, think about if you want to contribute to this project.

Weeks back, I was searching bricksinmotion.com (amazing website, check it out) to see new brickfilms that I wouldn't have otherwise heard of. This is a way that I have found some of my most trusted brickfilmers that have appeared on this blog regularly, when a thought suddenly occurred to me. I and many others find and use this to look at brickfilms by animators that are new on the scene and want to show their talent and ideas. But what about other brickfilmers that are generally isolated and don't know about these forums - and if they do, are ignored or not appreciated? I was thinking of ways to solve this problem when I came across the community channel known as BrickUltra. BrickUltra is well known, with well over a thousand subscribers and about ten animators showing their animations, MOC's and how to's. This channel is fantastic, and I am subscribed to it on YouTube, but then again, only ten animators can contribute, and not anyone wanting to display their brickfilms and other lego related videos. So then, I realised what I could do - cross BrickUltra and bricksinmotion.com with a channel that allows anyone, famous or not, to contribute brickfilms, MOC's, reviews, and animation tips. I decided to call it BrickTopia. This is already a channel name of a little known lego video blogger with one subscriber, and evidently a festival name and a video game (am I sensing a channel name change here?) but the point remains. If you feel like contributing at all, you will only have to email me your idea - if I approve it, you will then be able to email me the video and I will upload it. However, this will not be an outlet for spam and no personal details need to be uploaded, aside from your channel name and anyone involved in the production of your video. You don't need to upload more than one video, but if you upload three or more, you may be able to become a staff member. I hope this gets off the ground, but if it doesn't, I'll simply delete this post and life will, as they say, go on. But it would be a huge help for me and others, because I really want this idea to become a reality and perhaps expand the brickfilm viewing community, and get others to start their brickfilming lives. If this works, I'll be posting updates on this blog. Anyway, thanks for reading, and if you do, many thanks for contributing.

BOTW #21 - Basically Jail

Yay! I'm back! Again! This time for good! (hopefully) I know this is like my 3rd time I've said this, but all have ended in me sliding back into hibernation after a week. So this time anyone who still reads this blog will just be sick of me making a big deal of this and will just want me to get to the point  - Brickfilms! So yeah. This week hasn't been entirely eventful, but I have enough content to produce a regular post. Here it is.

3 - The Simpsons LEGO TMNT Joke 1 - TitanPicturesStudio. TitanPictures has been working on this series for almost a year now, and they're easily the most successful videos on his channel - the four videos that he has released have racked up well over 800,000 views collectively - the most being his second episode, 'The Face Of Shredder'. This one is very short, and slightly strange. It contains two TMNT villains (I don't know anything about this franchise, forgive me for any ridiculously obvious mistakes that anyone would know) attacking Itchy from the Simpsons (now this I know more about) when suddenly another Itchy rushes in and attacks the villain with a mallet (?). However, the plot may be confusing, but as ever, the animation by Titan is superb and the lighting and set design really help set the tone. I am looking forward to the new episode, and it will be a considerable achievement if this series hits a million views. I would recommend subscribing - at present, Titan only has around two thousand subscribers on his channel, and he deserves a much bigger audience. 

2 - Mystery at Base 327: Part 2 - BrickUltra/TaylorPlacePro/ThatGuy501st. Wow! What a mighty collaboration! Yes, uploaded by one, animated by another, and written by the last. If you haven't heard of any of these channels, here is a short summary of what they do. BrickUltra is a fantastic collection of well known animators, several of which have appeared on this blog. An example of these are MinilifeTV, CheekiGhost, and MaxButcher. It also includes custom minifigures, MOC's and reviews. TaylorPlacePro is but one of their many staff, the creator of the hugely successful 'Base 327' series, a base of clones who get into mischief and have amazing adventures (any inspiration from Fancy Pants' clone series? Or vice versa?). The idea was based upon the winner of the Base 327 competition, ThatGuy501st. This is a continuation of the first episode, in which a mysterious clone steals the captain's lightsaber. The storyline is great, as is the animation (however, the picture quality/lighting could be improved), and it is obvious that a huge amount of time has been spent making this project happen, and it has definitely paid off.  The set design could profit from a bit more work, though. Every animator does it - their first video is randomly decorated with any coloured bricks they can find in their collection of Lego. I'm not criticizing - not many have an impeccable collection of white bricks they can use to make a base the size of their table - I certainly don't. However, it would improve the enjoyment. I left the video enjoyed and satisfied, but slightly confused and dazed, as there is only so many colours my eyes can take in without starting to hurt. It may also be to do with the fact that I have a cold. These two probably have a connection. Sniff.

1 - Batman and Friends: The Clock Tower Caper - SpiderSock. Another astonishing animation by Sean Willets. As always, the animation is almost without flaws, and it moves extremely smoothly - the set design is good, however little there is, and the special effects, such as the flying minifigures and objects, work well too and are easily as good as the general animation. The story is also very entertaining, as is the humour (why does nobody like Aquaman? He's the king of Atlantis, how cool does it get?) and this video destroyed my deciding system - I judge by animation quality, storyline, set design and effort. SpiderSock rarely uploads, but I would really consider checking him out or subscribing - his No Crawme THAC videos are really good and humorous, and great considering that they were entirely devised in the space of 24 hours.

Thanks for reading! Another post will be published next week! Promise... (disappears for another six months)

BiMAC #4 - BrickPsycho's 2013 Animation Contest!

Brick Psycho wanted to celebrate his 1,000th view, his 100th subscriber and his being accepted into Fullscreen's network, so he made a contest to celebrate. There were 7 entries, and a lot of YouTube prizes. Also, my first BiMAC in a while! Let's go to the overview.
Overview - To make a video over 20 seconds long
Theme - Any subject
Allocated Time - Just over 20 weeks (a long time to make a good video!)
Winner Setup - 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc.
Prizes - 1st Place - 6 YouTube Subs, 2 likes to all of participants videos, year long playlist of videos, eternal boxed, shoutouts in two of BrickPsycho's videos, 1 shoutout in all of his accounts, link to participants channel in 'About' tab for a year. I won't explain the rest, because they will take a long time to list and are basically the same thing, just less of it.
Judges - The Brick Psycho
Entries And Results
1st - CheekiGhost
2nd - Zymoncone Films
3rd - Timblegoorn
4th - LegoAndStickfigs
5th - CandSoriginals
6th - Dragonlegomaster
7th - Classiclegocinema
I would usually post links to the the films, but the results video only shows the channels and does not specify the videos. But I would recommend you check out all these channels - they are all great animators as well.
Overall, I think the Brick Psycho should have more subscribers. He's a great MOC maker, and is also a great animator. He has just over 200 subs now, and I think he should have much more. So go and check out some of his videos, and be sure to subscribe!

I'm Back! BOTW #20

I'm back! I'm sorry it took me so long to return, but after the summer holidays I thought I'd take a break which, as a procrastinator, stretched on to around 6 months. It won't happen again, I promise! Anyway, I'm going to jump right in again, and I'm going to review the best 3 brickfilms of the last two weeks (there wasn't really much content this week to do an individual post. Let's go!

3. Black Friday - Walter Benson. I was really happy to see when I returned to YouTube, Walter Benson had released two videos, both partially related. This one depicts the dreaded stream of manic shoppers breaking shop doors down to get the bargains on their plastic items of entertainment to send to their minifig friends. It's very funny, and the animation is perfect. Even the set design is great, however small the set is. The video also raises a major question - why is there no terrifying film about Black Friday? Enough with the vampires and murderers, bring on the evil SHOPPERS!
2. LEGO Blues Brothers- Shopping Mall Chase Scene - Bricktease. This is a great, original animation. The set design is by far the most impressive I've seen while reviewing for this post. It was recreated to the last detail to look astonishingly like the scene from the classic film - check out this to see it compared to the original. However, the animation was slightly choppy - maybe because he built the set on tiles, which definitely makes it harder to animate minifigures and vehicles. Also, I never thought I'd say this - Bricktease's version is too well lit! The original footage is much darker, because it's a '80s film set in the '60s. Other than that, it's great, and I really enjoyed watching it.
1. Giving Thanks - Walter Benson. The only Thanksgiving video I found in my feed was this, and believe me, I'm glad Walter decided to upload this. It was hilarious. It's like Thanksgiving for the smug annoying people. The humour in this - some lines 'I'm thankful I smell good - unlike THAT stinky person!' really made me laugh. This is one of those themed videos that never get old - even when it's the height of Easter and your feed is being bombarded with videos of insane Easter Bunnies (I get that a lot, am I alone in this plight?). Anyway, the animation is great, the set fantastic, Walter strikes again!

BOTW #19 - One Popular Film!

liked this week in many ways. I liked the range of brickfilms. I liked the fact that many brickfilms veered away from humour (which is not good most of the time, but y'know, it's good to have a break) and I also like the fact that one film landed OVER HALF A MILLION VIEWS IN LESS THAN A WEEK.
3.Joan Of ART & Greta Frants - Better Day (Official Music Video) - coccosnowball. This video is very cool. It is one of the rare occasions when artists/bands use lego and to make their music videos using it. I figured it's actually a good way to make a would-be-high-budget-film-if-it-was-live-action without having to spend much money. I like the song, although it may not appeal to people who don't like electronic music, and the video itself is a little random, but has good animation and skilled set design.
2.Super Short - Romantic Beach Scene - Walter Benson. Last week Walter made a fantastic mime film that topped BOTW, and he has come back again with another unique idea. Although it's short, it's super (as the title suggests) and I find that Walter has perfected the 'Romantic Scene Goes Wrong' like this famous film. I think that the lighting is amazing, using what looks like a desktop light to make a fantastic sunset, and I like his way of making waves unlike famous brickfilmer Michael Hickox. I think it's generally great, and I said last week that Walter should make more films. Did I encourage him?
1.LEGO The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug - Teaser Trailer [HD] - BrotherhoodWorkshop. This was, how should I put it, um...MIND-BLOWING. I was just amazed to see the time that they must of put into, synchronising the scenes to the actual trailer, the fantastic set design and the VFX. Their aren't very many brickfilming studios, and BrotherhoodWorkshop lie among the a few that create fantastic work with all the people and contributors. I hope this comes to the attention to Peter Jackson, because BrotherhoodWorkshop have created many amazing LOTR films, and could be great use to him. It would probably be their dream come true. I also want to point out that it got over 600,000 views in the space of under a week. I won't be surprised if Desolation Of Smaug makes millions in the box office.