Brick Films: A New Online Stop Animation Film Style

There are many types of independent films available to watch all across the internet, one of the less noticed styles are brick films. Brick films are stop animation movies, made by independent film makers. The name "Brick" comes from the fact that all brick films are made using Lego pieces for everything from the characters to the set.

Making a brick film is very tedious work. Most brick films are shot somewhere between 15-30 Frames per Second (FPS). For each frame in the film an picture must be set, and taken. So, if a 3 minute film is made with 20 FPS the maker must take 3600 individual pictures. Taking all these pictures takes quite a while, considering anything moving in the shot must move at a constant speed, otherwise the animation will look jerky.

Yet another complicated aspect of "Brick Filming" is the use of 3D effects, as well as computer animation. Many of the top brick film makers also use CGI animation to improve their quality and add effect to the movie. Through the use of computer animation, Lego Minifigures can be made to look more realistic. The most important improvement on the characters are mouths. Mouths must be animated onto the character to make it appear as if the character was actually talking.

Many brick film makers make their movies just for fun, or to show to friends, but there are other more competitive film makers that make their films for online contests. Many of these online contests have strict rules and guidelines to make the task of filming even more challenging. Many of the more competitive film makers are very secretive about their works, generally not publicly showing their works until after competitions are over. One such film maker is "Smeagol Studios"

Smeagol Studios is a very active film maker. Currently he has 10 publicly published films, as well as 4 more films he is still working on. Among his top films are "Crown of Syracuse", and "An Ill-Made Weapon". Smeagol Studios is run and operated by a single highschool student but is considered to be one of the best brick film makers.

Brick Films is the largest online Brick Film community, with nearly 5500 registered users. Brick Films is a great place for aspiring film makers to learn about how film making as well as meet more seasoned film makers. The site is devoted entirely to brick films, with tutorials as well as a database of brick films. If you want to learn more about brick films check out Brick Films today and get your own brick film started!