About
Brickfilms, also known as Lego Stop Motions, are a form of stop motion animation that has been popular on the internet since the late 1990s. These animations mainly use Lego toys to tell stories and reenact movies. Although its internet history is a little hazy, brickfilms have been made as far back as 1973. People who make brickfilms often call themselves “brickfilmers” and had a large community in the mid to late 2000s.
Origin
The first known brickfilm is a Danish short film made by Lars C. Hassing and Henrik Hassing in 1973 called En rejse til månen (Journey to the Moon). It uses both animation and live-action to tell a simple story of a rocket ship going into space.
Another popular early use of brickfilming is a short created by Lindsy Fleay between the years 1985 and 1989 called The Magic Portal. This video is noted for having a rather high production value for a brickfilm, but has never seen an official release due to copyright issues with The LEGO Group.
Online History
Brickfilms.com Era
Brickfilming started to spread on the internet in the late 1990s, but it wasn’t until the year 2000 that the brickfilming community started to stabilize with the creation of the website Brickfilms.com, which became the basis of the brickfilm community for years to come. The site had many ways of promoting brickfilmers and teaching newcomers, including contests, festivals, and tutorials. One notable example of a brickfilm from this era was Star Wars: Episode III Rise of the Empire, created as part of the first Brickfilms.com podcast by Jay Silver in 2002.
Another popular brickfilm of this time was a video by brickfilmer True Dimensions called The Rescue, made in September, 2001. This video used audio from the Steven Spielberg movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark long before the official LEGO Indiana Jones toy line.
At this time, independent film company, Spite Your Face Productions had been hired by LEGO to make brickfilms for commercial use to be featured on the LEGO website, most popular of which was an animated version of the “Knights of the Round Table” sequence from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. This brickfilm was actually featured on the 2001 two-disc Monty Python and the Holy GrailDVD.
As years went by, many brickfilms started to advance. Brickfilms started to use special effects, voice acting, and lighting effects that one would normally see in a professional film. A great example of this is the short film Grace made in 2006 by Robinson Wood. This brickfilm not only has a serious tone, which was a great milestone in the history of brickfilms, but also uses advanced lighting effects and animation.
YouTube & BricksInMotion.com Era
In January 2007, mainstream attention was brought towards brickfilming after YouTuber Blunty3000 made an animated music video of the song Circle Cirlce Dot Dot by Jamie Kennedy and Stu Stone. The video became immensely popular and has over 17.5 million views.
In July 2007, LEGO started an official stop motion animation contest to promote their LEGO Star Wars line of products called The LEGO Star Wars Movie Making Contest. This contest caused a surge of newcomers and experienced brickfilmers alike to make Star Wars themed brickfilms, making brickfilming more popular than it had ever been. One of the winners of this contest was An Average Death Star Day by eanimation.
In 2008, Brickfilms.com was bought by new owners who made controversial updates to the site. Former administrator of Brickfilms.com, Schlaeps, created his own brickfilming site called BricksInMotion, which received more praised from brickfilmers. Over time, YouTube and BricksInMotion became the primary websites for Lego stop motion videos, while Brickfilms.com faded into obscurity.
Today, brickfilming isn’t nearly as popular as it was in 2007 or 2008, but brickfilming still has a very thriving community and is full of new comers and experienced animators alike.
Notable Brickfilmers
ForrestFire101
ForrestFire101 was the first brickfilmer to reach mainstream success. He was well known for popularizing a raunchier style of brickfilms for a period of time.
darthmilo77
darthmilo77 started making videos in 2006 and is well known for his Star Wars themed brickfilms. A fan favorite of which is his episodic series Solitary, about a Clonetrooper who gets stranded on a mysterious planet.
Micheal Hickox
Micheal Hickox is a brickfilmer known for his more down-to-earth and simple style of animations. Each one of his videos has a simple theme and doesn’t focus much on plot, but instead focuses on charm and animation.
BrotherhoodWorkshop
A more recent brickfilmer, BrotherhoodWorkshop is a YouTube animator that has been known for making Lord of the Rings-themed videos and has been accliamed for having great lighting and animation.