Home Film Directory Contact Resources Film Discussion Forum Contests Brickfilms Historical Fiction Contest                        The Entries                       Once you have watched all the films, click here to vote for your favorite . It is wonderful to note here that we have an incredible mix of American, Japanese, Australian, Roman, French, British, and general world history as subject matters.  It's nice to see such a diverse mix of themes and time periods in our contest.  If this doesn't speak to Brickfilms.com being an international community, I don't know what does.  And now, on to the films! Title: Kerouac Approx Size: 4.38 MB Approx Length: 2:45 Format: .rm Director: Ben B. Description:   A black and white film set to the spoken poetry of American writer Jack Kerouac. Review:  Egoless Productions continues to impress with his line of religious and philosophical films.  This entry is an example of a very polished work and a well animated piece.   Many individual items jump out at the viewer, some more subtle than others.  Ben's use of the camera is limited to what needs to be seen.   For instance, the line "Drunk as a hoot owl / writing letters by thunderstorm" is followed by a very nifty sequence where we see the actor during a lightning storm.  During the flashes, we can notice for a second that the man's face has been replaced by an owl, but just for a flash.  Very subtle, and I did not catch it until the third viewing. The lightning in the background is also crisp and varied.   The entire animation leaves little to be desired in the technical department.   Visually it is near perfect, using the black and white medium to full advantage.  Notice how powerful and bold the bathroom tiled pattern looks. Ben has also become a master of the matte, providing boxes, overlays, and wipes to his film that lead you through it with a sense of style.   Remember the sage advice of Tony and Tim Drage in their interview here.  Use anything!  Limiting yourself to a static shot of all bricks and no style besides a simple pan or two limits you creatively.  Animation is not just moving the figs around, but what you do to the film while editing.  Notice how even a top to eye level pan (a pretty difficult shot to do steady) comes across smooth and perfect.  I was also impressed by the bee moving with the background . . . it was done very well to the music.  In fact, the entire film is timed almost perfectly with the music.  So what's lacking?  Anything?  Given a bit less aggressive competition, this would have won hands down.  But while it was visually and aurally interesting, it lacked any real story or depth.  The purpose of this competition was historical fiction, and while this was a nice film of spoken word haikus, it did not really grab me as the type of film that could win.  I have watched it several times and noticed great things about it every time, but it did not really grab my attention the way other films did.  For this, and for a visual style better than any other in this contest, the award for Best Animation goes to the wonderfully done Kerouac.     Title: D Day Approx Size: 14.7 MB Approx Length: 3:25 Format: .mpeg Director: Mark Wanninger Description:   An action film set around the Allied invasion of Normandy, WWII. Review:  The best parts in this film, hands down, were the moments when the camera followed close behind the figs as they rushed up the beach.  This was done once in black and white to simulate a combat reporter's footage, and once in color.  I am betting (Mark can correct me in the forums if I am wrong) that this was done by attaching a piece to the fig's feet and attaching that to the bottom of the camera.  An extremely effective way to put the viewer in the action, right down at head exploding level with the fig.  This film was pretty good. However, could have been much better.  The sets were absolutely fantastic.  Yes, maybe a bit simple on the bunker side (looked like they were thrown together in about five minutes),  but the beach and landing craft smashing into them was awesome.  Using real sand was a very cool touch.  I am betting it is very hard to animate on sand, as your hands would tend to disturb it.  I watched nitpickingly for out of place dimples but did not see any.  Great job on the sand.  There were a few things, however, that stuck out like sore thumbs.  Foremost of these was the music.  If you are going to use copyrighted music (as we all do, so no problem there), I would think you would at least use something a bit more fitting with the action.  The song used in the battle was not a good choice.  There were also no sound effects at all.  It is not hard at all to go to Soundogs.com or findsounds.com and search for "machinegun" or "explosion".  It would have added tremendous impact to the film.  There were also some very herky jerky parts in the animation, and not in a Saving Private Ryan kind of way.  I wasn't sure what was going on in a lot of parts.  Near the end, did a German sneak up on them?  It looked maybe like he was part of the super fast moving line of POWs being led away. But it was hard to tell as the action was moving too jerky with no setup or context behind it.  There were some great bits of animation that caught my eye, however (much like a brickfilms.com ad on the wall in a certain bar in the opening might).  The explosions were not bad for totally on screen fx.  The bunker blowing up in a cloud of smoke was very old school stop-motion.   The carnage of blood and spatters (this was a beach invasion, after all)  was well done.  In all, this is a very nice effort.  A little more attention and time taken in sound editing and setting up shots a bit better, and Mark will be winning competitions in no time, especially if we give out awards for large scale set designs. Title: Athealus and the Sword of Pandor Approx Size: 1.97 MB Approx Length: 6:30 Format: .rm Director: Brian of Gep Description:  The adventures of Atheallus, set during the time of the Roman Empire. Review:  What great costumes!  If we gave out a prize for costumes, this film would have won for the great soldier costumes near the end.  Pandor is a giant panda bear. Get it?!  Hahahaha.  Apparently, however, Pandor was stomping around the set a lot, because most of the time the camera is shaking around like an earthquake.  I'm not sure what caused this, but it distracted from the film a lot.  The dialog was spotty, with some lines uttered very clearly and others muffled.  I had this same problem with my movies when I started and decided to always run them through the clearing filter and amplify them before inserting them into the film.   There was also a bit of a problem with pacing here that will come with experience.  For instance, when your movie is about a revenge / revolt (and it is 6 minutes long), there should probably be less dialog, or at least more succinct dialog, in the "getting your quest" parts, and more than a 10 second battle at the end.  I would have liked to see more soldier formations crashing into each other.  This is not to say that films should be all action and no dialog, because that's how we got the unfortunate Hollywood machine.  But there were times during this movie where I could not hear very well and wanted to skip ahead to something that made a bit more sense.  Whether that was a more intense bit of dialog or a battle scene was irrelevant.  What was important is that the film is paced well and draws the audience along in an appropriate narrative pace.  Where was Balkov?  Was he defeated?  The narrative says so.  Things wrap up pretty quick and I was left hoping for a director's cut that explains things a little better. Title: Freedom Approx Size: 2.06 MB Approx Length: 3:34 Format: .rm Director: Brian of Ocap Description: Ninjas and Samurai battle it out in feudal Japan. Review:  Right from the start, this movie takes you into butt kicking mode and doesn't let go.  Great music!  Ninjas and swordfights!  Even a bit of humor!  We have exactly the kind of film OCAP likes to make, mindless action fare.  Two ninjas fight in the rain, with the best rain effects I have yet seen.  The animated water splashes were very cool.  The film quality was very good even at the low res option.   And what about that arena?  You can't help by being impressed with the work that went into that design.  For an action movie, however, the action was a bit jerky.  Combatants would run up to each other and all of a sudden fall over.  I knew that the guy standing killed them, but had no idea how.  The exceptions to this were the deaths of the dojo master and the emperor, who were both beheaded.  Overall I liked this film, but it lacked the smoothness of animation and any sense of story to get it into the running for a prize this time.  One other thing that you will notice, and that I must mention, is that the lighting in this film is very good (ok, there are some strobe moments that were probably filmed in daylight, but that's ok).  Notice the light coming in from the window in the dojo.  Notice the neat lighting in the cage that makes the bars appear as silhouettes.  Very nice. Title: Midnight Ride Approx Size: 10 MB Approx Length: 8:56 Format: .rm, .wmv Directors: Doug James, Jared B. Gilbert Description:  Paul Revere's story, set during the American Revolution. Review:  I'm not sure where to even start.  This is the best film that either Doug James or Jared Gilbert have produced.  This film is a tribute to the wonderful art of collaboration.  Watching the credits roll, I saw regular posters to our forum contributing many voices for the cast.  So in one way, this is a film that represents the spirt of the Brickfilms community in a beautiful way.   It shines above the rest in many respects and goes home with the prize for Best Story. Midnight Ride features an original script that is voice acted very well.  There are a few scratchy lines but overall very good sound quality and touchingly hammy acting.  Obviously this is a comedy, and it has its moments.   Rather than explain the narrative of the story, I will touch of some parts I liked.  If you didn't catch it the first time, the beard and hat of the signaler caught fire in a nice animation, which is why there were 4 lights.  The scene where Revere gets in to the boat (and subsequently bumps into the British) is the best example of night-time I have ever seen in a brick film.  It looks like it was done very simply with a blue screen with holes in it, and a light shone just right on the background.  The lighting that results from this setup is a very neat effect and leads to a partial silouette of the actor.  In fact, light throughout the entire film is great.  The inside of the tavern is nice and cozy looking.   You can tell, however, that two different cameras were used in the filming of this movie.  Some scenes have a jagged, webcam look, and some (such as the fight in Lexington) are crisp and clear.  But the thing that really makes this film great is the clever dialog and story.  Like any comedy, some jokes fell on their face (I'll be polite and not tell which ones . . . but of course humor is subjective so you may disagree anyway).  But the battle scene had me laughing out loud.  It sounded like Sean Connery taking on JFK.  Hilarious acting there.  And of course . . . Urge to kill . . . rising! Another nice touch, and we all know this takes a while, is the lip synching for every character.  Even the mustaches moved!  While I can find fault for a few grainy moments, I found myself watching this movie again and again just for the sheer pleasure of the story.  This should alone justify the fact that having a great story to tell is worth a thousand times more than having great fight scenes (but we do like fight scenes).   The only thing keeping this film from winning Best Film as well was another nominee that just edged them out on presentation and animation.  But I must say, Midnight Ride is one of the best films we have yet seen on Brickfilms! Title: A (Very) Brief History of the Bushranger 'Ned Kelly' and the 'Kelly Gang' Approx Size: 42.8/23 MB Approx Length: 9:01 Format: .avi Director: Nick Maniatis Description: A tale about Ned Kelly, outlaw folk hero of Austrailia.   Review: If you are like me, the weird heads of the characters threw you in the beginning.  In fact, I was a little irritated at first that an otherwise enjoyable film was making fun of itself by adding a comedically absurd twist.  But 2:55 into the film, I had an epiphany.  This film was much more complex than I was giving it credit for.  In fact, this film was brilliant!  What Nick Maniatis has done is to make a film that is exactly what this contest is all about.  He has exposed me to a bit of Australian culture I knew nothing about.  In fact, his recreation of the helmets and armor of the Kelly Gang, and his choice of medium for this movie (a small theatre showing in the Art Gallery of Australia) is brilliant.  He takes the real paintings by Sidney Nolan, a famous Australian painter, and recreates the visual style of the paintings perfectly in the film.  Midnight Ride used Longfellow's poem to the same effect, but I think it was handled much better in this movie.  To one up, Maniatis introduces us to the paintings while the film is being played out, roughly in chronological order, through the vehicle of an art patron wandering around the gallery looking at them.  This is hugely impressive to me.  I would suggest that the Art Gallery of Australia show this actual film in an actual movie theatre in the actual museum.  I think, through my limited research, that they are still displayed here , which is actually who owns the paintings, so they may be located elsewhere at this point.  The long winded point I am trying to make is that this is the only film that actually made me research the events and inspiration behind it.  There are many other great things about this film.  He uses matte paintings as backgrounds throughout.  The sets are entirely believable and put us in the wild outback.  Nick even uses a special filter (I'm not sure what editing program he used, but it certainly was some kind of video filter) to give the film an old time feel to it, complete with a almost imperceptable jarring.   The only thing that kept this film from being completely smooth was an almost unnoticable at first tendency for the sets to shake a bit while the filming was going on.  Also, even though this is supposed to be an old style film, it would have been nice to see a slightly more smooth bit of animation during some scenes, such as the robbery of NSW Bank.  Overall this is a tremendous effort and one of the best films to ever grace Brickfilms.com.  It was nominated for best animation and best film (and just missed best story, but had a great story as well) in this contest.    For it's great animation and style, a great story, and an a fantastic effort to tell a bit of historical fiction, 'Ned Kelly' wins Best Film! Title: Great Inventors Part 1: The Wheel Approx Size: 14.9 MB Approx Length: 4:40 Format: .rm Director: Wanderer Description: The invention and use of the wheel, from its inception to modern car races. Review:  Two cave people invent the wheel out of necessity when they discover a ton of meat in the wilderness.  The shows a couple of iterations of the wheel and its progress, ending with an exciting race.  The animation throught is well timed and smooth.  The race itself has some great moments with close ups of the cars and their drivers, the changing lights that start everything.  Another great moment, oen to be remembered and imitated, is the use of a false timelapse effect on the drivers when they are running.  I'll be honest, I don't know how he did this, whether it was simply clever shots and editing, or a feature of the software he was using.  Very nice though!   As a last note, the sound in this movie was incredible.  I recently got a new set of speakers, and it was great to hear full, rich, bass heavy sound coming out of them from this film.  Yellowhead Studios get a nomitation for Best Animation for their efforts.   Title: Robin of the Hood Approx Size: 13.5 MB Approx Length: 3:08 Format: .mpeg Director: Stefan G. Tosheff Description:  The tale of Robin Hood, quasi-historical hero of the masses from English medieval folklore. Review:  Whoosh!  The best part in this film came when the villian is coming up the stairs.  The camera shows Robin whip out a knife and we hear the bad guy's footsteps approach.  A very nice effect.  There are also some great moments with throwing knives.  This is a cute tale that looks like it was made entirely with LEGO Studios, and given that limitation, I'd say the director did a terrific job.  Of course, there are some points of improvement that will come with better animation and experience.  You can see sticky tack in several shots, such as the aforementioned knife throwing and when a character is walking up the stairs.  Several scenes are a bit choppy with characters moving around jerkily.   For the LEGO cam, the picture was suprisingly good, especially in close up shots.  With a bit more story this film could have been a great tale.   Title: The Invention Approx Size: 7.51 MB Approx Length: 4:40 Format: .rm Director: Lars Moller Description: A detailed, fictional take at the story of the invention of the wheel.   Review: Very nice, super smooth animation.   This tale is set in a play-like fashion, with a few main characters.  Everyone is hurting from their daily toils carrying heavy objects around.  They decide to go to the local inventor to solve their problems.  He thinks about it for a while and is finally inspired when he trips over some round objects on the ground.  Moments later he has produced a wheel, solving everyone's problems.  This films makes great use of overlay mattes to add to the animation.  In several parts the characters are communicating with each other via thought balloons.  A very cute, cartoonish movie with great, sharp effects.  The film itself is nice but as a personal pet peeve, synthesized music annoys the hell outta me.  Not the director's fault, of course.   All in all this is an excellent piece.  the story it tells is very simple and effective, and is a great example of a brick film that can appeal to all ages, all cultures (no spoken dialog), and is very cute. Title: The Great Train Robbery Approx Size: 7.66 / 7.5 MB Approx Length: 7:30 Format: .avi Director: C van Aken Description: A 1963 train robbery plays out in minifig style.  Note this is not a remake of the 1903 film, but rather a real robbery in England. Review:  A nomination for Best Story and Best Film goes to this film with all music and no dialog.  In an area where what the characters do and say is so important, it was very impressive animation and carefully planned shots that had me following the story clearly and with no questions.  The story is simple yet effective.  A cadre of theives hodl up a train by fooling with the signal.  They take the money from it and run back to their hideout.  All this take place in believable but crisp darkness.  When the sun rises, a police officer discovers the hideout by finding a moneybag that was accidently dropped in the dark.   The sequence where this happens is very memorable, as their is palatable tension between the robbers and their predicament.  Two different theives look out the window of their hideout, and we wonder if they will make it out in time.  A great carchase commences and ends hilariously.    The sequence where the pedestrian witness is trying to cross the street is spectacular.  In fact, this film came very close to winning this contest, because so many elements synched up perfectly.  Notice how you can sense the apprehension and distrust of the robbers as they decide to escape.  They see the pedestrian come out of his house, and the cop comes up to them from behind in an almost friendly manner.  All of a sudden the music changes and we have ourselves a fight and flee.   Speaking of music, notice also how "Morning" was used very well in the film.  There is great timing as the famous song brings on day, then accelerates as the cop radios in his finding and the robbers become nervous and start looking out of their hideout.  A great film!   Title: Walking with Dinosaurs Approx Size: 1.80 MB Approx Length: 3:09 Format: .rm Director: Andreas Feix Description:  Remake of the BBC series. Review:  A very blurry adaption of a BBC series.  Nice music from the original series gives it a dramatic impact.   Some of the dinosaurs were well animated, others were more like real time puppets.  The titles were very nice, including great use of a sunset for the intro to "Part 1: Fresh Blood".   I liked the use of clear plastic to simulate the animation of water; this was a nice touch.  Obviously some things are lacking, such as image quality and smoothness of animation.  But for a first attempt, this was a great effort.  Good job Andreas! Title:  To Fly is Everything! Approx Size: streaming Approx Length: 4:42 Format: .wmv Director: Jason Herder Description:  The story of the Wright Brother's foray into flying machines. Review:  I don't know who did the voice acting for this film (the credits did not say), but it was fantastic!  This is an example of how good voice acting can really bring a story together.  The conversation between the Wright Brothers, while ok, is made much better by great voices.   The animation is nice and crisp, and smooth throughout.  I'm not sure why the final film was in such low resolution, but even at a low resolution, the picture was fantastically crisp.   The story was so entertaining that this film received a nomination for Best Story.   The title credits were a nice touch, and the music throughout was perfectly chosen.  Notice the perfect musical timing when the brothers are building various iterations of their "bird machine".  I'm looking forward to seeing great things in the future from Jason and his troupe of voice actors.  Back to the Main Contest Page