Brick Animation

Making Brickfilms or Legomation movies is the easiest way to get involved with stop motion animation. Your characters are ready made, stable and easy to move without worrying about them breaking or smudging (like with clay). You also have the makings for your sets with the right scale etc. The minifigures stay in position thanks to the use of a plug board surface so you don't need magnets or wires to hold them in the various positions for animation. There are drawbacks of course but they are few for those new to animation. So if you are new to stop motion then check out the Brickfilm tutorials in the column to the left of this article.

A Definition.

So what is Brickfilming or LegoMation.? Simply put, it is the animation of LEGO^® characters (Minifigs)/ bricks or Mega Bloks to create short films ..sometimes called Brickfilms.

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stop motion brickfilms are made using stop motion animation techniques, but some can take other forms of film production. These can include computer-generated imagery, Macromedia Flash, or full 3D live action. The subtle difference between Legomation and Brickfilms is that Legomation only uses LEGO^® or Mega Bloks in 3D live stop motion animation action style while Brickfilms can include films made with computer animation or flash animation.

The term Legomation is derived from the two words LEGO and Animation to form "LEGO-Mation" just as clay animation is sometimes referred to as claymation.

Its worth noting that LEGO® - is from the Danish phrase "to play well"  The Lego history began in 1932 in Denmark, when Ole Kirk Christiansen founded a small factory for wooden toys in the unknown town of Billund in the south of the country. To find a name for his company he organized a competition among his employees. As fate would have it however, he himself came up with the best name: LEGO® – a fusion of the Danish words “LEg” and “GOdt” (“play well”).

OK so now check out the How To's and tutorials if you are new to this form of stop motion animation under the button on the left hand column. <--

On the site we also have a  tutorial section for those new to this hobby with some basic instructions on how to make brickfilms or a legomation movie. We review stop motion animation software packages that are out there to help you to choose the one that is right for you. This site is here to promote the making of these short animations. The good thing about animating with LEGO characters is that they are ready to use..you don't have to make characters out of clay or fiber glass..no armatures needed. Also if you have any LEGO lying around you have a ready made set. We hope you enjoy it and come back regularly to check out new videos and features on the site.

The legomation charts shown here to the left are a good place to start if you want to get a good idea what this is all about. Don't be intimidated by the experienced legomation chart entries. These guys are good but they got this good with practice. It would not take anyone long to get up to speed. We will give some tips and tricks on how to easily animate your Minifigures or bricks in the tutorial section.

Legomation

A  Definition

Commonly, stop motion brickfilms are made using stop motion animation techniques, but other forms of film production are also used, such as computer-generated imagery, Macromedia Flash, or live action. Brickfilms  also usually use the art of MOC (My Own Creation) development, giving each film a different feel depending on individual building styles.

For brickfilms makers, the most common approach is to use a minifigure as an actor against a set or a backdrop made from bricks. While limited in their range of movement and expression, many brickfilms makers still manage to get a wide variety of emotions from their mini LEGO actors. Some films, such as Marc Beurteaux's "Robota" and David Pagano's "Little Guys!" are unique in that the characters featured are not minifigures but are in fact larger models made out of bricks.