Motion Blur in "Lego, the movie" is made with legos

[Víctor Paredes]

I just a wrote little article in my blog(in spanish) about this movie and I created a couple gifs showing the motion blur, I think it's interesting to share it here:

[slowtiger]

Yay. They're doing it right. I already noticed the explosions in the trailer done with Legos as well, PEZ would like this. Reminds me of the time when I was doing small explosions for a game in 8bit, pixel by pixel.

I'm so looking forward to this movie, looks like lots of fun, because they deliberately stayed within the restrictions of Lego.

[heyvern]

The best thing I've heard about this movie (have not seen it yet) is that it's actually getting RAVE reviews.

Not just for what they did, or how they did it, but it is actually getting critical acclaim as a well done movie; plot, acting, comedy etc. I actually had a, newspaper reading, coffee drinking, spit take when I read the first reviews***. I would never in a million years have expected this movie to have garnered such glowing praise. You hear about "ground breaking movies" but they can still be... bad movies (Avatar was an "okay" movie but it wasn't a "great" movie beyond the exciting 3d visuals. ) Sometimes movies that "break new ground" are still crap. So my thought was, maybe this Lego movie was only getting kudos based on how it was made or something, but no, the reviews are genuinely good, apparently this is a well done movie for any age.

Although it was reported to have been done entirely stop motion with real legos, there was some digital 3D involved. I don't know exactly what was done with the computer, but some parts were done with computer 3D of some sort. However, if they were using legos to create motion blur effects and explosions, I can't image what parts would have required "cheating" by using 3D rendering. I am sure it was a timesaver or a budget issue.

I can't wait to see it.


***(okay, okay, I admit that statement was a reinterpretation of what actually took place. I described what really happened in an old fashioned scenario involving news "printed" on paper, while drinking a traditional ground coffee bean beverage because it seemed more relatable. What really happened was a spit take produced by reading surprisingly good movie reviews on an iPad, not an old fashioned printed newspaper, while simultaneously drinking a 5hour Energy drink, not a cup of coffee. The spit take was smaller in quantity, due to the small size of the 5hour energy drink container, but the "intensity" was the same as a traditional spit take from a traditional beverage. Actually, this particular spit take had a higher "clean up cost" potential based on the value of the items effected. Traditionally a spit take is harmless because there is no permanent or expensive losses involved. In the modern world, the traditional spit take can have a greater impact. A tablet device used to read the news is more expensive to replace than a newspaper and can be damaged by moisture, and a 5hr energy drink is more expensive than a cheap cup of coffee made at home.)

[AmigaMan]

It's ALL CG, as far as I know, but done in a stop motion style. It does look great.

Edit: Just Googled it and apparently they used some lego in background sets and odd bits of stop motion to mix it up a bit but it's mostly CG. I'm looking forward to seeing it. I animate LEGO character's every day at work and it's nice to see the character's animated in a way, as Slowtiger says, makes the most of the limitations set by the construction of the LEGO Minifigs themselves.

[slowtiger]

I think it's safe to say that every animator animated Legos once in his life. I know I did, one of my first tries with animation, with a Yashica Super 8 camera which even didn't have single frame: building up houses by themselves and get them destroyed with a caterpillar. Must have been 12 or so.

[AmigaMan]

Same here. I remember animating a Lego house building itself. I don't think the Lego Minifigs existed then or I'd have probably animated those like so many do today. I also had a Super 8 camera that didn't have single frame facility. It was a Kodak and I just did the shortest press of the trigger I could possibly do.

[AmigaMan]

A Behind The Scenes.....

http://www.fxguide.com/fxguidetv/fxguid ... ego-movie/

[Mikdog]

I *really* look forward to seeing this.