**This is a user-submitted post by Milan Harrison**
Brickfilm \Brick·film\ n: A Brickfilm is a film made using LEGO bricks, or other similar plastic construction toys. They are usually created with stop motion animation.
In an interview with Phil Lord and Chris Miller (the directors of The Lego Movie), the first question asked was, “What were some of your inspirations for the film?” Without hesitation, Phil said that the biggest inspiration was all the brickfilms that LEGO fans make. With the success of The Lego Movie and international LEGO film festivals, brickfilming is more popular than ever. Here are three of the most awesome brickfilmers out there.
BrotherhoodWorkshop
BrotherhoodWorkshop has created several hilarious Lord of the Rings brickfilms along with a couple fantastic movie trailer re-creations. Kevin Ulrich (the animator for BW) teamed up with How It Should Have Ended to create The LEGO HISHE. BW has also won The Lego Movie ReBrick competition, and his film Gorgy wants a Horseis actually in The Lego Movie. My favorite brickfilm by BrotherhoodWorkshop is LEGO The Battle of Helm’s Deep.
Paganomation
Paganomation first came into existence when David Pagano created a brickfilm called Little Guys! in 2006. Since then, David has made several short films for LEGO. His long list of brickfilm genres include Super Heroes, Space Police, Music Videos, and The Adventures of Max series. Paganomation’s entry in The Lego Movie ReBrick competition, Garbage Man, is also seen in The Lego Movie. David Pagano writes for The Set Bump, a blog dedicated to brickfilming. My favorite brickfilm by Paganomation is Black Eye Piece.
MICHAELHICKOXFilms
MICHAELHICKOXFilms is likely the most popular brickfilmer of all time. Michael’s videos have millions of views each and he has well over 300,000 subscribers. What I love about MICHAELHICKOXFilms is that his videos tend to be about normal, everyday things in life (like going shopping or a fun birthday party), but he amusingly exaggerates reality. From pizza deliveries to boring office jobs to interactive castle adventures, Michael Hickox is by far one of the greatest brickfilmers ever. My favorite brickfilm by MICHAELHICKOXFilms is LEGO School.
Since The Lego Movie was made with CG (the only stop-motion is in the end credits), should it count as a brickfilm according to the definition at the beginning of the article? Fancy Pants created a montage right before the release of The Lego Movie that highlights several awesome brickfilms. And the end of the video, the words “Brickfilms are the real LEGO movies” appear.
In my opinion, The Lego Movie is the greatest brickfilm ever. Even though it’s not stop-motion, the animation attempts (and succeeds) at looking like a stop-motion film. As Phil Lord said, he and Chris Miller loved watching LEGO fan-made brickfilms and they wanted to make a big version of one. The LEGO Movie really captures the fun and imaginative spirit of the LEGO universe, which is what brickfilms are all about.
