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Greg Perry / brickmation / | |
Home of Brickmation© Video Greetings and Welcome to the Animated Brick Company Showcase. Below is a listing of the brickmation videos I have created over the last few years. Stop motion animation was my “gateway” back into the wonderful world of LEGO. I hope you enjoy the videos. Click on the links to download and watch. Feel free to drop me a line and say “Howdy!” Latest News From The Animated Brick Company January, 2003 – On Saturday the 25th of this month, MTV (Music Television) began running a 10 second video that they hired me to create as a promo for their “MPEG US” campaign. This campaign encourages viewers to make their own music videos and submit them to MTV in the hopes of having them used on the air. Beyond that, there is no contest and there are no further prizes to be won. I lucked out because a couple of producers at MTV saw my video for “The Mollusk” (see below) and liked it enough to get in touch and offer me this opportunity. I’m very grateful to them for this. Here’s an extended write-up I did on the BrickFilms General Discussion Forum that goes into more details concerning my dealings with MTV and the creation of the video: My Big Announcement Thread The video will be running on MTV every day at random times (it’s first airing was during a rerun of “The Osbournes”). During that same period, MTV will also have the video available on its website in the MPEG US Gallery. The name of the video is “plasticgrass” and you will see it attributed to the MTV.com profile name of supernerd23. 
The Mollusk
“The Mollusk” is the title track from one of my favorite albums from the musical group Ween. The song itself was not necessarily one of my favorites on the album but about a year ago I had an idea for making a brickmation video for it. This idea was mainly inspired by the clam element that is found in several Belville and a couple of Star Wars sets. The idea soon grew to an obsession and for many, many months I mentally worked out the various scenes for the video. A couple of times I even tried to convince myself that the video I was seeing in my mind’s eye was so good that I shouldn’t even bother trying to create a “real” video. Finally though, with BrickFest 2002 approaching I decided that it was finally time to get back to work and actually create some brickmation. I figured I couldn’t show up without at least one new video to show off. Since I had already “seen” the scenes over and over in my head the actual work of creating the video was not that tedious. Now that the video is complete and I’ve listened to “The Mollusk” over and over, it has become one of my favorite Ween tunes. I hope if you take the time to view my video for it, that you’ll pay close attention to the lyrics and music. My next hope would be that you’re inspired to go out and get your hands (and ears) on some more Ween music. This was my second video created completely in a digital environment (Evolution of Creation was the first). I used my JVC VHS-C vidcam hooked up to my PC via a USB device. The software I used for creating the raw footage was Stop Motion Animator. Editing was done with Pinnacle System’s Studio PCTV USB. MUSIC: “The Mollusk” and “Pink Eye” (closing credits) by Ween from the album The Mollusk (1997 Elektra). I have several versions of the video available in 2 different formats: Realvideo and MPEG. The best sound is going to be available in the Realvideo format. To view the videos, right-click on the links below, select “Save Target As” and save to location of your choice. RealVideo 6 MB Mollusk-HIQ.rm RealVideo 1.8 MB Mollusk-LOQ.rm MPG 17 MB Mollusk-17MB.mpg ABC Opening Segment This short video is the opening for the Animated Brick Company Showcase. I made it specifically to use with my collection of videos that I plan to broadcast on the local (Richmond, VA) cable access channel. The figure that you see on stage is the LEGO mini-fig that I have chosen to represent me in most of my videos. MUSIC: “Alabama Jubilee” performed by Bad Livers from the soundtrack The Newton Boys ( 1998 Sony Music) RealVideo 2.44 MB ABCOpening.rm 
Ghost Train
The Bad Livers are an Austin, Texas based band that I have been listening to since the early 90’s. The Livers’ music encompasses a wide range of styles and traditions but bluegrass-oriented tunes remain one of their mainstays. The song “Ghost Train” is from their first album Delusions of Banjer (1992 Touch & Go Records) and has always been one of my favorites. When I stumbled across the Twisted Time Train set (6497) soon after beginning to make LEGO videos I knew that I would be using it to make a video for “Ghost Train.” I finally got around to making the video in Fall of 1999 and it is one of my best efforts so far in my opinion. This was my first attempt at timing a video to match a specific piece of music. More info about the Bad Livers can be obtained from www.BadLivers.com RealVideo 5.79 MB GhostTrain.rm 
Get Smart
Ever since I started making stop motion animation videos with LEGO I’ve wanted to re-do some of my favorite TV shows in this medium. When TV Land recently started showing Get Smart I realized that the opening segment for this show would be pretty easy to knock out - and it was. This is only the second time I worked on trying to time the animated action to the music. MUSIC: “Get Smart Theme” by Irving Sazthway RealVideo 4.24 MB GetSmart.rm 
The Brick House of Horrors
This model and video were created for Halloween, 2000. Ever since I started making LEGO animation and got more into the newer themes (Fright Knights and Adventurers) I wanted to make a Haunted House video. Originally this was going to be a SuperNerds adventure but I ended up creating a more generic (and confusing) horror movie storyline. This video is my biggest production to date. MUSIC: “Giant Robot/Machines in the City/Godzilla” by Praxis from the album Transmutation (Island Records, 1992) - “Embodiment of Evil” by The Meat Puppets from the album Up on the Sun (Rykodisc re-issue 1999) - “Fear” Laika & the Cosmonauts from the cd collection Zero Gravity (1996 Upstart Records) RealVideo 20.5 MB BrickHouseOfHorrors.rm 
The Heist
This is the first LEGO video I created back in early 1999. Prior to this video I had made a couple of stop-motion animation pieces using other items such as Christmas ornaments and random toys. This video introduces the SuperNerds, characters based on myself and 3 of my friends. The term “super nerds” was offhandedly applied to us by another acquaintance many years ago and I immediately seized upon it as a title worth bearing and perpetuating. I plan to create a series of SuperNerds adventures as I continue with my animation creations – in this first episode the guys collect a little support for future endeavors and enterprises. Unfortunately, Timmy the Bank Guard isn’t going to be too pleased with the SuperNerds’ method for making a withdrawal. The set for this video was also the first big creation I made after I started playing with LEGO bricks again in early 1999. MUSIC – Intro: “Oil Gusher” Main Sequence: “Manhattan Minuet/Dinner for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals” – all from The Music of Raymond Scott (1992 Sony Records) RealVideo 14.7 MB TheHeist.rm 
The Relativity of Bricks
This creation was inspired by a work called “Relativity” which is by one of my favorite artists, M.C. Escher. I was about halfway through building this model when I found out about the Coolest Home Video Contest and I immediate knew that this was going to be my main entry. For the contest I recorded a voice-over of me babbling about how I got back into LEGO toys last year and my interest in stop motion animation. For this collection I have just included the music that was also used as the background music on the entry I sent in. After the success of this project I plan to attempt more recreations of Escher’s works. I must be crazy. MUSIC: “Ptolemine Treescope” – by Porcupine Tree for the collection Succor: A Terrascope Benefit Album RealVideo 5.65 MB TheRelativityOfBricks.rm 
Meanwhile Back at SuperNerds HQ
This video shows the SuperNerds returning home following the adventure chronicled in “The Heist”. The boys arrive back at the pad with barely enough time to park the vehicles, stash the loot, change their clothes and be on the couch (robo-mixed drink in hand) in front of the Tube for one of their favorite shows…Ninja Action Theatre MUSIC: “28” from the album Wild Wonderful Purgatory by Karma to Burn (1999 MIA Records) Ninja Action Theatre This was the second LEGO animation video I created. I think of this video as the pilot for a planned series of encounters between the Gray Ninja and the Black Ninja. It will be my LEGO homage to “Spy vs. Spy”. MUSIC: “Point of No Return” by Laika & the Cosmonauts from the cd collection Zero Gravity (1996 Upstart Records) RealVideo 8 MB Meanwhile.rm 
ABC Club Live
This is one of my more recent videos (from early 2001). I wanted to do a video of a bar scene with the Supernerds rockin’ the house as the band. This was one of my trickiest videos in terms of having to have a lot of different people moving at the same time. The dancing is a little jerky but over all it came out pretty good. MUSIC: “Organ Smash” from the album Is it…Man or Astro-Man? by Man or Astro-Man? (1993 Estrus Records) “POW” by The Beastie Boys from the album Check Your Head (1992 Capitol Records / Grand Royal) RealVideo 5.21 MB ABCClubLive.rm 
The Mysterious Secret Treasure of the Lost Pyramid
This is the second big SuperNerds adventure. In this episode the guys have traveled deep into the jungle to claim the treasure of the Lost Pyramid. Always on their guard against danger, the SuperNerds are not lulled into a false sense of security by the dancing skeletons. I ended up using the first two minutes of this video as an entry in the LEGO Maniac’s Coolest Home Video Contest. This was a last minute decision which I’m now glad I made because this is the video that was the winner of the contest. MUSIC: “Twilight in Turkey” from The Music of Raymond Scott (1992 Sony Records) RealVideo 8.79 MB TheMysteriousSecretTreasure.rm 
Santa 2000
My original dabblings in stop motion animation began during Christmas of 1998. My first efforts involved holiday ornaments and decorations from around the house. By the time Yuletide rolled in again I was heavily into LEGO. So as part of a video greeting card for 1999, I created “Santa 2000”. MUSIC: “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” from David Grisham’s Acoustic Christmas 1986 Rounder Records) RealVideo 6.19 MB Santa2000.rm 
The Construction Project
What do you get when you combine a stack of gray LEGO bricks with a bunch of mini-figs swinging pick-axes, jackhammers and power saws? You get my entry to the LEGO Maniac’s Coolest Home Video Contest that is a complete pandering to the folks at LEGO. Basically, I used the same idea as from “The End” but I think it was executed a little better here. I like the close-ups on the individual workers and the way the overall finished product is not revealed until closer to the end. This is the entry that I’m hoping gets me hired to make a commercial for LEGO toys. MUSIC: “Powerhouse” – from The Music of Raymond Scott (1992 Sony Records) RealVideo 4.18 MB ConstructionProject.rm 
The Evolution of Creation
This video was created as an entry in the BrickFilms.com “Classical Movie Contest” in Fall of 2001. Originally I had planned for it to be longer than presented here (hence the “To Be Continued” at its end) but ran out of time when the contest deadline arrived. It actually turned out to be a good thing because the video was just barely under the time limit, which I hadn’t noticed. My grand vision for this feature was to present evolution via LEGO bricks beginning with the first plants, then animals, then primitive man and from there showing the progress of mini-fig “civilization”. I managed to make it up to just before medieval times. I figure I’ll finish project about the time that Mel Brooks releases History of the World Part 2. RealVideo 10 MB EvolutionCreation.rm All brickmation presented on this page was created by Greg Perry, LUGNET Member # 250. Thanks to LUGENT for providing the means to create this page. Tip for downloading: To view one of the above videos, right-click on the link that follows each description, choose the Save Target As command, and download the file to your computer prior to opening. All files are in RealVideo format and require a RealPlayer in order to view them. A Few Words about the Director and Manager of the Animated Brick Company
Grand Prize trophy (1 of 3) awarded for the LEGO Maniac’s Coolest Home Video Contest in 2000. |
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Primary content in this document is © Greg Perry. All other text, images, or trademarks in this document are the intellectual property of their respective owners. |
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