Overview
This multi-round brickfilming contest aims to encourage participants to challenge their animation skills and experiment with their style of animation.
A theme will be given at the start of each contest round that all participants must interpret into a 5 to 20 second animated video.
All participants will be given 72 hours to complete this challenge, and will be judged only on their entry’s stop motion animation.
Contest format
The contest will follow the same knockout tournament format as in the previous two years. The creators of the top 50% entries from Round 1 (as decided by our judges) will qualify for Round 2. Likewise, the creators of the top 50% of Round 2 entries will progress into the third and final round.
Anyone is eligible to enter Round 1.
Each round will begin once the round theme is simultaneously announced on the Brickfilm Day YouTube channel and Discord server, as well as @brickfilmday on Instagram and Twitter.
From this moment the round theme goes live, participants will have exactly 72 hours to animate stop motion animated clips anywhere between 5 and 20 seconds in length, primarily using Lego bricks or figures.
Prizes
Prizes are provided by this year's sponsor, custom minifigure and accessory website, citizenbrick.com.
The contestant who places first in the contest, will receive a $100 gift card for use on citizenbrick.com, with second place receiving a $50 voucher and third place $25.
Dates
Round 1 will begin on Friday 6th August at the following time:
- 10am Pacific Daylight Time (LA, Vancouver)
- 11am Mountain Daylight Time (Phoenix, Calgary)
- 12pm Central Daylight Time (Chicago, Houston)
- 1pm Eastern Daylight Time (New York, Toronto)
- 6pm British Summer Time (London, Lisbon)
- 7pm Central European Summer Time (Berlin, Paris)
- 8pm Eastern European Summer Time (Moscow, Istanbul)
Or on Saturday 7th August at:
- 2am Japan/Korean Standard Time (Tokyo, Seoul)
- 3am Australian Eastern Standard Time (Sydney, Melbourne)
If you’re confused at all by the time Round 1 starts in your local timezone, you can check out this countdown to start time:
Round 1 will end on Monday 9th August at the following time:
- 10am Pacific Daylight Time (LA, Vancouver)
- 11am Mountain Daylight Time (Phoenix, Calgary)
- 12pm Central Daylight Time (Chicago, Houston)
- 1pm Eastern Daylight Time (New York, Toronto)
- 6pm British Summer Time (London, Lisbon)
- 7pm Central European Summer Time (Berlin, Paris)
- 8pm Eastern European Summer Time (Moscow, Istanbul)
Or on Tuesday 10th August at:
- 2am Japan/Korean Standard Time (Tokyo, Seoul)
- 3am Australian Eastern Standard Time (Sydney, Melbourne)
Entries submitted past this time will be disqualified.
The results of the first round will be announced on August 10th, and all animators who made the top 50% of entries will be contacted confirming that they have qualified for Round 2.
This second round will begin on Friday 13th August at 1pm EDT, and again last for 72 hours. For those who qualify, the final round will begin on Friday 20th August.
Judging criteria
Only the stop motion animation in each entry will be judged.
None of the following will be taken into account by judges:
- Story
- Set design
- Cinematography
- Voice acting
- Editing
- Sound design
- CG visual effects
- Music
- Any other element besides in-camera animation
The judging criteria is broken down into the 3 following categories:
1. Technique
Technique is where you'll be judged upon your use of core animation principles, including easing in and easing out, anticipation and rebound, arcs, timings and secondary action. Remember, choosing to ignore these techniques for effect at certain points can be effective, like using sudden uneased movement to comedic effect.
If you're not sure what we mean by any of the mentioned animation terms, this video by Alan Becker covering the 12 Principles of Animation is a good introduction to core animation techniques: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDqjIdI4bF4.
2. Character Animation
The judges will also be looking for strong character and emotion to be conveyed through animation. Think about how you can use the movement of characters to express their feelings and personality.
If they're in a joyful mood, they might bound across the frame in energetic leaps. If they're angry, they're more likely to aggressively stomp whilst looking at the ground. With something as limited in movement as a minifigure, don't be afraid to exaggerate motion to emphasise emotion.
3. Creativity
On top of the previous two categories, each entry will be judged on the creativity of the animation on show. We encourage participants to try out inventive animation methods and to think outside the box when creating their entry.
This year’s judging panel will compose of Bricks and Pieces Animation, sillypenta and Future Past Productions, as well as a fourth guest judge for each round.
Rules
- Participants should primarily use LEGO in their entries, although limited use of other elements is permitted.
- All entries must be 100% animated using stop motion animation. Use of 2D or CG animation is forbidden.
- Each entry submitted must contain between 5 and 20 seconds worth of animation.
- All entries must be animated specifically for this contest, within the mentioned time limits.
- Moderate violence and cursing is permitted, however, entries that promote hate speech or discrimation will be disqualified.
- Entries may not be publicly posted online until after the contest round deadline has passed.
- You must include both the Citizen Brick and contest logos in your entry for at least 2 seconds. This will not count towards your 5-20 second animation requirement.
HD versions of the logos can be found here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Z27ELabtEZ71Rewe7u0OqdCpKSp90I1n?usp=sharing
How to enter
To submit your entry once the contest begins, send an email to [email protected] before the round deadline, with your entry linked as an unlisted YouTube video. Your video may be made public after the deadline, and it will be added to a public playlist on the Brickfilm Day YouTube channel.
Whilst you can include multiple clips within your entry, your video must be under 20 seconds in length and one entry per participant will be accepted.
Please feel free to ask us any questions or queries regarding the event by contacting us via email ([email protected]) or @brickfilmday on Instagram or Twitter.