Christophe Haubursin from Vox speaks with Grant Freckelton from Animal Logic, the animation studio behind the Warner Bros. LEGO films, about how fan-made LEGO films, aka BrickFilms, have helped shape and influence the modern, ultra-realistic LEGO movies. You can watch Lindsay Fleay’s 1989 LEGO short film, The Magic Portal, below.
“When you watch installments of the Warner Bros. line of LEGO movies, it’s hard not to be struck by how realistic the animation is. It isn’t quite traditional stop motion — but it sure looks as if it could be. That’s largely thanks to the work of the animators at Animal Logic, a Sydney-based visual effects studio that has worked on The LEGO Movie, The LEGO Batman Movie, and the upcoming The LEGO Ninjago Movie.
Powered by live action filming techniques and a close attention to detail, the studio has helped reinvent what LEGO animations can look like. But they owe a lot of that aesthetic to the influence of fan films.”
Previously from Vox: The Room: Why People Love the Worst Movie Ever Made