APE: "A frosty Welcome" from brickbrock

[brickbrock]

Hi there,

Here is my APE entry. A 3:20min little Epic.

for the time of the contest you can download it from:
http://www.globo-chem.net/ape/brickbrock/
(640x360 RM9 and DiVX Versions both around 13MB)

after that but also now, the RM9 Version will be available from my site:
http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~chbrock/brickbrock/films.htm

EDIT: Link below is no longer valid
>Since there was QUITE a discussion on compression here is the smallest >version I still like to show:
>http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~mirjamk/brickbrock/frosty_welcome_small.rm
>(320x180 RM9 2.5MB)

Now i am waiting for your kind reviews

brickbrock

EDITED for the small version
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I'm not a complete idiot - some parts are missing!

[unfoldingmetal]

Spoilers
Wow that was really great! One of my favorites so far! That monkey thing made laugh, it was put in the perfect spot. Everything was so clean. I liked this more then your other one about the bulls. Very nice BrickBrick!!

[mrgraff]

Some quick comments and thoughts:

SPOILERS:

- OK, once and for all. How is the Star Wars text scroll done? That chapter has been an unfinished FAQ topic since the beginning.
- Very nice set design and sound effects. Looked like a small part of a very long Star Wars epic.
- “The monkey line” came out of nowhere. Nice!

[Idiotless]

Heh heh, that is one of my favorite entries. The humor was excellent, and the cup effect was a nice touch. Nice laser barrier effects.
_________________
Zoloft- Curing your depression and causing young kids to commit suicide.

What an awesome drug!

[Kristian]

***Some spoilers below***

This film had a great Star Wars feel to it. With the professional intro, the right transitions and some great sets it felt like a part of Lucas’ galaxy. I liked the way the narrator/main character told the story, but it became a bit strange ‘cause it seemed like he talked to himself and not to the audience. Which I believe was the purpose…?

Your blue screening isn’t optimal, but looked quite good and added much reality to the scenes. The snow scene looked great. That was a nice effect! The small touches as the calendar, the computer screens and when he put down his glass was very neat. The way you got the man to avoid going down the stairs was cool. An easy way of doing it…

I like this film more and more. It gets better for each time I watch it.
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Be not afraid

[brickbrock]

Hi

[amt2000]

Very good film, I liked it alot! Smooth animation, good use of "Hey That's My Monkey", and it was funny.
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My new BF.com user name is now AMT.

[Holgor]

Hey brockbrick,

wow, what a nice film! Excellent picture quality, excellent animation, excellent presentation.

SPOILERS!


The animation was almost flawless. The better the animation is, the easier it is for the viewer to reckon flaws in the animation. But here, it was really good. Especially the cup put on the table, making "circles". Certainly unnecessary, but it looks really good, and it was the thing I remembered the most from this film

The intro was REALLY star-warsy: The scrolling text, then the camera moves down to a planet, and then the fade - not a normal fade, it's a star-wars-fade! Flawless victory, brickbrock!

The sets were astonishing as well. Personally, I didn't like the bluescreening here, I'd prefer a normal, static background, and the snow kinda disturbed me, too, because it was foreground-snow. That means: It's just a layer in front of the scene, it doesn't fall behind a building, for example. I hope you get what I mean.
However, it served well in intensifying the atmosphere!
The sound effects were very cool and suitable, too. (You got some of them from the Jedi-Knight-video games, didn't you?) However, at the beginning there were some popping sounds when you spoke. It's not that hard to avoid that, just don't speak directly into the microphone.
The music was very well chosen, too. It greatly helped to develop the Star-Wars-flair, and it increased the dark mood of the mysterious happenings on that station.

The doors were very cool, too. We all love doors who go open without any pushing or pulling. (And it's easier to animate, too!) [Apropos: What do you think of my "About a Door?] Superb! And the minifig going downstairs were hilarious, too. The first time I watched the movie, I asked myself how you'd animate a minifig walking a stair. HE HE! Nice solution!

The sets were what stood out the most, in my opinion. Everything in the right places, even in the right colours like in a Star-Wars-movie. Very well done.

And the minifg getting the BFG was very cool, too. Thing is: If I laugh at that scene, then show it to my video-game-unexperienced siblings, they give me an odd look why I laugh, since there was nothing to laugh. Nothing THEY would get.

So, technically, your film was almost flawless. Personally, I didn't like the story too much. The Hey! That's my monkey!-aspect was too strong here (as it is in many other films), but that's just me. The ending was quite cool, but I wouldn't have put in the ignition of the lightsabre-sound. Makes it a mystery if the monkey'd attack his master or not. But that may just be me, too.


SPOILERS END.

Very good! A film I'll keep in my "jewels"-directory, to watch it over and over again. And this one's even good to show non-brickfilming-geeks. Thanks!!

Holgor
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Rule #1: Holgor is always right.
Rule #2: If the case should occur that Holgor is not right, Rule #1 will automatically become effective.

[brickbrock]

Just a few little remarks.

The sounds: Once you discover a /base/*.pk# file of a quakeIII-engine based game is nothing else than a simple .zip you are in haven.
The snow: Since it are three layers of snow irt would of course been possible to mask som buildings in the hindmost layers, making it more three-dimensional -> the result (together with a moving camera) its tons of work. I simply did not have the time.
The bluescreening: Its bad because its noticable !
The ending: Yes, its a bit obvious, but I flet there should be a 'punch'-sound together with the fade to black.

by the way, Holgor: "Has no subject."

brickbrock
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I'm not a complete idiot - some parts are missing!

[The Janitor]

I liked the look of your WOW entry, and I love the look of this. The lighting, (although there are some flicker problems in the "wake up" scene), is beautiful. Very natural, not too bright and plasticy looking. The animation is great. Smooth, but not too slow. I agree with Kristian; the "setting the glass down" animation is wonderful. Some excellent sound effects and music add to the depth of the presentation. The snow effect was good, as was the shield in front of the monkey. There are some great panning shots, such as the one right before the snow speeder gets wasted. Very, very smooth.

The voice acting is decent, but nothing too exciting. Plotwise, this film didn't really do too much for me. It worked, but it never really got me hooked. I think perhaps it relied too much on narration to develop the plot.

Really a beautiful film. I love it when a director clearly puts a lot of effort into making his presentation nice.

-James, who just realized that he changed tenses about a million times in his review.
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Custodial Productions

[Kim]

This was one of my faves! I loved the scrolling words...the snow... the sets....it was just a great looking film! I also thought it was a good job of using the monkey reference as an actual part of the plot. Really good job!

[Amped]

Hurrah!

What a sweet film! I loved the sets ,animation story, jokes, everything. This is going to be my fave film for a while...

I loved the 'hay thats my monkey in the walker

Amped
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Amped Productions