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Monday, 22 April 2013

What is it with lego?

With the success of Morgan Spence, there emerges a new star: James Weir in first year.  It appears James has on the quiet been making his own epic films.  Although neither can afford to hire Brad and Angelina, it hasn't stopped them from making great films using that most common and ubiquitous toys, Lego.

James  film style is little different from Morgan's.His  'Princess in Tower' film shows a greater use of narrative commentary in combination with film. Morgan in contrast, aims to complete the entire story in film.  There's nothing wrong with the approach taken by James: many famous directors - George Lucas (Star Wars) - and playwrights, Shakespeare amongst them make use of this technique.



A big advantage in using the narrative technique is that it shortens time and the film.  Long periods of travel, for example can be indicated through captions combined with other techniques.  James for example indicates days and nights of travel by switching between light and dark.  James and his brother in their other film,  'Batman & The Bank Job' adopt the more common approach as used by Morgan Spence.




A couple of stand out moments for me in the film include the transformation of Batman into his costume, how he transfers into the Bat mobile, the handcuffs.  And finally a nice touch is the two part vertical gate in Arkham.  These all show good problem solving skills of how to tell a story through film with limited resources.  Well done James!

What do you think?